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.

In our area, there has been a plethora of Chinese restaurants opening. Literally around us, there are at least 3 hot pot places. I don’t really consider Nai Brothers a hot pot, but what grabbed my attention was that it specializes in sour fish soups. Nai Brothers is a very small chain with its primary location in Flushing, and this Long Island City location being it’s smaller sibling that’s closer to Manhattan.

We’ve been frequent shoppers at Murray’s Cheese for our normal night in eating cheese and charcuterie. This location in Long Island City also has a restaurant part of it. I’ve taken a few glances at the menu, and there were some individual things that caught my eye. Fortunately, it was a lazy Saturday, and it was raining. This would be the ideal night to try this place out. We were able to walk in without reservations at 4:30 PM on a Saturday afternoon.

We tend to go to Food Bazaar on the outskirts of Long Island City often, and the easiest way to get there by train whilst having dinner options would be to exit off Steinway St in Astoria via the M/R train. This area has a mix of random restaurants ranging from national chains like Applebee’s to Mediterranean and Latin options. This restaurant is literally right across street from the subway entrance, so it was very easy to access.

My partner was craving for lomo saltado, and they found this on Yelp. I mentioned to them that we had ordered this via Seamless before, but nonetheless we decided to check out this place in person. They actually have 2 locations near us: either in Astoria or in Sunnyside. The trains towards Astoria are just atrocious on weekends in that there’s like a 15 minute delay between trains. Going on the 7 train would have netted us better towards Sunnyside.

Carla is a local neighborhood restaurant close to Long Island City and Queensboro Plaza. At first glance, the restaurant’s menu seems very basic, but sometimes I think this could be misleading. I had been periodically glancing at the menu, and I noticed it changing every so slightly on a monthly basis. Since we had a lazy Saturday, we decided to try this place out. The restaurant’s motto is all about good vibes.

Zaab Zaab is a highly rated New York Times restaurant that serves North Eastern Thai food. We have been trying various Thai flavors that are very different than your typical Thai restaurant. I’ve noticed that these North/Eastern restaurants tend to have much more bolder and spicier flavors that are a bit more adventurous than what you’d normally expect. This is located fairly close to the 7 or E train by exiting off Jackson Heights / Roosevelt Ave.

When I first saw the word “sobremesa”, I instantly thought of dessert since that is what it means in Brazilian Portuguese. This restaurant is more of a taco place and is relatively new in the Long Island City neighborhood, and it’s located in a barren neighborhood with a bunch of empty warehouses. Surprisingly, there was a beer place opened next door, and there was an outside picnic area where people can enjoy their tacos in a social environment.

The summer heat is starting to come to NYC, and it makes everyone including me feel especially groggy. This was also a lazy weekend since we’re mentally preparing for the humidity to rapidly increase. Fortunately on this day, it was not too bad. Instead of ordering for delivery, my partner wanted to travel to eat Thai somewhere. We centered on the Woodside area since we had visited before at Thailand’s Center Point.