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1 MIN READ
Celebrating momos with a street festival in New York City's Jackson Heights.
The Jackson Heights, Queens, neighborhood of New York City is home to one of the largest concentrations of South Asian businesses in North America. Each year, Nepali, Tibetan, Indian and Bhutanese restaurants take part in the Momo Crawl — a street festival that is at once a celebration of Himalayan regional cultures and a challenge: restaurants compete to serve the most delicious dumpling.
This year, rookie competitor Chet Bahadur Thapa Magar took on the reigning momo champion, Bimala Hamal Shrestha. Magar and his wife, Anju, opened their own mom-and-pop kitchen, Chef CBTM Bistro, earlier this year, after decades working in other people’s kitchens. Their momos are fresh and juicy, but will they be able to out-shine Shrestha’s restaurant, Nepali Bhanchha Ghar? Shrestha has won three times already and received recognition in the New York Times.
Salman Ahad Khan also contributed reporting.
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