Ganesh Temple Canteen, Southern Indian, Volunteer-Staffed Cafeteria in a Hindu Temple on Bowne Street and Holly Avenue in Flushing

[manolands]

Soooooo I finally made it out to Ganesh Temple's Cafeteria after wanting to go sometime. I was repurposing after finding Gui Lin Mi Fen to be under renovation or closed (the guy couldn't really explain what was going on). It was for the best though as this place was truly one of the most memorable adventures I've had in a long timmeeee. It's this nice canteen serving nice Dosas and other Indian veggie dishes out of it's cavernous complex. The place is pretty big especially compared to the slumped wooden houses that surround it. They have it all inside: the wedding hall, prayer space, the canteen and MORE!! It was almost otherworldly seeing this massive Hindu temple in the middle of a random part of Flushing. Any who the food is quite nice and while I am a bit weaker in my Indian palate (didn't grow up eating it in the way I did other cuisines like Chinese) I would rate this place very high. Not only do they have a wide variety of dishes, particularly in dosas, that often one doesn't see BUT they have a whole slew of other dishes as well to quench your indian veggie appetite. I went with the Mysore Masala Dosa which was quite delectable and had the perfect amount of spice (I do love spice and could've handled more but this spice complemented the flavors well rather then overpowering them). I also should laud the price to quality ratio. I don't think a single item (admittedly I forget some of the spelling/names so forgive me dear rockers!!) was over 7 buckaroonies which in my book is a steal for the quality of these dosas. Sooooo between the very cool visiting the temple experience and the food I would say make the trek out here!! 

[DonRocks]

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you having posted this.

"Ganesh Temple Canteen" by Layne Mosler on nymag.com

[Mississippi Snopes]

Yes, this place should be one of the top tourist sites in NYC, both for the fantastic food and the fascinating temple. Anthony Bourdain visited here on one of his shows back in 2009 (along with a trip to the fantastic Golden Mall food court in Flushing).