The Queens Night Market will kick off its ninth season with a sneak preview on April 13, but first it’s time to bask in glory!
It was determined to be the Best City Food Festival in the entire United States by USA Today. (The international news outlet recruited a panel of culinary experts who nominated their favorite festivals. Readers then voted on their top 10 from that pool.)
The announcement noted that QNM is “modeled after the popular open-air night markets of Asia, offering street food that showcases the ethnic and cultural diversity of the borough — all at wallet-friendly prices.”
QNM will open for the season on April 27 and operate continuously behind the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Saturdays nights until Halloween with a two-week break during the US Open tennis tournament.
Beforehand, QNM will sell a limited number of tickets for Sneak Previews on April 13 and April 20. Tickets are $5 in advance, and unsold tickets will cost $8 at the door. (QNM Founder John Wang has pledged to donate at least 20 percent of Sneak Preview proceeds to charity.)
When the regular season starts on April 27, general admission will be free and patrons will purchase products directly from vendors with a $5 price cap — and a few $6 exceptions.
They won’t be there every week, but here’s a list of expected items in 2024.
Afghan kabuli pulao and chapli kababs
Antiguan black pudding and ducana
Bangladeshi fried street sandwiches and chhola bhuna
Brazilian esfihas and churrasco
Burmese palatas and tea leaf salad
Cambodian fish amok
Colombian arepas
Dominican sancocho and pork locrio
Ecuadorian sanduches de pernil and bolones
Egyptian hawawshi
Ethiopian sega wat and chechebsa
Filipino chicken adobo and adidas and walkman skewers
Fujianese oyster cakes
Haitian diri ak djon djon and griot
Hong Kongese soy sauce noodles and rice noodle rolls
Indian BBQ and vada pav
Indonesian kue pancong and martabak
Japanese ramen and inarizushi
Korean doenjang-jjigae and jjajangmyeon
Malaysian laksa and Ramly-style burgers
Mexican tacos and huaraches
Pakistani BBQ rolls and nihari
Persian crispy rice, dizi and bastani
Peruvian ceviche and anticuchos
Polish pierogies
Portuguese pastéis de nata and bifana
Puerto Rican pastelles and papas rellenos
Romanian kürtőskalács
Salvadoran pupusas and nuegados
Sichuan ice jelly
Sierra Leonean jollof rice and cassava stew
Sudanese sambuxa and salata aswad
Taiwanese popcorn chicken
Tibetan momos and tsel bhakleb
Trinidadian curry crab and dumplings and shark sandwiches
Turkish gözleme
Ukrainian blintzes
Venezuelan cachapas
Uyghur samsa
QNM operates on Saturdays from 4 pm to midnight in the vicinity of 47th Avenue and 111th Street or about four blocks south of the 7 train’s 111th Street/Roosevelt Avenue station. A large, free parking lot is nearby, but several thousands patrons attend every week, so organizers suggest taking public transportation.
