Annam Brahma: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

Annam Brahma is a vegetarian restaurant in Jamaica, Queens, and it has served meatless Indian, Italian, Chinese, and American food since 1971. Nothing on the menu contains meat or fish. Lasagna and eggplant parmesan sit on the same board as dal and sambhar, so the kitchen cooks with cheese. The name means “Food is God” in Sanskrit, and staff who practice meditation under Sri Chinmoy run the place.

The week runs on a rotating schedule of specials, which the restaurant posts on its site. Dal and sambhar soups appear every day it opens. Monday, Saturday, and Sunday follow the regular menu. Tuesday is Chinese day, with Buddha’s Garden (a vegetable medley on brown rice) and a homemade spring roll with duck sauce. Thursday is Italian day, with spaghetti and marinara sauce, soy meatballs, eggplant parmesan, and baked lasagna. Friday brings neatloaf with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy. If you want the soy meatballs, plan your visit for Thursday. If you want the Chinese plate, come on Tuesday.

The regular menu covers East Indian dishes, daily soups, casserole specials, garden salads, vegetarian burgers, homemade desserts, and unusual drinks. The restaurant’s own site doesn’t publish the full menu or prices, so call (718) 523-2600 if you need a specific dish or a price. That gap matters, and we left the price band blank for the same reason. We didn’t guess.

The drinks list is the most specific part of the online menu. The kitchen makes Prana Kombucha in Pure and Hemp flavors. The drinks list also includes oolong tea, green tea, and yerba mate, and the restaurant says it sources the kombucha’s ingredients organically. The site pitches the salads as good for your immune system.

Cash is the only payment the restaurant takes, for dine-in and takeout alike. Bring bills.

Hours are short. The restaurant opens Monday through Saturday from 3 pm to 8 pm and Sunday from 1 pm to 7 pm. It closes every Wednesday. The site also posted a one-off closure for Sunday, October 11, 2026, which shows the owners keep the page current. Check the site before you drive, especially around holidays. The restaurant takes orders by phone for takeout or delivery too.

The restaurant reports a few awards. Its site quotes Newsday saying every dish sampled was delicious, credits the Queens Tribune with voting it the best vegetarian restaurant in Queens, and cites the Bethpage Best of the Boro contest for the same title in 2023. We read those claims on the restaurant’s own page, not in the original articles.

The room itself matters here. Sri Chinmoy paintings and quiet music set the mood, and the restaurant’s site says many guests call it an oasis in a busy city. It also sells books on meditation, incense, and peaceful music tapes. Sri Chinmoy lived in Jamaica for more than 40 years, and the restaurant describes itself as one of three Sri Chinmoy-inspired food establishments in the area, along with a health food store.

Annam Brahma sits at 84-43 164th Street. The restaurant’s history says Sri Chinmoy gave it the name, and that the Grammy-winning musician John McLaughlin opened it in 1971 and owned it until 1974. Smile of the Beyond, the Sri Chinmoy-inspired diner on Parsons Boulevard, lists Annam Brahma as a favorite on its own site. Pair them: breakfast at the diner, dinner here.