I was born and raised in Jackson Heights, and I wouldn’t change that in a million years. Growing up in Jackson Heights has been nothing short of incredible. The best way that I could categorize Jackson Heights to you would be to imagine a Chinatown, except for Bangladeshi/Indian/Pakistani people. Jackson Heights is a cultural hotspot and has a lot of cultural history behind it. The area, although at one point inhabited primarily by Asians, is now primarily Indian and Bangladeshi. Walking down Jackson Heights, it feels as if you’re in another country. The market place and streets look nothing like New York City normally does.
As you can see, everything in Jackson Heights is very old fashioned. There are plenty of people sitting on the streets selling handmade goods that they made at home, and there are plenty of markets which resemble markets you’d generally see in a country like Bangladesh. Being a cultural hotspot, Jackson Heights has some really amazing restaurants which feature authentic Indian food. One of my favorite restaurants is Spicy Mina. Here’s a menu of the restaurant:
I’d recommend the chicken curry, which is probably one of the best chicken curry you’re ever going to have. As you can see, everything there is actually really cheap too, so it won’t even break your budget! After having an authentic Indian dish, there are also plenty of Indian bakeries in the area. Most of these bakeries sell authentic Indian sweets which are hard to come by elsewhere. My favorite bakery in the neighborhood is the Delhi Palace Sweets.
I’d recommend getting the rassgulla, which are paneer balls dipped in sugar syrup. It might sound a bit weird, but trust me, it’s delicious.
Additionally, Jackson Heights was also one of the first neighborhoods to have halal food carts. There has been halal food available in Jackson Heights in quite some time, but many of the actual carts originated from Jackson Heights. So if you’re looking for good quality halal food, you’ll have plenty of options. However, any Jackson Heights native will tell you that the best one is “Sammy’s Halal Food,” on 74th street, a block away from the Roosevelt Ave train station.
Here’s a yelp link to his cart! http://www.yelp.com/biz/sammys-halal-jackson-heights
If you’re not looking for food, just walking around Jackson Heights can be a great experience. Just walking down the streets, you’ll see many things you won’t really see anywhere else. Traditional type of dresses, people speaking different languages, and a very traditional way of buying and selling things. It’s truly a great cultural experience.
Although Jackson Heights doesn’t really have any museums, a lot of the stores and scenes almost make it seem as though you’re in a museum. Walking around in my neighborhood is just entirely different from walking around any other neighborhood. There’s actually a small clothing store that my mom goes to pretty often called “Neena Sari Palace.” Theres plenty of traditional types of clothing and this store will surely make you more knowledgeable about Indian culture. If you’re interested in checking it out, theres a link here:
http://attractions.uptake.com/shopping/new_york/jackson_heights/neena_sari_palace_13384368.htmlhttp://attractions.uptake.com/shopping/new_york/jackson_heights/neena_sari_palace_13384368.html
Another nice thing about living in Jackson Heights is the Roosevelt station. The Roosevelt station is one of the largest train stations in NYC. It has the 7, R, M, E, F, and G trains, making it really busy and really convenient to get to.
