Think Quick! Chinatown

[michaelkingdom]

Hey guys,

sorry for the short notice but I'm heading to NYC for my yearly trip. Chinatown is my culinary mecca. Any recommendations on some hidden gems?

My favorites:

$1 dumpling shops (84 allen st., eldridge + grand, some off lower mott)

shrimp noodle soup at Sweet n' Tart (mott st. and queens location)

Fay Da bakery - mott and canal

Pork Dumplings at the New Green Bo

What foods make you go crazy?

[Bux]

I'm still a fan of the dumplings at Dim Sum GoGo. They're very delicate. We had some on Sunday and since they don't bring them around on carts, you can order them at any time and get them fresh from the steamer. Their turnip cake is terrific as well, but so are the ones at Sweet-n-Tart.

Although I generally don't like braised bean curd nearly as much as steamed, I love the braised bean curd with spinach and ground pork in Joe's Ginger and the orginal Joe's Shanghai.

[Transparent]

Once a year and you know most of the $1 dumpling shops? That's impressive!

You should try Malaysian Jerky Inc. on Elizabeth and Grand for a snack. It's not cheap, but damn, I love their spicy chicken jerky.

[Pan]

Michael, if you want to go for a Shanghainese meal, consider the following dishes at Yeah Shanghai Deluxe:

Aster Indicus

Beef Tendon W. Spicy Flavor

Kaufu

Spicy Cabbage

Aromatic Beef

House Special Vegetarian Mock Duck

Spicy Minced Meat Noodle

Crab sauteed with garlic, scallions, and hot peppers

Jumbo Shrimp with Chili Sauce

Chicken with Chestnuts

Eel with leeks in black pepper sauce

They also have good juicy buns (xiao long bao) and scallion pancakes, and I often get noodle soup there, which consists of a combination of noodles in broth with one or another of their cold dishes.

For something that's more hidden, there's a bakery on the east side of East Broadway maybe a third of a block up from Chatham Square that sells little cakes with pineapple jam in them. They're probably not as good as the larger pineapple cakes I had in Beijing, but I like them very much.

Especially if it's a cold day, get some hot taro green milk tea at Tea & Tea (formerly Saint's Alp) on the west side of Mott St. just south of Bayard.

If you go for dim sum at Jing Fong (20 Elizabeth St.), they sometimes have buns with kaya (rich Malaysian coconut custard jam) in them. That might be only on weekends.

[Pan]

Oh, one other thing:

After having tried it two days ago, I can give a hearty recommendation for the crab congee at Congee, 98 Bowery between Hester and Grand (west side of Bowery).

[Gastro888]

XO Cafe - udon noodle soup. Not Chinese but very good soup. Oooh and at Fay Da bakery, get the Japanese Cheesecake - the best cake in Chinatown. Mei Lah Wah for the roast pork buns. Nothing like an crabby old Chinese man selling you roast pork buns.

Edited December 28, 2004 by Gastro888 (log)

[Pan]

I also like the ice cream at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory on Bayard St., though the place is hardly a secret. Try their mango/papaya, coconut, pineapple, mango, lychee, and ginger flavors, for instance. The ginger has a nice bite and is made with crystallized ginger.

[Pan]

Gastro888, I've never tried the XO Cafe, but I've heard some good reports on it. Anything else you recommend there?

[Transparent]

XO Cafe? Is that affiliated with the XO Kitchen?

[Gastro888]

Honestly, I don't know if XO cafe is associated w/ XO Kitchen.

Anything else I'd recommend there? Hmmm. Their food's pretty decent. The congee (jook) is not bad. I had the "teng jai jook" (err..let me get back on the English translation on that for you) and it was decent. I would stick with the soup dishes there.

The Malaysian jerky house is delish. Also, pop into one of the prepared food joints along that street as well. Get some roasted chicken w/ scallions on it. Good stuff.

FYI for anyone who's going to buy prepared foods in Chinatown - if you're buying a whole chicken or duck, make sure it's hanging with the head attached. I bought a soya sauce chicken for $5 bucks at one of those places and it turned out to have no head attached. This means they used "regular" chicken instead of the "Chinese" chickens which usually have more flavor. (OK, I'm very biased when it comes to my chicken, so this could be a childhood thang, but hey, if it ain't broke, why fix it?) *grin*

[Pan]

I don't know if there's any affiliation.

XO Cafe & Grill Inc

(212) 343-8625

96 Walker St

Xo Kitchen

(212) 965-8645

148 Hester St

[Pan]

Further to Gastro888's remark about chicken, we had a semi-informal banquet at Congee two days ago and got a whole hacked chicken with plenty of garlic. It was delicious, and I noted with approval that the head was included. I ate the head.

[Gastro888]

I ate the head. 

←

A man after my own heart!

I forgot to mention that at Mei Lai Wah, they have hai gaow and sui mai for sale as well. You might want to hit them up for those nuggets of heaven.

I also like Singapore Cafe for their Malaysian food and Big Wong's for their perserved egg and lean pork congee. And while you're at Fay Da, please drink some hot milk tea for me...nothing like a cup of HK style hot milk tea on a cold day.

Dang, I swear, you guys are really making me want to hop in my car and drive up there to get my grub on!!!

[Bux]

XO Cafe - udon noodle soup.  Not Chinese but very good soup.  Oooh and at Fay Da bakery, get the Japanese Cheesecake - the best cake in Chinatown.  Mei Lah Wah for the roast pork buns.  Nothing like an crabby old Chinese man selling you roast pork buns. 

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Mei Lah Wah is that the place that's just a few doors east of New Green Bo? What a relic. The interior must be the original. Hey, the guy behind the counter may be the original as well. Great place for steamed buns.

[Gastro888]

It could be. That place IS a relic. You know it's run by the old school Cantonese 'cause everything is as old as dirt and nothing's been remodeled. I am not crazy abotu steamed buns. Bake mine w/ a glaze, hunny, 'cuz that's the bomb!

[Bux]

I tend to prefer baked pork buns, but have developed a taste for steamed ones as well. I sorely miss the steamed poork and cabbage buns the Giuliani administration chased from Canal Street. The ones they heated on a griddle or flat bottomed wok so they had a thick crust on the bottom. Back to Mei Lah Wah, I recall large bun stuffed with a bunch of stuff that was interesting.

It's too bad it's so cold today. I was going to head down that way for lunch, but the guy I'm having lunch with is not going to be open to getting as far south as Canal Street. There was a great Shanghai restaurant on Grand Street, really just a little place with great food, but it disappeared. It was replaced by a bakery from across the street. Oddly enough, their baked pork buns are not as good as when they were on the south side of the street.

[Gastro888]

Oh, yeah, those are the "dai bow" at Mei Lah Wah. Big buns!

Never had those before - I just stick to the baked roast pork buns. You're so lucky you have the option of going to Chinatown for lunch. I'd kill to be able to do that.