The best restaurants in Flushing, Queens

If the proliferation of Szechuan menus is any indication, New Yorkers crave heat. At Guan Fu Sichuan, platters of bean-jelly salads are amped up with garlicky chili oil, stewed pork legs are swamped in a hearty broth, and the other spicy dishes are great for sharing. The formal dining room sets this restaurant apart from similar spots.

Dumpling aficionados trek to this closet-size eatery to order the No. 6: A dozen pork wontons ($7), doused in roasted chili oil and topped with a smattering of diced pickled vegetables, arrives on a Styrofoam plate. Despite more than 30 items on the menu, it’s the only dish everyone seems to order—and for good reason.

Forget all the egg tarts you’ve ever tasted in New York. This bakery’s Portuguese tart is the best we’ve tasted. Enveloped in a buttery dough, the jiggly custard is full of vanilla and almond notes, but the tart itself is not overly sweet. We always order more than one (after all, they’re $2 a pop).

We first fell in love with cheong fun—the wide, translucent rice noodles that are often filled with pork, beef or shimp—at Joe’s Steam Rice Roll. The eatery now has two Manhattan locations, but the original Flushing stall, located in a narrow mall, is where we feel hypnotized and hungry each time the springy noodles are doused with sweet soy sauce.

Weave through the throngs of pedestrians outside the 7 train to find this basement-level food court. You can feast on everything from hand-pulled noodles at Lanzhou to bubble tea at Kung Fu Tea. Pro tip: Go with a group so you can sample more food.