Snacks' eclectic flavors intersect in Allston

Hanmaru
168 Harvard Ave., Allston, 617-779-7907
Hanmaru is "Asian fusion," explains owner Gyuman Han, but the kimchee pancake is authentic Korean. Han is originally from Seoul and studied computer science at Quincy College. He earned his restaurant chops at Shino Express on Newbury Street. His place in Allston is lit with paper lanterns, and a flat screen TV plays Korean TV with English subtitles. Kimchee pancake -- crisp, greasy, and spicy -- is made from scratch by chef Wahyu Hidayat. He chops the fermented cabbage mixture, tosses it in a bowl with chopped scallions, mixes in the batter, then pours everything into an oil-slicked nonstick pan. As it heats, he presses it down, and flips it again and again until it's golden brown on both sides. "Crispy is more better," he says. When it's done he sets the pancake on a plate and uses scissors to cut it into eight triangles. Sort of like an omelet, and kind of like a pancake, but spicier and yes, crisper than either.

Aneka Rasa
122 Harvard Ave., Allston, 617-562-8989
With its bamboo-thatched roof above the open kitchen and shelves holding cast iron teapots, An eka Rasa could be the Malaysian - themed restaurant at Epcot. Fortunately, the food is for real. Roti paratha is a sweet puffy layered pancake. Owner Jimmy Toh says that his grandmother made it in a little iron pan over a fire. At An eka Rasa, the dish is cooked on a well-scrubbed griddle. Toh forms a dough from flour, eggs, butter, and sugar, then flattens it on a slab of marble. He lays the dough on the hot griddle and as it cooks, it puffs up and turns flaky and crisp. The curry begins as chicken on the bone, chopped into pieces and cooked forever with potatoes and spices in a creamy and aromatic coconut milk broth. The idea is to tear off a piece of roti and dip it in the curry. Then, of course, do this again and again and again.

Color
166 Harvard Ave., Allston 617-787-5656
Owner Seungwon Ju's Color looks like it could be in a Hello Kitty cartoon. Ttokbokki, a favorite with Korean students, is a spicy stew of steamed tubular rice-cake noodles and vegetables. The dish is hot , sweet , and tingly, meant to be soothed with a bowl of bean sprout broth and a few pickles.

Madina Market's Kitchen
72 Brighton Ave., Allston, 617-787-4400
Madina Market is almost invisible from the sidewalk. Walk through the door, and you have a wall of spices, spices, spices, and not much else on one side. The other is a restaurant, or basically a tiny kitchen, a buffet table behind the counter, a few tables to sit at, and a long blackboard where items are written. On the walls are tapestries of Kaba and Mecca and , to set the scene further, a few old guys with long beards hanging out and cooking. Pakistani manager Tanweer Iqbal says that Madina's pakoras are unlike others in Boston. He makes a sort of batter with besan flour (ground chana dal), pomegranate seeds, coriander powder, turmeric powder, chili powder, and eggs, and deep fries it. The batter turns dark brown and wispy and somehow stays crunchy even in the styrofoam take out box. Iqbal says that his pakoras are bigger than those in Pakistan, but they taste the same. Still, when nobody is around, the old guys make batches of the small ones for themselves.

Infusions Tea Spa
110 Brighton Ave., Allston, 617-254-1122
This tea house must vie for the calmest, cleanest, most civilized award. There are wooden tables, wooden floors, healthy plants, and Asian students drinking tea over hushed conversations. Taiwan-born owner Yulin Fong is very pretty and very pregnant. One of several snacks on the menu, ground pork and pork belly contains sweet little pieces of the ground meat with garlicky pork belly, steamed rice , and a marinated egg that tastes like a boiled peanut.

Soul Fire Barbecue
182 Harvard Ave., Allston, 617-787-3003
It's amazing, but owner Wyeth Lynch's golden mac and cheese balls, made from one of America's most popular dishes, are actually not that silly. Lynch tosses cooked pasta in a really thick cheese sauce -- it's made with cheddar, pepper Jack, mozzarella, and Velveeta (yes!) -- and bakes it in the oven like a real macaroni and cheese. He lets it cool, scoops out balls with a mel on baller, dunks them in milk, rolls them in clam fry, and throws them in the deep fryer. They come out looking like golf ball tempura, crisp outside, creamy and cheesy inside. Lynch likes to dip them in sweet barbecue sauce. "Macaroni and cheese was always good,and now it's finger food," he says. Killer finger food.

Moscow International Food Store
133 Harvard Ave., Allston, 617-782-6644
Friendly and funny, with one of the longest, most luxurious ponytails in Boston, owner Larisa Lushkova presides over this market. She says that at home in Belarus, the chocolate potato takes its name from the fact that it looks like a potato. Lushkova brings them in from a bakery in Brooklyn, where they're made with almond-flavored rum, walnuts, chocolate, and bread crumbs, then rolled in dried coconut and powdered sugar. She likes them for breakfast or with coffee or tea. "They are not too fat and not too sweet," she says.

Camino Real
48 Harvard Ave., Allston, 617-254-5088
Owner Felix Augusto Perez of Medellin, Colombia, says that claro is a Colombia n version of the Mexican drink atole. For the creamy drink, he boils dry corn in water until it's really soft, adds corn flour to thicken it, then milk. He says that Colombians like to drink claro with a piece of guava paste. "You drink a little then you eat a little guava paste," he says. "It's a real thirst quencher."