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It’s been a while since a new culinary market opened in New York—but this one was worth the wait. As first reported by LIC Post, LIC Food Hall, a pan-Asian dining destination, is set to open this May inside Star Tower at 27-17 42nd Road, near 28th Street in Long Island City.
According to the outlet, the food hall will feature 10 vendors, both established and emerging, specializing in a variety of Asian cuisines, including Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese and Vietnamese.
Three brand-new restaurants will make their debut in the space:
- Guagua Bobo Chicken: serving spicy, fragrant skewers inspired by Chengdu’s night markets, along with dishes like braised pork over rice and sour and spicy noodles.
- Marathon Hong Kong Diner: a take on Hong Kong’s famous cafés, offering pineapple buns, pork chop rice and milk tea, plus more.
- Pho Vital: a Vietnamese eatery dishing out vermicelli bites, banh mi and more.
The hall will also house several expansions, including Fat Cat Flatbread, known for its guokui—a crispy flatbread stuffed with beef, egg yolk and more—and Hunan Noodle’s second location, serving Nanchang-style dry mix noodles.
Other highlights include Taipei Hang, specializing in dry hot pots and railway bentos inspired by Taiwanese train meals, and Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle, opening its third Queens location and adding another rice noodle soup hotspot to the borough. Rounding out the lineup are Onigiri Planet, offering Japanese rice balls, bubble tea spot Cozy Tea Loft and Duomi Rice Yogurt House, a drink-focused destination.
While many similar markets have shuttered across New York in recent years, the opening of LIC Food Hall feels like a continuation of a growing trend—one that specifically celebrates Asian cuisine.
In January, for example, Japanese brand Muji launched its first-ever gastronomic venture inside Chelsea Market, serving snacks, drinks... and coffee brewed by a robot.
Earlier this week, Japanese retailer Uniqlo followed suit, debuting its first North American coffee shop in midtown Manhattan.
Clearly, New Yorkers are still into food halls of a very specific kind.