Tanxia Wang Fu Zhou Cuisine

I stopped in here for a quick bite to eat during a weekday night to find it pretty empty. It might have been a factor of it being a bit late for Chinatown (past 7 PM) and the horrible weather, so that when I dropped in, there were only 3 other groups (a mother and her sons, a single dude, and a group of 3 young adults) inside the store. Albeit, it’s not a very big store in the first place, so perhaps 3 groups is a lot.

I came here explicitly for their dumplings, having been determined to try out all the dumpling places in Chinatown. However, they happened to have just baked a batch of buns, and when they offered me one for a dollar, I just couldn’t resist. Such a huge fluffy, fresh warm bun! All the workers in the store were busy munching away at the buns so I figured they must be pretty good.

The menu is pretty simple – they’re a bunch of small eats that are common in the Fu Zhou style dumpling shops in this part of Chinatown / Lower East Side. I’m not entirely sure what their relationship to Shu Jiao Fu Zhou Cuisine Restaurant (way down on the other end of Eldridge) is, but they have remarkably similar looking menus. Perhaps they got them from the same designer? Their menus do have slight differences in their featured items, so I don’t think they’re the same shop.

Meat Bun – I asked them what kind of bun it was, and all they said was meat. I’m pretty sure it was just a pork bun, though quite a different style than most of the buns you’ll find in the Chinatown bakeries. It was extremely greasy and meaty – almost a bit too much so. A solid, filling bun (great bang for your buck), but not the best quality. 7/10

Dumplings – One of the dumplings came out with the skin broken and the filling peaking out from the opening. Not exactly a good sign. The dumplings were good, but like with Fuzhou Wei Zhong Wei and Lam Zhou, they didn’t blow me away. 7.25/10

Verdict: 2.5 stars. Nothing particularly standout about the meal that would inspire me to go back. However, it wasn’t bad, and was dirt cheap and surprisingly filling. Still, I would recommend you to go on over to Shu Jiao Fu Zhou for similar (if not cheaper) pricing and better food.

Noodle Village

Noodle Village is a bit of a trek down Mott, away from the most bustling part of Canal Street, but it is certainly worth the walk.

I first came here after spending a long day out in the hot sun for the Pride Parade. My friends and I were craving some cheap and delicious Chinese food, which led to a trip to Chinatown, where I, the “resident expert,” was tasked with choosing a restaurant. Not wanting to disappoint, I brought them to Spicy Village, only to find them closed on a “one day vacation” (yes, apparently those do exist). Racking my head for alternatives, I decided this was as good a time as any to try Noodle Village, which I had heard so much praise for.

Arriving at Noodle Village, we were promptly seated and given menus. Since we were all ravenous, we first ordered some starters in the form of fried dumplings and soup dumplings.

Fried Dumplings – Delicious. They were perfectly fried, with extremely savory fillings. I loved that the skin wasn’t too thick, as is common with most places in Chinatown (particularly those that make their own skins).  8.75/10

Pork Soup Dumplings – They had much thinner skins than the ones at Shanghai Café, which was a big plus.  I enjoyed them, though I wouldn’t say they were standout. 8/10

Then we each also ordered an individual dish. One of my friends ordered some congee, which some of my friends declared a bit too watery for their taste. Though the friend who ordered the congee countered that it was perfect. I suppose it’s personal preference.

I decided to get the Duet Noodle Soup in order to try both the beef brisket and shrimp wontons. My friends all got variations of the noodle soup or the lo mein.

Duet Noodle Soup – The beef brisket was amazing. Since I had just had Lam Zhou’s beef brisket, the comparison made Noodle Village’s version even better (and Lam Zhou’s worse). The meat was tender and there was plenty of the tendon stuffs that should accompany good beef brisket. I thought the soup was good, though one of my friends noted it was a bit watered down (but she still heartily endorsed the meal and wanted to come back). The wontons were actually a bit disappointing, but I suppose it was partially because I didn’t like how they just wrapped an entire shrimp (instead of chopping it up). Ironically, that’s why other people like their wontons.  8.75/10 for the beef brisket. 7.5/10 for the wontons.

While I didn’t get to try this, my friend just got a beef noodle soup (featured at the top), which he thoroughly enjoyed. Nonetheless, he wasn’t able to finish it, as the servings are quite generous and a small could easily fill a normal person up. (Unfortunately, my appetite is hardly normal).

All in all, a very enjoyable meal. I will definitely be back.

Verdict: 4 stars. Delicious and affordable. Perhaps they’re not dirt cheap, but as a result, they don’t skimp on their ingredients, offering delicious cuts of tender meat with their noodles. The fried dumplings were also a surprise winner.

Poon Kee

Poon Kee (39 Monroe St) is located far away from the heart of Chinatown, which had prevented me from visiting until last Saturday. When I went there at 10 in the morning, however, they were still getting ready for the day’s business. As a result, we had to stand there and wait a bit as the rice rolls got hotter (I’m not sure what the issue is, but they kept saying it wasn’t hot enough).

The menu is simple enough, located on the wall and translated into English. Their most popular dish is definitely their rice rolls, which they offer both with shrimp and plain.

Rice Rolls – They were quite good, but I think what really made them stand out was the sesame sauce (and optional spicy sauce) that was draped over the noodles. Get them with the fish balls (they’re good). 8.25/10

Congee – It was fine. It didn’t seem standout, but it wasn’t bad.  7.5/10

Lo Mein – They seemed a bit greasy and lacking in anything but the noodles. Still, my friend finished it all, so I suppose it can’t have been that bad.

Beef Tripe – They were very very chewy. Still, I enjoyed them and I liked the radish/turnip that was included. However, I thought that the tripe I got from the food cart on Hester and Elizabeth was better (a bit softer to chew). 8/10

It was a good and cheap breakfast, with all that food coming out to only $8. However, I’m not sure how willing I would be to make the trek out there all the time. Also, if you’re wondering, apparently they do larger take-out (i.e. party trays) as well.

Verdict: 3.5 stars. Good if you’re in the neighborhood but not worth a special trek out.

Note: Top photo courtesy of Eating in Translation.

Thái Son

While I could eat Chinese food every day, once in a while I get a craving for other cuisines. In this case, I was craving Vietnamese summer rolls, which are a light, fresh meal / snack for these horribly hot and humid summer days.

Chinatown has a decent number of Vietnamese restaurants, many of which are located along Baxter in the outskirts of Chinatown. Since they all generally looked identical to me, I just randomly picked one to try.

While it doesn’t look too special outside, Thái Son has an interesting layout inside, with a seeming boat theme going on. They took my order quickly and told me it would be ready in a few minutes.

The summer rolls were satisfying, but not amazing. The skins were a bit too hard to chew / bite, indicating that it probably wasn’t all that fresh.  The filling was good, but nothing that blew me away. Luckily, once I submerged the roll into peanut sauce, all these issues were forgotten.

Verdict: 3 stars for the summer rolls. I definitely wouldn’t go back for the summer rolls, but they satisfied my cravings at the time. But I bet there are better options around.

Teariffic Cafe

My friends are addicted to bubble tea, so they’ve been trying out just about every bubble tea store in the vicinity of Chinatown. Teariffic Café is a tad bid different from most of your bubble tea joints in that it’s also a nice sit down café that serves your bubble tea in tall fancy glasses.

Unfortunately, the fancy glasses aren’t enough to cover for the fact that their bubble tea isn’t great. Plus, their prices are a bit high for bubble tea.

Their other food options aren’t great either, and I was quite disappointed by their dumplings. They looked so cute, but the wrappers were hard and seemingly over/under cooked (I couldn’t figure out which).

Verdict: 2 stars. Skip it. You can do so much better.

Tung Woo Co.

More tofu! I know, that’s exactly what you were craving.

This time I decided to seek out Tung Woo Co., which is only open in the mornings and is located more centrally than Sun Hing Lung Co. There was a short line when I visited in the morning, but it moved quite quickly.

They sell a variety of goodies including tofu hua (tofu pudding), soy milk, and rice noodle rolls.

Unfortunately, they don’t sell hot soy milk, only the cold ones already packaged up in the fridge. So, I just settled for a small tofu hua.

Which really wasn’t all that small. They ladled it fresh out of their big pot of tofu which was nice as it wasn’t pre-packaged.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t a huge fan of their soft tofu. It wasn’t all that silky soft, it was much more textured and rough, as compared to Sun Hing Lung Co. In retrospect, I think their tofu was just a bit more solid, which made heating it up easier because it did not break down as easily. Still, I was looking for tofu pudding, so their lack of pudding-ness made it mediocre. 6.75/10

Verdict: 2.75 stars. I want to give it the benefit of the doubt since I haven’t tried their other tofu products, but their soft tofu wasn’t the best in the neighborhood.

Lam Zhou Hand Pulled Noodles

I’m currently trying to increase my intake of meat and carbs (having gone too vegetarian in the past) and what better way to do that than with some beef noodle soup? Using this as an excuse to jumpstart my sampling of the various hand pulled noodle restaurants in Chinatown, I decided to seek out Lam Zhou Hand Pulled Noodles (144 E. Broadway) for dinner tonight.

Lam Zhou is actually located quite far away from the heart of Chinatown. As a result, whereas the heart of Chinatown features restaurants everywhere, Lam Zhou seemed to be one of the few restaurants in its block. Pretty sketchy neighborhood.

Nonetheless, Lam Zhou, having been “discovered” by many foodies, had a sizeable contingent of non-Chinese people (who must have seeked out the establishment) when I visited. Plus with its menu translated into English, it’s really not a problem for anyone looking to enjoy this noodle joint.

It’s a small narrow shop, but that adds to its “hole in the wall” charm. There’s a man making the hand pulled noodles in the open, towards the back of the shop, and I spent much of my time watching him deftly manipulate the flour into its final noodle form. Quite impressive.

When I visited, there was also a man wearing bright green boxers. With moose on them. Not going to lie, I really liked them.

A few minutes after placing my order, they brought me my noodle soup.

And a few minutes after that, they brought out my plate of dumplings. 12 for $3! As you can see from my pictures, they have a various number of sauces for you to add to your food / dip your dumplings in.

Beef Brisket (牛腩) Soup Noodles – I wasn’t very impressed with their soup. I had an amazing version of this dish a few weeks ago at Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House in Elhmhurst, so I’d say that my taste buds have been sharpened for this sort of dish. The noodles were great, nice and springy, and for some reason reminded me of ramen noodles (the instant kind) in the best possible way. I love instant ramen noodles. They were nice and thin and really really good. However, the soup itself wasn’t great. Whereas the version at Lao Bei Fang managed to infuse the beef flavor of the soup INTO the noodles, here the noodles were just noodles and the soup was just soup. They were like separate entities, rather than intermixing to create a better synthesis. The beef was also not the best, it was a dry and were disappointing cuts with little tendon. It seemed more just like a beef rather than beef brisket soup. 7/10 for the entire dish, 8/10 for the noodles.

Dumplings – They were totally serviceable, but for some reason, their filling was unusually dark. They again didn’t blow me away, but they were savory enough. Not bad, but not as good as Shu Jiao Fu Zhou. 7.25/10

Verdict: 3 stars. Ehhh, I feel like this place is a bit overhyped. It’s a nice cheap place, but it wasn’t particularly outstanding. Just average, though I suppose it’s a steal considering how much food they give. Must continue eating my way through these noodle shops!

Full House Cafe

Finally managed to latch onto a large group of people with whom to try out Full House Cafe, which means I got to sample a good variety of their dishes rather than the measly one or two that I would be limited to had I gone by myself. Such is the problem with being a single person in the city. Food adventures are always better when you have a larger group of people.

We started off with their soup dumplings (aka xiao long bao, or XLB).

Pork and Crab Meat XLB – We unfortunately let these cool down before we started eating them. They had nice thin skins, unlike Shanghai Cafe Deluxe, but weren’t jaw droppingly delicious. Likely a factor of them having cooled down. 7.5/10

Pork XLB – I surprisingly found these more savory than the crab ones, though they were also warmer since they got to our table a bit after the crab meat ones. 8/10

Both of the XLBs were quite solid, and nicely thin skinned compared to the neighborhood competition.

Loofah with Bamboo Fungus – So good! Just last week Shanghai Cafe Deluxe told us they didn’t have non-bitter loofah,  but here I was at Full House Cafe enjoying delicious tasting loofah a week later. Someone lied to us… I loved the softness of the loofah, unlike Old Shanghai Deluxe, whose version of this dish was sorely undercooked. 8.75/10

Fish Head Casserole – MY LOVE. Once I saw a picture of this dish, I knew I had to order it. My mother makes a version of it at home and it’s my favorite. The version here is comparable to my mother’s. Which is saying a lot. The delicious savory taste of the fish is infused into the soup (admittedly the fish becomes less savory but the fish itself isn’t super important), which also contains tofu and various other veggies / mushroom. It’s such a great soup, and it’s perfectly balanced by the tofu, which soaks in some of the soup’s flavor as well. ❤ 9/10

Sauteed Eel with Yellow Leeks – Fine but totally skippable. The dish was a bit too heavy on the sauce, although this version was admittedly better than Old Shanghai Deluxe’s. Not worth the price tag though ($24.95) considering it wasn’t even that well received. 7/10

Kao Fu – Mhhhhh. It’s a Shanghai dish that they do quite well, with the wheat gluten nicely flavored by the sauce and balance out by the peanuts and woody ear mushroom. This dish was quite quickly devoured by our table (or perhaps that was just me?). But I just love kao fu so take my words with a grain of salt. 8/10

Eggplant in Garlic Sauce – A good dish. Nothing unusual, but well executed. 7.5/10

Spare Ribs in Sweet and Sour Sauce Shanghai Style – Ehhh. It was a bit heavy on the sauce, though it is sure to be a hit among any one who enjoys their Americanized chinese food (i.e. orange chicken). It’s a dish that my mother does quite well without going so heavy on the sauce. Once you get past that (or in my case try to wipe off a lot of the sauce), the dish actually tastes pretty good. 7/10

Shredded Pork – I’m not entirely sure which version of this dish we ordered, but it was spicy and primarily featured shredded pork. It was savory and spicy, but was one of the less popular dish on the table. More popular among the American taste buds. 7/10

Verdict: 4 / 5. All in all, a solid restaurant. Get their fish head casserole, loofah, kao fu and XLB. I’ve also heard they have good dim sum, so I’ll have to come back to try that.

Note: Photos courtesy of NYCFoodie, Yelp, Examiner via Full House Cafe.

Spicy Village

I have a confession to make. I ate two dinners last night. The first with my friend, and the second, after sending my friend off, by myself at Spicy Village. What can I say, I just felt like treating myself. Plus, I was hungry. Blame my stomach.

Thankfully, after my disappointing experience with Shanghai Cafe Deluxe, Spicy Village delivered a home run. I haven’t really fallen in love with any of the restaurants during my past few weeks here, but that was before Spicy village. *Disclaimer: I do LOVE Shanghai Heping, but that was in an earlier excursion and not since I’ve started living here.* It was exactly what I was looking in Chinatown! Small, somewhat dingy but boasting delicious and cheap food.

There have been plenty of pictures taken of their delicious food that are much better quality than what I could snap with my iPhone. But what I can contribute is a look at their clientele when I went. Entering the tiny shop along a row of random salons and stores (I was worried I had walked in the wrong direction), I noticed that the clientele was remarkably non-Chinese. Only one family was sitting at a table, while all the other tables were filled with “hipsters”, as chandavkl (David Chang – famous for eating at over 6000 Chinese restaurants) likes to call it.

Of course, I’m not the first one to have discovered this gem, and several other reviewers have waxed about Spicy Village / Henan Flavor (the former name) before me. It’s been covered extensively by Robert Sietsema in the Village Voice and Lauhound in his blog. And a few others here and here. You get the idea. In particular, they are known for their Big Tray of Chicken, which was quite authentic though very spicy. It’s a great dish for people who really enjoy their spicy kick.

Also notable is their Pancake with Pork, which have a delicious crispy outside pancake that sandwiched a savory pork filling. Also very good.

They have a menu on the wall with some of their most popular dishes (including the aforementioned), which provides a great visual of their options. However, what I came for that day was not any of the previous dishes. Instead, I had come here for one specific option, their #4 according to the menu on the wall, Tomato and Egg Lo Mein.

Since it was so full that day, they first took my order while I waited for an open seat (I had told them take out would be fine if there were no seats available by the time my dish was finished). Luckily a table cleared, and I plopped my stuff down on the chair before grabbing a paper menu that included a larger variety of options. I had noticed the table next to me had a cold dish with bean curd and wondered where I could find it. I found it on their paper menu, along with a few other appetizers. Something to get for next time I guess!

While waiting, another person walked in, also looking to eat at the shop. With all the seats taken, he sat down across from me. It was my first time sharing a table with someone, and we soon struck up a conversation to make our meal a bit less awkward. It was the most amusing experience and it was fascinating talking with this absolute stranger in this dingy Chinatown shop.

Finally my dish came. OHMYGOSHITWASSOGOOD. It was just the right balance of tomato and egg, along with some bok choy. The tomato sauce seeped into the noodles, infusing it with the delicious sweetness of the tomato. Tomato and egg is amazing when eaten with rice, and though not traditionally eaten with noodles, it was a great innovation on Spicy Village’s part. It’s nice and healthy, fresh tasting, and altogether delicious. Plus you get to eat their own hand cut noodles. Such a great combination. Unfortunately it’s such a simple food that it’s too often overlooked by other reviewers. 9/10

Verdict: 5 STARS. Spicy Village is DA bomb. Cheap, delicious hole in the wall kind of place where you sit next to strangers that you could only find in Chinatown. Yes, yes, their Big Tray of Chicken is good, but maybe perhaps if you’re feeling healthy, try their Tomato and Egg Lo Mein. It’s good.

Note: Photos courtesy of Yelp, SeriousEats.

Shanghai Cafe Deluxe

I love Shanghai cuisine. Since my family is from Jiangsu province, I’ve grown up going to Shanghainese restaurants and favorite type of Chinese cuisine. Unfortunately, there’s not a great selection here in Chinatown (you’d have to go to LA or the Bay Area for some really authentic restaurants), but after reading a selection of rave reviews for Shanghai Cafe Deluxe, I was convinced that this was going to be my to go Shanghainese spot in Chinatown.

My friend had made plans with me for dinner last night, and when I asked her what kind of food she wanted, she had gone with Chinese. Perfect, another chance to expand my Chinatown restaurant repertoire. When pressed for what type of food (noodle/dumpling shop, Cantonese food, Shanghainese), she went with Shanghainese. Of course, this meant it was finally time for me to try Shanghai Cafe’s  renowned soup dumplings!

When you entire the restaurant, you’ll notice a man making soup dumplings at the front. We didn’t get a chance to actually see him making them before we were led to our seats. The inside lighting is oddly neon, lit like a sketchy nightclub or bar. There was a good variety of Chinese and non-Chinese clientele, and the service staff seemed comfortable working with both.

After deliberating for a while, my friend and I decided to get an order of the crab meat soup dumplings, scallion pancakes, and the 2 appetizer option with kao fu and bamboo with brown sauce. We were going to order squash (loofah), but the waitress told us they didn’t have it at the moment since the ones now weren’t good. Loofah can be bitter if not selected correctly, and I respected their decision not to offer loofah if the vegetable selection was bitter.

We first got our appetizers, which were pretty good. I really liked their kao fu, which was nice and spongy, and had soaked up the flavor of the sauce. However, I wish they had included a bit more mushroom with kao fu, to balance the dish. Their bamboo was prepared with thick cuts and I didn’t enjoy it as much as the long thing kinds that are served elsewhere. I would pass on the bamboo and try another appetizer. 7.5/10 for the kao fu, 6.5 for the bamboo.

The scallion pancakes were disappointing. The inside was a bit to doughy and seemed a bit too soggy. The best scallion pancakes are quite crispy on the outside, but theirs didn’t have that requisite crunch. Another pass. 5/10

Finally, their renowned soup dumplings came, delivered by the man I had seen making them in the front. At first we were confused by our inability to taste the crab flavor, thinking that they had given us the wrong order. However, after biting into my second dumpling, I paid careful attention to the taste and was able to detect the hint of crab. I also was able to see the orange color that indicated the crab filling.

These were unfortunately disappointing. As I had read elsewhere, the dumpling skins here were a bit thick. The best dumpling skins are much thinner, and I think that Shanghai Heping’s next door had a thinner skin. The filling was also not amazing. It wasn’t particularly savory. I don’t think I would go for the crab soup dumplings ($2 more) over the pork soup dumplings because the difference wasn’t that significant. 6.75/10

Ultimately, I was disappointed with the offerings by Shanghai Cafe Deluxe. While our dinner wasn’t expensive, at $10 per person, that’s because we didn’t order any of their actual dishes, which were quite pricey, at $13 for mere stir fried pea shoots. Admittedly, stir fried pea shoots are usually around $10-13, but I was expecting cheaper prices in Chinatown. Their Sliced Fish with Chives and Chicken with Chestnut Pot that I had been eying were some where around the $13 – $20 range.

Verdict: 2.5 stars. Overhyped. It was a pretty big miss for me, with the kao fu being the only thing I really enjoyed. I’d much rather go to Shanghai Heping Restaurant next door.