The Long Island City area around Queensboro Plaza is definitely missing some Vietnamese restaurants. We’ve been to Cyclo, and it was very mediocre. Since Knock Knock closed down, this family-owned restaurant from Flushing took over the location. We were able to stop by around 5 PM on a Sunday early evening without reservations. There was no one eating, and we asked to sit at the same bar that was located at Knock Knock.

Rice Thief is one of the few Korean raw marinated crab restaurants in New York City. The focus of this restaurant is to provide deeply marinated raw crabs with lots of seasoning in it. To the surprise of many, the raw crab meat is actually a little gooey but quite flavorful. My partner saw this restaurant on Instagram and expressed interest in trying this out, despite me wanting to avoid bringing them here.

Jing Li has been opened for a few years now in this location. It actually used to be a different Chinese restaurant, so I’m assuming it’s the same owners. The menu looks very typical of non Sichuan Chinese restaurants. Before we walked in, I already decided to go more of a pescatarian selection and hoping the food quality and taste would be similar to what I’ve had before in the San Gabriel Valley.

Han Dynasty is yet another Chinese restaurant that recently joined the Long Island City area. They already have some existing locations spread around other parts of NYC. Their food is the same Sichuan style that many of the local restaurants here aim to serve. I think this style of Chinese is becoming too plentiful here, such that competition is bound to be very difficult. We decided to try this out.

Long Island City is basically turning into an upscale, modern day Flushing-type environment. There has been a recent surge in the last few years of Asian restaurants popping up all over the place. Close to the popular Vernon Blvd area is a fermentation studio called “Little Banchan Shop”. They sell little Korean side dishes. The owner decided to open a restaurant in the back, Meju. We were able to get reservations a month in advance on Tock for 7 PM on a Saturday evening.

Due to a slew of Chinese spicy restaurants opening up in the Long Island City neighborhood, this was one that caught our attention. Jiang Nan has several locations spread around the tri-state areas and more, and the Flushing location even received a Michelin Bib Gourmand. The restaurant advertises itself as Asian fusion, but I noticed many of the restaurant ingredients were definitely more Chinese centric. We were able to walk in at 5 PM without reservations for 2 on a Saturday evening.

Fer is a nearby neighborhood restaurant that has similar spicy features comparable to other Chinese restaurants around the area. I’m a big fan of little shops because it usually means you can get your food pretty fast, and it feels casual. We stopped by late Saturday afternoon, and there was hardly anyone there. We were seated right away, and the food came out very fast. The menu has a lot of chili oil in all of their items, but luckily the spice was tolerable when ordered mild.

Red Sorghum has recently opened in Long Island City, and is yet another spicy Chinese restaurant. It seems that there are quite a few around Long Island City. This location replaced the closed Penny Bridge. Because this was really close to our place and we were meeting friends, we decided on this restaurant to try different dishes. They proud themselves in baijiu, which is China’s liquor to Korean soju. There are several cocktails made with them if you’re interested.

Knock Knock is a nearby neighborhood cafe that has a mix of Cantonese-style dishes. The decor and the style of the food reminds me a bit of the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California, where there are a lot of small cafe shops opening serving quick eats. My cousin had visited this a few weeks ago for breakfast, and they said they were pleasantly surprised at the coffee. That was a catalyst for us to check this place out to see how its actual food was.

On a lazy Sunday, we decided to stay around our living area to eat. There have been several new restaurants that have opened in the past few months, and this one is the most recent one. The restaurant features ramen and European-Japanese dishes from Nobuyuki Shikanai, the owner of Kanoyama in the East Village. We were able to walk in without reservations on a Sunday at around 6 PM.