N is for Nepal
My friend's go-to spot for a meal that reminds her of home
When it was time to pick a country for N, Nepal ended up being a no brainer — Claire and I had plans to share our next meal for “NYC, from A to Z” with our friend Tsering, who is Tibetan. While Nepal and Tibet may be separated by a border (and some of the highest mountains in the world), there are many cultural overlaps in the Himalayan region which, of course, include food. Could there be a better person to share this meal with? I don’t think so.
Tsering also lives in Queens, close to the cultural melting pot that is Jackson Heights, which has a particularly large population of Nepalis. Unsurprisingly, she’s tried many of the area’s renowned Nepali restaurants, including several that were recommended to me or came up in my research.
But there was one spot that, according to Tsering, has the best Nepali food in the city — and is a favorite among all her friends — which seems to fly a bit under the radar.
Aama’s Kitchen
Location: 72-19 Roosevelt Ave in Jackson Heights
Transportation: Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av 7/E/F/R or Q32 Bus
Cost: $70.88 ($23.63)
Before getting into the meal, I have to shoutout Tsering again for so graciously helping us navigate the menu and ensuring that we had a diverse array of Nepali dishes, including some of her go-to favorites, on the table.
The order:
🍜 Wai Wai sadeko ($8)
🥟 Chicken momo jhol ($13)
🍗 Chicken thali, dry ($15)
🥗 Vegetarian samay baji ($17)
🥤Diet Coke x 2 ($2/each)
We started off the meal with two appetizers: Wai Wai sadeko and chicken momo jhol. The first, a street snack made with Wai Wai brand noodles that’s popular across Nepal and the entire Himalayan region, was ordered per Tsering’s suggestion. In addition to the dry noodles and the included flavor packet, Aama’s version of the snack mix also includes onion, green chiles, peas and lemon juice. I liked how all the flavors — heat from the flavor packet, bite from the raw onions, and tang from the lemon juice — played off each other. Unfortunately, the main textural element of crunch was lost, with the dry noodles leaning on the softer side.
Momos, a type of steamed and filled dumpling that’s a staple of Nepali cuisine, are one of the only Nepali dishes that I’ve had more than a couple of times. I absolutely love them, especially when doused in jhol, a rich gravy typically made with a base of tomatoes, sesame seeds, and peanuts. At Aama’s, I thought the momo itself was delicious, with a perfectly-structured dumpling skin and flavorful, juicy chicken filling. In the future, I would opt to get them without the jhol sauce, which had a decent flavor but was a bit grainy, leaving a more smooth sauce to be desired.
When the next platter was placed on our table, the first thing that caught my eye was the colorful array of vegetables and legumes, placed perfectly around a heaping serving of beaten rice topped with a fried egg. Samay baji is a dish specifically attributed to the Newar people, who are indigenous to the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, and it ended up being my favorite dish of the meal by far.
Instead of steamed rice, the dish is centered around beaten rice flakes, or chiura. This serving of beaten rice seemed to be toasted, emulating a texture that was nearly identical to puffed rice. I loved mixing and matching the variety of sides the samay baji came with, and my favorites ended up being the smoky chili paneer — the vegetarian option the day we went — and the crunchy, tangy, and spicy soybean salad, which came with loads of raw red onion for a little extra bite. The other accompaniments included chutney, pickled radish with mustard seeds, boiled greens, and aalu tama, a Nepali stew made with bamboo shoots, potatoes, and legumes.
The dry chicken thali was the last dish we got. While it had a similar presentation to the samay baji and shared some of the same sides, the biggest difference was that everything served with the thali — other than the meat — could be endlessly refilled. It also came with steamed rice rather than beaten. A time or two throughout our meal, a server came by asking if we wanted any more sides, like potatoes, gravy, bitter melon, or pickled vegetables. Sadly our table couldn’t stomach any more food, but I imagine that this refill situation was very appealing to many, including most other diners in the restaurant.
I will say I didn’t love how the chicken was served, with small bones in most of the bite-sized bits, I did enjoy the smoky flavor of the meat. Since we ordered dry chicken, the chicken didn’t come with any sauce already on it. We were given a small dipping bowl of gravy to accompany the meat, though it didn’t have the most memorable flavors. It was a rare time where I ended up heavily preferring the vegetarian paneer to a chicken-based dish.
Neither the service nor ambiance were particularly of note, but it was honestly nice to just sip on ice cold Diet Cokes and gossip with loved ones without any worries, like reservations or time limits on tables. And as this sign on the wall so beautifully put, Aama’s Kitchen is now a place where both meals and memories were made for me. <3
As always, thanks for reading and I’m so glad you’re here. If you enjoyed this, please consider hitting the heart below or recommending Lindsay’s List to a friend (or two!). I’ll be back soon with my very delayed April and May favorites.
Wish Brady could have made it
yay <3