Tables For Two

Lhasa Fresh Food

81-09 41st Ave., Queens.

- Hannah Goldfield

Before Lhasa Fresh Food, which opened last year, there was Lhasa Fast Food, one of the worst-kept chowhound secrets in Queens, often described as being “in the back of a cell-phone store in Jackson Heights.” (Actually, it’s one of several businesses in a small arcade, including not only a cell-phone store but also a money-transfer counter, a jeweller, and a tailor.) Whether or not you stumble upon the restaurant organically, a visit offers something of an illicit thrill. Walk through a narrow, fluorescent-lit hallway, past window displays of handheld devices and accessories, and suddenly you’re in a tiny, brightly painted oasis, eating—under the watchful eye of the Dalai Lama—from a limited menu of delicious Himalayan food: steamed momos, a type of dumpling similar to a Chinese bao, plus a handful of noodle dishes and stir-fries.