The Bangladeshi community is one of the fastest growing in recent years in New York, and Jackson Heights, Queens is the epicenter. The streets of 73rd/74th Streets between Roosevelt Avenue and 37th Avenue offers several Bangladeshi restaurants, but clearly the best for quality of food and atmosphere is HAAT BAZAAR. The cuisine of Bangladesh is similar in some ways to northern India with it's flavorful biriyanis, but differs in its strong leaning to fish dishes. Bangladeshi cuisine also has a tendency is more spicy than Indian.

Plate of Kacchi Biriyani, this is considered the National Dish of Bangladesh, it is revered and served at weddings and special gatherings. It maintains the the classic look of Muglai cooking of northern India, but this biriyani centered in Dhaka has its own unique preparation and flavor. Served with mutton as the meat, fine rice, yogurt, and shelf load of exotic spices and a hard boiled egg this is a dish, busts with rich flavor and is not to be missed. The word "kacchi" means "raw" referring to the biriyani ingredients and how they are cooked in layers all together instead of cooking the meat first and rice separately.

The manager of the twelve year old HAAT BAZAAR is Sarrer Ranjit, he was very informative in explaining his country's cuisine and instrumental in helping me select the dishes that "I must have." The restaurant is good sized seating about seventy-five, the decor is pretty spartan except for the three TV's overhead. However, the "atmosphere" of the restaurant is made up of the people themselves, animated and enjoying the terrific food. HAAT BAZAAR on weekends gets especially  colorful with large families attending.

There is a Bengali saying. 'Mach-e-bhat-e' . . . "fish and rice make a Bengali."  Bangladesh is a country of rivers and it is famous for its vast array of fish dishes. HAAT BAZAAR usually serves ten fish dishes daily. During my visit, Sarrer suggested I try the country's most popular fish, that being Hilsa Fish. The fish (photo above) is served in spicy pungent curry with squash, and despite the amount of tiny bones, I enjoyed the flavors. Bangladeshi curries are well-know for their "heat" using a good amount of mustard oil and very liberal on the use of green chilies. 

Known as "Mix Boto," this vegetable platter includes: potato, beans, broccoli, pumpkin, tomato and grounded shrimp. It had a decisive spicy kick.

At HAAT BAZAAR there is not the usual table service with a menu, but instead an impressive food counter running a good twenty feet containing some thirty food selections. There are four friendly young Bangladeshi's behind the counter who will help you navigate what you want. After you select the dishes you want, you go to your table and they bring the food to you.

Bengali language lesson - "Hello"  (Ka mon acho)   "Thank you"  (Dhon no baad)   "Delicious"  (Moja)

Interesting fact about Bangladesh - Bangladesh with a population of 157 million is the most densely populated country in the world (with countries with over 10 million) Its population is greater than that of Russia which has one hundred times the land mass.

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