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i wonder what @Sneakeater thinks While booming in its own right, Astoria’s restaurant scene remains more or less insulated from the check-bloating trends of Manhattan and Brooklyn. In Astoria, a great slice of pizza still costs $3, and “caviar” is more likely to refer to taramosalata than Osetra on top of a mozzarella stick. “There are really good bars that only charge like $13 a cocktail,” says Ravi Thapa, who grew up in Astoria after his family emigrated from Nepal in 2000 and who got his start in front-of-house work at local bar Mar’s in 2015. Knowing this, Thapa wanted to be careful about debuting a tasting menu at Ramro, his Nepalese Filipino New American restaurant. “We know not everyone wants to do the tasting,” he says, referring to the six-course $99 menu that debuted early this year, “so that’s why it’s only available at the bar,” by which he means just four seats. In addition to the very limited seating, Ramro’s tasting menu is available only on Saturday nights. This past weekend, it started with a trio of bites including a tiny puri puff with shrimp mousse. The crudo was snapper with kosho and vinegar that chef Raymund Embarquez made with dalandan, the lemony-orange citrus fruit, which his fiancée’s mother sends from her backyard tree in California. A monkfish course was served with a stock that had been seasoned with fermented black bean. That was followed by duck with annatto oil and achara, a pickled-papaya condiment, and the meal finished with Basque cheesecake and butternut-squash cream. click for more 3093 38th street (31st avenue)