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Jashim Ullah, one of the five owners of
The Gully, who are all longtime friends
and business partners, explained that they
wanted to make sure they were bringing
something to the neighborhood that pays
special homage to the Southeast Asian
culture along with delicious dishes for
anyone to indulge in.
“We wanted to do something very
different in the community,” Ullah said. “To
be able to bring a breath of fresh air to the
area and bring the old-school back a little
bit, and we definitely wanted to bring that
retro feel back to Astoria.”
The five owners — Razib Hasan, Sazzad
Hossain, Iqbal Ali, Naved Ahmed and
Jashim Ullah — are business partners on
several different restaurants throughout
New York, including Nur Thai and Sugar
N Coal in Woodhaven, and Indi Thai on
Allen Street in the Lower East Side. While
all five young men are from different parts
of New York, Astoria has a significant
meaning for the owners, especially
since a few of them had worked in the
neighborhood in years prior.
“We liked Astoria so much,” Ullah said.
“And we also did events here going back
years ago, so it’s just kind of like going
back to the old neighborhood.”
The restaurant's name, The Gully, means
"the street" — fitting because the focus of
the menu is on street food from Southeast
Asia. The Gully's renditions of these dishes
are both delicious and authentic. By
creating a menu with the best flavors from
different countries, the restaurant offers the
chance to “introduce different cuisines all
on one menu to give customers a variety,”
Ullah said.
The menu features dishes such as the
lamb burger made with ground marinated
lamb patty, seasoned with cilantro garlic
aioli, and served with chips. Another
option is the shrimp malai curry, which is
made with prawn and simmered in creamy
coconut milk and traditional spices. The
butter chicken consists of marinated dark
and white meat chicken which is slow
cooked in a creamy and buttery cashew nut
tomato sauce.
But so far, one of the biggest hits on the
/BOROMAG.COM
