30 Days of Queens: Day Three – Payag

I attempted two Meet Up outings in one day. First was the origami group [previous entry], second one was a foodie get together in Queens Filipino restaurant Payag.

Didn’t get a chance to take photos because I was too busy eating and chatting with all the cool new people. Funny that after all these years of living in Queens, I’ve never been to the 52nd St. Stop. The area actually looks nice, with a park and the restaurant etc. I’m going to miss all the ethnic foods in Queens (after all, they say the best international/diversity is around Queens).

Payag
51-34 Roosevelt Ave
Woodside, NY 11377
http://www.yelp.com/biz/payag-woodside

The best dish was Kare-Kare, a curry peanut beef stew. If you go with a small group I recommend getting this and maybe a vegetable dish. The cheesy mussels were also tasty to get as appetizers. The menu is really extensive so I think everyone can find something they like. I can’t seem to find the menu online so I suppose I’ll have to use yelp as reference.

I ordered a squid dish cooked in squid ink that tasted great but looked a bit scary. In the past I’ve had squid ink dishes from Spanish restaurants before, but don’t remember it being this dark! The other dish I ordered was a vegetable medley, including bitter melon, okra, eggplant, and bell papers. I couldn’t get enough of it. Other dishes we tried were pork and crepe with minced meat. The pork was on a sizzling plate and very spiced up and flavorful. Everything goes amazing with rice.

I didn’t order any fancy drinks but they do have an impressive drink list. I like how their regular tap water has lemon and cucumber slices in them. I do that with my own water at home sometimes to add additional flavor.

Last but not least, awesome service must be noted for everyone who wants to try the place. Our waiter was attentive and gave a brief explanation of all the background/overview of the dishes and even travel trips for Philippines.