A&B Lobster King House

[Pan]

I ate dinner at this place on 1 Mott St. tonight. I've noted for some time that this restaurant is quite popular with Chinese people. I had Hong Kong style squid, scallops, shrimps, snow peas, and some scallions, ginger, and little black mushrooms in a casserole. Except for the canned mushrooms, the ingredients were all fresh. Some parts of the squid were very chewy, and I think intentionally so. The dish was pleasant. I also noticed that lots of food other people were having smelled good. Has anyone else checked this place out yet? It seems to me to be another Cantonese banquet restaurant to complement the much larger Congee Village and Super Taste House on Division St.

[Suzanne F]

We pass it all the time, but have not stopped in. This is the first incarnation in a long time that seems to be successful since it closed as Hunan Garden. For a while it was a place that supposedly served Chairman Mao's favorite foods; as you can imagine, it was almost empty every time we went by. Then, it looked as though the only people in it were gangsters. I don't know for sure that's what they were, but they were the only ones in there. Now, it's pretty full all the time. It's good to know that it's worth trying.

[Bux]

We were there quite some time ago. We had at least a couple of meals there. Liked it a lot and I think I've made some comments about those meals on eGullet. On the whole, it's lost out to some restaurants that are closer to home or more casual.

[Suzanne F]

I woke up craving dumplings today, so we tried it out for dim sum.

Arrived around noon, and the place was packed. They have carts, but not all items seemed to circulate; those that I noticed included: har gow, shumai, stuffed peppers, stuffed eggplant, that clam-coated-with-mayonnaise-and-broiled thing, vegetable dumplings (both steamed and fried), sweet egg custards, sesame-coated balls -- that's all I can remember right now. There is also a menu for dim sum, congee, etc., but we didn't realize it existed until we were done. We saw other items then, that looked very good, such as meaty racks of bbq ribs, and what might have been a savory egg custard tart with vegetables in it.

We stuck with basic stuff, mostly:

• har gow -- a little salty, otherwise a bit bland, but very fresh
  
• shu mai -- larger than many, and with big toothsome chunks of meat lightly 5-spiced (not all mashed up and of suspect content)
  
• steamed vegetable dumplings -- which also had chunks of shrimp, along with very finely minced chives, carrot, mustard greens (I think) -- these were superb
  
• eggplant stuffed with shrimp -- on the oily side, the shrimp filling copious if a bit bland, very tasty sauce
  

Nothing was still hot when we got it, but that's what I expect from carts, so I didn't mind. All the dumpling wrappers were very good, none too thick to obscure the filling.

We also pulled the "Bring us what they're having" pointing trick for a sparerib/noodle dish our tablemates ordered first: chopped pieces of rib meat in a slightly sweetened, soy-based sauce with sliced hot pepper and garlic (a lot like the ribs-with-black-beans I'm used to, but no beans, and spicier), served over tightly-wound 1/2-inch strips of white (rice?) noodle. The meat was meaty, the sauce was well-balanced, and the noodles were a perfect foil. We asked our tablemates what the dish was called, but they didn't know an English translation, and didn't realize I wanted the real name, anyway. In any case, a lot of tables were getting it.

Total for the 5 dishes (before tax) was just under $14. Seemed reasonable, especially since each order of dumplings had 4 pieces, the eggplant was 3 thick sandwiches, and the ribs/noodles was quite a good size portion.

We probably will go back soon for dinner, since it is the closest Ctown restaurant for us. And it is worth more visits.

[anil]

It used to be good, but off late either they stopped caring to prepare certain dishes just right {e.g. steamed fish/Tilapia (over cooked)), soggy baby-bok-choi ..... anyway just returned an hour ago from Congee Village, which is consistent in congee, Fried bread&condensed-milk and baked rice They do make sub-par mixed drinks

[Suzanne F]

Really? But A & B has only been open as such for a few months!

[anil]

Really?      But A & B has only been open as such for a few months! 

Are we talking about the same place ? The corner place right ?

[Suzanne F]

The wedge-shaped place at #1 Mott Street, across from the Citibank, with its other side on Worth Street divided by the entrance to "Dr. Toothy's." The place that was Hunan Garden for umpteen years until a year or two ago, then had a couple of other names and looked like a gangster hangout.

That's the place called A & B Lobster King House that I'm talking about. Is that the place you are talking about?

[herbacidal]

Some parts of the squid were very chewy, and I think intentionally so.

squid in chinese restaurants, in my experience and preference, is always chewy.

[anil]

The wedge-shaped place at #1 Mott Street, across from the Citibank........

That's the place called A & B Lobster King House that I'm talking about.  Is that the place you are talking about?

Meant to swing by today; off-shot by a few blocks and landed in your backyard -- Jones St. for Festival of Light events in South Street Seaport and food fair

[Pan]

I'm doing jury service this week, and I decided to have lunch at A&B. I'll plus and minus it, but on balance, it was pretty good dim sum for New York. I asked the woman pushing the cart with the steamed stuff to show me everything she had, but I didn't find out until later that she had chicken feet and steamed spare ribs with black bean sauce but didn't show those to me. So be warned that the "You no like" syndrome is in operation for English-speakers (or at least non-Chinese English-speakers). And I'm glad I had those dishes. The chicken feet were made from the typical cod-liver-oil-fed chicken I've gotten at every other dim sum house in New York, but the sauce was very garlicky. The spare ribs were much lighter than usual, not really oily as usual, and had only a touch of black bean sauce. I think both of those dishes were better than the run of the mill. I also got beef balls and shrimp siu mai, which were average, and red pork buns, which were OK until the bottom of the buns started to become distressingly mushy from condensation (I guess). The total was $11.80 plus tip, I think. Sure, I'm damning the place with faint praise, but remember that no dim sum in New York is ever likely to come anywhere close in quality to Xin in Kuala Lumpur, so whatever is best here is best of a comparatively mediocre lot. I thought it was good enough to go back some time this week.