Anyone who has been to New York and Abu Dhabi can attest to the fact that both cities are, as John Sexton once put it, a miniaturization of the world. Very few cities can match their diversity of sights, sounds, smells, tongues, ideas and people.

But as is the case in Abu Dhabi, the experience of students at Sexton’s Global Network University often does not do justice to its home city. We talk often about the Saadiyat bubble, but most NYU Abu Dhabi students enter a similar bubble when they step foot in New York. We choose to restrict ourselves to a small stretch of lower Manhattan, rarely venturing beyond Times Square on 42nd Street in the North and below Chinatown’s spectacular views of Brooklyn Bridge in the South.

On one hand, it is an understandable instinct.The sheer breadth and depth of downtown Manhattan’s offerings are enough to overwhelm any visitor, especially over the course of a semester. MacDougal Street — located next to the Washington Square campus — itself has everything from soft Ethiopian injera to delicious Lebanese shawarma to innovative artichoke Pizza. But it also means that most NYUAD students fly out of JFK not having experienced the full miniaturization of the world that New York has to offer. Thus, with more NYUAD students studying away this academic year than ever, here is a guide to some of New York’s best affordable food experiences, with entries from three of the city’s four outer boroughs.

Momo Crave Photo Courtesy of Laura Assanmal.

My personal favorite New York food area is a solid 45-minute subway ride away from Washington Square Park. In the corners of Jackson Heights in Queens, a celebration is always taking place. Diwali lights are quickly repurposed for Christmas, with some being left over for Bangladesh Victory Day. On its playfully lit streets and plazas, one can find everything from Uruguayan desserts to Indian Samosa Chat to Bengali puchkas.

One of the best examples of the latter lies on 69th street, where a small Nepali shop fulfills the cravings of anyone missing Vansha Ghar. The restaurant nails its momos, from the classics, like the succulent fried option, to the experimental, including taco and chaat momo varieties. In our opinion, the best momo on offer is the chili momo, which oozes so much spice that one finds themselves transported to the streets of South Asia, though this particular option is not one for the faint hearted.

In a corner, the restaurant’s fridge has small sticky notes from people in various languages, sharing what the restaurant meant to them and even revealing the long drives they took to come to the city; not for the Empire State Building, but for Momo Crave.

Seis Vecinos Photo Courtesy of Abhyudaya Tyagi.

The Gazelle’s former Editor-in-Chief Laura Assanmal swears by Seis Veicinos, one of New York’s best Central American restaurants. Roughly translated to “six neighbours”, Seis Vecinos takes great pride in representing food from six Central American nations. Located in the South Bronx, the restaurant is often full of families celebrating birthdays and other special occasions. If you go, take a Spanish speaker along; English is refreshingly absent from this corner of New York City. The baleadas, a Honduran breakfast dish of tortillas filled with refried beans, crema, crumbled cheese and scrambled eggs are spectacular and will make you rethink how you envision breakfast.

The restaurant is also famous for its Salvadoran pupusas: handmade thick tortillas stuffed with savory fillings ranging from simple cheese to beef. Most meat-eaters fall in love with the restaurant’s canoes of plantains stuffed with ground beef, cheese, cream, beans and pico de gallo. The guacamole — made in front of you in a cart — is distinctive and is a worthy accompaniment to almost every dish on the menu. The tamales — a mixture of corn dough and filling often steamed in plantain leaves — are characteristically delicious. A meal at Seis Vecinos is best complemented with a glass of Horchata; a refreshing rice drink which can awaken any appetite. Most surprisingly — and perhaps most controversially — the restaurant has the very best hot chocolate that this writer has ever had the pleasure of tasting; exponentially better than Brooklyn’s famous Jacques Torres that NYUAD students tend to visit.

Qahwah House Photo Courtesy of Abhyudaya Tyagi.

Missing Abu Dhabi? Head to Qahwah house, where the chai is sweet, the atmosphere is lively and the clientele primarily comes from this part of the world. When one misses the taste and feel of Abu Dhabi, there is arguably no better place to recreate it. Qahwah House is best visited after a stroll through young and trendy Williamsburg’s roads, filled with niche bookstores, a gazillion pizza options and trendy artsy hotspots.

The cafe prides itself on its coffee; which, as it suggests, comes from the birthplace of coffee in Yemen. Personally, the main selling point of the cafe is its Adeni chai, perhaps the closest alternative to karak on this side of the world. The pastry options are limited in number, but extraordinary in quality, from soft and buttery Sabaya pastries, to Khaliat Alnahl, a Yemeni dessert of cheese-filled rolls drizzled with honey. The cafe doubles up as a work spot, as visitors include everyone wishing to indulge in intense intellectual debates to university students scrambling to submit their assignments.

In the 1990s and the 2000s, visitors to Jackson Heights often encountered the Arepa Lady: Mario Cano. She was a Colombian woman who had fled war in her home country and set up a famous Arepa stand in Queens. In the 2010s, her sons helped her set up a sit-down restaurant which offers some of the city’s best Colombian fare.

But as the name suggests, a 45-minute subway drive from NYU housing is worth it for the arepas. These doughy cornmeal cakes are stuffed with a variety of options, ranging from chorizo to queso. The sauces are incredibly flavorful and greatly complement the soft texture of the arepas. The restaurant also has the most delectable mini-empanadas, which are served with cheese, chicken or beef. Arepa Lady is dimly-lit, providing the perfect setting for a cozy weekend dinner. Most importantly, compared to other brick-and-mortar options in the city, the restaurant is relatively affordable and one can easily have a special meal under 10 dollars per head.