Shaheen Sweets of Queens — Restaurant in New York

I've been a fan of Shaheen sweets for close to 26 years now and their mithai (Hindi word for sweets) never fail to amaze me with their authenticity, flavour and freshness.

I was delighted to rediscover this sweet shop recently and see how they have grown from strength to strength. I found that nothing had changed in their bakery spirit at all. In fact, they had gotten even better in terms of the par excellence of food preparation and delivery to their customers.

They now make the most delicately prepared packages of sweets in gift boxes for their customers in an excellent mail order service making for a lovely Diwali or anytime-of-the-year festive gift.

I was glad to see that their bakery still makes their special sweets from scratch daily with the same master chef, Tariq Hamid, at the helm of their daily operations. A newly refurbished store front is now a little further from their old location from early 2000's in Jackson Heights with a cosy bakery storefront for a lovely sit down and chat.

Take it from this media old hand in New York: this spot is a must try and must visit, to a bakery for anyone with a sweet tooth and love for South Asia. Shaheen Sweets is still a New York bastion of sweet treats...

I just stopped by Shaheen on my way to the airport and was FLOORED by my experience. I wanted to pick up some mithai on my way to visit my parents for the weekend (was taking a flight) so I stopped by. It's a legit bakery (not a storefront) -- I stepped inside, and was greeted by probably the friendliest crew I'd ever met. I explained that I wanted to take some sweets on a plane, gave them my order, and while I waited I was given samples (legit at least a quarter pound) to try as I stood there. They wrapped my food up tightly and sealed it so that it wouldn't spill in my suitcase.

In a place like New York, businesses like Shaheen (where the product is so delicious they could, if they wanted to, treat you like garbage and people would STILL come in droves) do not have to operate with the level of hospitality that I was shown today. They just don't -- in fact, one could argue that it isn't economical. But the fact that they did means that they've now got a repeat customer that will take the train from the west side of Manhattan for an hour each way fairly regularly now -- just for the taste and...

We recently were blessed with a baby girl. For her birth announcement we got mithai made from the very famous Shaheen Sweets in Queens. A dear friend of mine had brought a tray to my house and we were blown away by how delicious the mithai was. Especially the Mango barfi. I've never had Mango barfi before and this was such a delight. All of the barfis and gulab jamuns kalakand ladoo chum chum were the perfect amount of sweetness and the freshest mithai I've ever had. The owner was so kind and professional. He packed our boxes so properly and were ready on time. Literally everyone has been messaging us about how much they enjoyed the mithai and agreeing its one of the best they've had. Shaheen sweets is officially our family mithai caterer now. Thank you so much Tariq bhai for a...