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Sagar
Sweets & Restaurant
168-25B Hillside Avenue
Cuisine:
Indian
Hours:
9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. everyday
Telephone:
298-5696
Sweet
teeth have much reason to celebrate this week, with a holiday coming up
that practically requires sugary treats to be consumed at levels that
would make any dentist, dietician or mother
cringe.
The
usual fare consists of highly preserved chocolates, hard lozenges, chewy
fruit-like hoo-has and all sorts of other artificial substances that have
no nutritional value.
But there’s an option available to the people of Southeast Queens
that is a bit more wholesome and, to many, especially those above age 12,
a lot more tasty.
Indian
sweets, brought to South Asia from the Middle East by way of the Turks,
are plentiful in the area and a great alternative to factory-made candy
most people have on Halloween.
Common sense dictates that unwrapped, unlabeled treats are a no-no
for giving out on the 31st, but who says people can’t treat themselves
that night?
Sagar,
an “Indian” — the owners and operators are actually Bangladeshi —
restaurant on Hillside Avenue near the Central Branch of the Queens Public
Library, is just one of the area’s sources for great Indian sweets.
The
restaurant serves about a dozen kinds of sweets, at 50 cents each or $4
per pound. Most
are dense, moist and cold and, contrary to what their high sugar content
would suggest, quite refreshing.
Two
popular choices from Sagar’s sweet refrigerator are rasmalai and rosgola,
rosewater-inflected treats made with milk that have a hint of vanilla.
The Rasmalai balls float in a thick milk ‘broth,’ while the
rosgola balls sit in a light, rosy syrup.
Two
other popular choices are the goor and saner shondesh, both similar to the
rosgola, but without liquid base.
The goor shondesh is made with molasses and is dark in color, while
the saner shondesh has less sugar, is less sweet and lighter in color.
There’s
also gelapi, an orange-colored, pretzel-shaped treat that’s deep fried
and tastes like a sweet, crispy zeppole.
The gelapi drips with a very thick syrup, though it’s not as
sweet as it looks.
A
great complement to these solid sweets is the doi, or yogurt.
It’s similar to the yogurt in the refrigerated section of
supermarkets, except without any embellishments like fruit or nut
fillings. This
yogurt is plain, with a hint of sweetness and tastes great along with any
of Sagar’s solid sweets.
A
more fluid way to wash down the goods at Sagar while still getting a sugar
fix is with the lassi, a kind of sweet yogurt drink.
The rose and salted lassi are popular, as is the mango lassi, which
tastes just like mango juice, but thicker.
Sweets
aren’t the only food available at Sagar, though.
The restaurant also features a full menu of well-known Indian
classics, at great prices to boot.
Sagar
specializes in kabab, and it shows.
The glass display case tempts guests with rows of chicken, beef and
lamb kababs, though the chicken choices are the most popular.
The chicken tikka ($5) sells well, as is the chicken shish kabab
($6). The
tandoori chicken, at $2.50 is also a popular item.
The
aroma from the kababs fills Sagar’s newly renovated dining room (the
10-year-old restaurant had an overhaul this year), but there are plenty of
other choices. The
meat curry dishes are very popular, and the biggest section on the menu.
Plain and simple chicken, beef and goat curry dishes ($4 to $5) are
the most popular.
There are also seafood and vegetable dishes available, mostly $5 or
less, as well as plenty of staple choices in the rice and bread menus.
Most of the food is moderately spicy.
Most
of the clientele at Sagar are older South Asians taking food out, which is
testament to the fact that the food here has a very homemade taste and
feel to it and a lot of people order from here when they don’t get a
chance to cook at home. It’s prepared and tastes just like mom used to
make, if your mom’s from South Asia.
Whether
it’s Halloween or not, and you’re from the subcontinent or not, it’s
hard to go wrong with Sagar.
—
Shams Tarek
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