I got to attend the Asian Feastival in Flushing this past Monday and it was fantastic! A great mix of samples from diverse Asian restaurants, as well as lectures, demonstrations, and an Asian green market too! (pictured above – Dduk sweet rice cakes).

One of the new things I got to try was Burmese noodle salad, which was part of the Burmese cooking demo. It had fish oil, shrimp flakes, tamarind, onions, and was really yummy!

More Dduk! I think these were from the Korean restaurant KumGangSan.

I got to try my first ever Durian and it was way better than I expected. It’s always hyped to be this really scary stinky fruit, but I don’t think it was too bad (of course it was cut outside, which may have made it less smelly). I actually really liked the custardy texture.

The best drink was Golden Star Tea, which was very Champagne-like.

Banana Langka Toron with Caramel Sauce from the Filipino restaurant Payag.

Payag also had Halayang Ube Cake. Ube is a purple yam jam.

Gorgeous carved watermelon by George Wong!

Mooncakes from Deluge Asian Fusion!

Shanghai Soup Dumplings from Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao in Flushing. Considered by many to be the best in NYC!

Close-up!

Kazuko Nagao of Artisanal Japan and PecoPeco did a fun Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki demo!

Lovely sugar cubes from Chambre de Sucre!

Natural Vegan Way had these cute cupcakes in Green Tea, Wasabi, and Pandan flavors!

We also stopped in at the Flushing Mall food court while we were in the area and got some dumplings! Dumpling makers in action!

Finished product! Yum!

Shaved ice in the Flushing Mall! We will definitely be back to check more of Flushing out, there is so much to see and eat there!

At the Asian Feastival in Queens
By NICK FOX

Photo: Nick Fox
Nan Shian Dumpling House prepared their specialty at the Asian Feastival on Monday.

As with so much in life, you get what you pay for in food festivals. Or feastivals.

Want a free ride to Governors Island for your pick of cheap food from vendors at BklynYard’s Parked on Sunday? Wait an hour and a half for the ferry and who knows how long for the food. (Anyone? How was it?)

On the other hand, if you paid $50 in advance ($60 at the entrance) at theAsian Feastival in Flushing, Queens, on Monday afternoon, you had your pick of food from 20 of the borough’s restaurants, serving about a dozen cuisines.

Granted, that’s not a cheap lunch. But the price wasn’t unreasonable given the variety and quality of the food, and it also included panel discussions and demonstrations on Asian cooking as well as a tour of the neighborhood with the food writer Joe DiStefano.

Some of the borough’s traditional big draws weren’t there at the Sheraton LaGuardia East hotel, but Wendy Chan, the marketing consultant who organized it, said one of the goals was to “give a boost to up and coming and deserving restaurants in Queens.’’

So there was no Sripraphai, but Ploy Thai, (81-40 Broadway in Elmhurst, 718-205-2128) served a rarely seen snack called miang kam — pork, coconut, peanuts, ginger and lime wrapped in a betel leaf.

Payag, (51-34 Roosevlet Avenue in Woodside, 347-935-3192) is probably a bit too new for even some Filipinos to have heard about its “redefined Filipino cuisine,’’ but the crowd on Monday — about 600 people showed up, Ms. Chan said — seemed to love its humba tartlets with shredded pork; kinilaw canapes with a coconut ceviche of tuna on cucumber slices, and chunks of lechon — roast pig.

The only thing that passed for a line — a dozen people at most — was at the booth where the folks from Nan Shian Dumpling House (38-12 Prince Street in Flushing, 718-321-3838) assembled their specialty.

There were also numerous Chinese and Japanese desserts, tastings of Laotian beer, sake, wine, Golden Star tea and Bruce Cost’s ginger ale.

At the small Asian farmer’s market table you could try durian — yes, it tastes better than it smells — and at the Himalayan Yak stall, you could try yak dumplings. Who knew there was a yak farm in Vermont?

But as Ms. Chan said in explaining her hopes that the festival would draw more people to Queens to try the different cuisines, “It’s hard to know what’s what if you don’t have a guide.”