Where We Go
Food Walking Tours of Queens, New York
Queens is one of my favorite boroughs to lead food walking tours. The variety is unsurpassed and the businesses and shop owners are endearing. And let's not forget the food! Exotic flavors you can find in Queens include Greek, Thai, Latin American, Jamaican food and much more.
Here are some of the tours you can enjoy with Noshwalks in Queens. Also, don't forget about our other tours in The Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and parts of New Jersey.
Visit our Walking Tour Schedule to see which tours interest you the most! Sign up for one of our public food walking tours of Queens, or call to schedule a custom tour for your group outing.
Arepas Cafe in Astoria. Owner Ricardo Romer in center with orange shirt.
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Astoria (Two tours)
Tour 1: “It’s Greek to Me – and then some!”
You’ll see Greek, south Asian, Colombian, Middle European & other ethnic restaurants, bakeries & markets in this popular neighborhood as we explore shops and snackeries along 30th Ave., the North African/Middle Eastern stretch of Steinway St., and Astoria Boulevard. Our last stop include a huge Greek supermarket and a new Bosnian kebab place.
Tour 2: The Other Astoria
This tour covers a section of Astoria that includes several Brazilian markets, as well as Venezuelan, Greek, French, Mexican, Balkan, Ukrainian and other specialties. We also pass and discuss the historic Kaufman Studios & the Museum of the Moving Image.
Elmhurst
Some call this area NYC’s 4th Chinatown—but it’s actually a lot more! We’ll taste Chinese, Korean, Thai & Indonesian food, and feast on the many amazing markets in this area. Highlights include a visit to a Thai Buddhist temple and a Chinese dumpling shop where we can see noodles made by hand. An old-fashioned French bakery manages to thrive amidst the Asian shops.
Flushing (Two tours)
Tour 1: Asian Flushing
This popular tour, often done in partnership with the Queens Botanical Garden, gives you a chance to experience a wide range of Asian food. We’ll visit Indian, Afghan, Chinese and Korean markets, but some of the markets we’ll visit look more like something you’d expect to see in a Chinese city, as we weave through maze-like paths to get to our final destination:a noodle shop we’re you’ll see beautiful thin noodles emerge from slabs of dough as if by magic. We’ll also see some of the most remarkable murals painted in all of New York City – on the walls of the Flushing post office!
Tour 2: Israeli Flushing
Horse-radish ice cream? The best falafel you’ve ever had? And a spice market unlike any other in NYC? These are just some of the food highlights of the Israeli/Orthodox Jewish section of kosher Flushing (also known as Kew Gardens Hills). Note: This tour is usually offered as a custom tour only.
Colombian cholados in Jackson Heights
Father and son at El Chivito d'Oro, a Uruguayan eatery in Jackson Heights
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Jackson Heights (Three tours)
Tour 1: Latin American Jackson Heights
In the Latin American version of this tour we nosh our way along the culinary boulevards of Roosevelt & 37th Aves and sample specialties of Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador and Argentina. The description may be short – but the experience is always quite overwhelming, as we sample cholados, arepas, Uruguayan arrollados, Argentinian sausage with chimchurri sauce, and conclude at an Ecuadorean restaurant.
Tour 2: South Asian Jackson Heights
This tour focuses on South Asian markets & eateries, which now include Burmese, Tibetan, Nepali, Thai and Indian-Chinese as well as the better known Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Afghan places. We’ll also visit the Jackson Heights Beautification District .
Tour 3: Jackson Heights combo
As a custom tour, a combined South Asian-Latin American walk begins with Pakistani samosas, followed by Nepali dumplings and Indian ice cream, and then proceeds across the ocean – and “south of the border” – to the Latin American Jackson Heights.
Jamaica
This tour highlights the history and diversity of the neighborhood known for its hip-hop tradition and roots dating to the Revolutionary War. Among our visits will be a Revolutionary War era graveyard where we’ll find the tombstone of Rufus King, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence, and then see his “summer home” - Rufus King Manor—which sits in the center of downtown Jamaica. Tastes include Salvadoran, West Indian, Colombian, Bangladeshi & more! In warm weather, we conclude with Filipino ice cream or South African (yes, South African) ices that we buy at a Bangladeshi bakery.
Enjoying ices at Lemon King in Corona |
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Rego Park and Corona
This tour takes you along a portion of New York City's own "silk route," where we'll find a shopper's and taster's delight at Uzbek, Tadjik, Persian and Russian markets and bakeries. We'll stop for kebabs and a loaf of one of the most delicious breads in New York City! Then we'll veer towards another continent - in Corona - where we'll prepare our palate for new tastes by stopping at the famous Lemon Ice King and then making our way to Latin America: a tortilla factory and a finale with delicious tastes from Ecuador. This tour is longer than most Noshwalks - more than four hours - and costs more.
Richmond Hill (and a Slice of Jamaica)
Wear a good pair of walking shoes for this tour of the markets plus a roti lunch in New York’s Little Guyana, where Guyanese, Trinidadian, Latin American, Indian and Chinese influences blend and collide. We’ll then walk (10 minutes) to south west Jamaica to see NYC’s small Portuguese enclave for dessert. This section of Jamaica is not featured in the Jamaica Noshwalk.
Rudy's Pastry Shop in Ridgewood Queens |
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Ridgewood
This tour is normally scheduled just before Easter, when Ridgewood bustles with activity, including chocolate making at the wondrous Rudy’s Bakery, which has been around for some 80 years. Foodies haven’t descended on Ridgewood yet, so, for the time being, Noshwalkers have the special pleasure of tasting delicious gelati, Bulgarian specialties. Bosnian kebabs and other culinary pleasures of the area, which has NYC’s fastest-growing Polish community, as well as Balkan, Dominican, Mexican and Italian markets —and one Egyptian cafe.
Sunnyside
Sunnyside is where Noshnews began—one of the most polyglot neighborhoods in NYC. We’ll sample Peruvian, Colombian, Romanian, Salvadoran, Lebanese, Turkish, Irish and other specialties. Time permitting, We’ll visit Sunnyside Gardens, the first planned garden community in the US.
Woodside
We’ll cross continents (and overeat) as we wander through one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Queens, including New York City’s “Little Manila,” “Little Dublin” and bits of Mexico, France, China, Uruguay, Thailand, Korea, Cuba and more!
