Around 3.3% of foreign born immigrants who came to live in Astoria within the last 15 years arrived from Asia (Bengal, China, Philippines, India). In 1990, Astoria was 1.3% Indian and 1.6% Chinese. In the year 2000, 5,244 of the 18,478 foreign born individuals living in Astoria were from Asia and in 2012 this number changed to 4,177.
According to the 2010 Census data, 15.6% of Astoria’s 89,122 people were of Asian descent, mostly coming from India, Pakistan, China, and the Philippines.
Some History:
During the 1870s and 1880s, many Chinese on the West Coast encountered anti-Chinese violence. This pushed towards the East where they settled within New York City, where later immigrants, in the 1890s and afterwards, would join them.
While Chinese-run eateries in New York served “Chinese” food,“ Chinese living in New York craved authentic Chinese food. In 1883, the New York Times reported that a number of Chinese men had started farms in Astoria Queens in order to provide true Chinese vegetables and enable their community to indulge in their traditional cuisine.
-Image from Google Earth.
“This rather forbidding industrial complex near 38th St. and Berrian Blvd. in Astoria, Queens, was the site of several Chinese-run farms between the 1880s and about 1915…
G.W. Bromley and Co. 1909 map of area where Chinese farms were located. Courtesy New York Public Library Digital Image Collection.
Eventually, these Chinese were affected by new urban developments, particularly due to the area’s transportational improvements in 1909, and were pushed into giving up or relocating their farming businesses.
Food:
Truly, Astoria has many immigrants from Asia. If you are looking to taste the impact of Bengali and Indian eateries, look no further than between 24th and 36th streets on 30th Avenue. Bengali restaurants feature “meat curries and other spicy dishes, in addition to eggs and paratha (a flaky Indian bread).” One such place is Sonargaon Café and Sweets, filled with paintings of Bengali life. One well-known Indian non-Muslim restaurant is Sanargaon Tandoor, offering wine and Indian Beer.
Another eatery, JJ’s Fusion Kitchen, serves Asian hybrid cuisine. Their specials include the edamame pot stickers, floating in an ambrosial wasabi cream, the pork gyoza, and the udon noodle soup with seafood and vegetables, and the Crispy yet tender duck salad. And of course, the sushi list is gigantic.
If you still aren’t filled and head to broadway street where you can find another authentic Southeast Asian restaurant called Leng.
Salivate as you check out some their authentic Southeast Asia dishes.
