Tong Restaurant টং রেষ্টুরেন্ট
Bangladeshi restaurant · Briarwood ·
Authentic Bangladeshi street food, flaming fuchka, luchi platters
Authentic Bangladeshi street food, flaming fuchka, luchi platters
"Beloved Bengali street cart Tong finally opened their first brick and mortar shop in Jamaica, so you no longer have to work through their delightful wreaths of sweet and sour fuchka standing on the street with a Tide Stick, hoping for the best. The new location adorably pays homage to their street food roots with a counter shaped like a cart and murals of vendors dishing out fuchka on the walls. Truthfully, we don’t mind eating street food as intended (on the street), but a permanent location also means an expanded menu. They’ve added non-veg and veg luchi plates to their roster, with freshly fried bread, sweet cucumber yogurt, well-seasoned beef patties, and some of the best dal tadka we’ve had. The fuchka, topped with a generous amount of fresh coconut and egg yolk, is as good as ever, and you can now get it on fire. No, literally. Each piece arrives with a small, social-media friendly flame inside—a relatively recent trend that started in India. You each fuchka without blowing out the flame, letting the pani extinguish it in your mouth. We haven’t had this version yet, but we’re told everyone’s tongues have survived thus far. It’s great to see one of our favorite food carts (and restaurants) in the city expand, and we’re looking forward to trying whatever other classic, complex street foods they’ll add to the menu with a real kitchen on site. Another benefit to the brick and mortar: There’s a sink in the corner of the dining room to rinse all that marsala off your hands." - Neha Talreja
"I noted that Tong, which built a following from its Bangladeshi street food fuchka cart, opened its first permanent location in Jamaica expanding beyond its six mobile spots with a larger menu that includes flaming fuchka and luchi platters." - Eater Staff
"Now housed in a permanent Jamaica storefront at 153-35B Hillside Avenue (between Parsons Boulevard and 155th Street), Tong — the Bangladeshi fuchka street-cart phenomenon founded by Naeem Khandaker — opened on July 29 and brings its street-food roots into a 20-seat dining room. I note the decor keeps the cart vibe with a green street-cart illustration on the awning and counter, protruding green corrugated roofing, and hand-painted murals of people enjoying street foods in Bangladesh. The expanded menu adds six labor-intensive items, including the savory fuchka on fire (where each stuffed puff essentially becomes a candle) and a luchi platter whose beef chaap is made from ground beef marinated up to 10 hours, shaped into patties and pan-fried, and served with palm-sized luchi, a saucy dal, and a cucumber-yogurt salad. Drinks and desserts include lemonade; pagla pani, a sweet-sour-spicy mix of 16 masalas; valobashar sharbot (a watermelon beverage); and falooda with small sago pearls in ice cream. After launching six outdoor outposts across Queens and the Bronx and sparking broader interest in Bangladeshi street foods since 2018, Khandaker says running a storefront is “a lot more responsibility,” but the larger kitchen gives him room to experiment as he continues his mission to spread Bangladeshi snacks; Tong is open daily from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m." - Caroline Shin
Connie K.
Syed A.
Farah M.
Wacef C.
Md R.
Ratna P.
Ramee
Ishrat A.
Rashed C.
Rezwana N.
Afnan A.
Joseph T.
Andie E.
Ariba I.
Sunny A.
GarGuPi L.
Sage R.
Selina A.
