Mundo Cafe and Restaurant - Restaurant Review

Astoria's Mundo lives up to its name, giving your taste buds a crash course in regional cuisine from South America, Turkey, the Mideast, and the Mediterranean. Ottoman dumplings share equal billing with Brazilian croquettes and Cypriot salads. Its lively appetizer menu should not be missed. And like the best ethnic eateries in Astoria, Mundo's serves its globe-trotting menu at affordable prices, without sacrificing fresh style.

It's my preoccupation, even obsession, to create my own version of the combination plate by ordering multiple appetizers as my meal. Sadly, at too many restaurants, my dream ends in a grimace at a mountain of soggy calamari. The geniuses behind Mundo - Guillermo Lucerofabbi of Argentina and Canalp Caner from Turkey - must be my kindred spirits because their appetizer menu is the best I've seen in years. Substantial but not heaping, these small bites are perfect for sharing.

The star of the appetizers is the Red Sonja ($7), savory red lentil patties, served at room temperature, wrapped in a leaf of romaine lettuce. Squeeze some lemon on them. They're so tasty that even unfortunate jokes about the movie Red Sonja and Schwarzenegger's loincloth cannot thwart your appetite. Croquettes get sophisticated with the Brazilian coxinha ($3.50), a ball of shredded chicken and melty catupiry cheese within a sublimely thin layer of mashed potato, its outside deep-fried and crispy.

If the feast of small plates leaves you enough gumption to tackle an entree, go Turkish with Mundo's flagship dish the Ottoman dumplings ($12) with seasoned ground beef. Or try the Turkish meatballs ($12), traditional and comforting even if you've never set foot in Istanbul.

To wash down your meal, try the tasty yet rare Xingu, a black Brazilian beer. Kids of any age will enjoy Uludag, a fruity soda from Turkey's Uludag Mountains. Yes, even the sodas bring you the best of the world at Mundo.