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s a follow up to my previous post (link) on where NOT to eat in New York City’s Chinatown, here is a list of authentic Chinese restaurants I frequent and usually recommend to my friends. The list of restaurants only contains authentic Chinese food from NYC’s Chinatown. I will have another post later to include other Asian cuisines such as Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, etc.
Be sure you have cash when you go to these restaurants as many NYC Chinatown Chinese restaurants do not accept credit cards. If by chance they do accept credit cards, it will probably be a Visa or a Mastercard.
In no particular order, here are my recommendations:
Amazing 66 – Located on Mott Street between Bayard and Canal Street, right across the street from Big Wong King. Amazing 66 is a great place for family style lunch. They have a secret lunch menu only for locals. The Amazing 66 secret lunch menu has dishes to be shared with your colleagues for under $6. The lunch dishes are large enough to be shared with a group of friends/colleagues. I highly recommend you visit Amazing 66 for economical lunch only. There are better dinner options below.
Big Wong King or Big Wing Wong – Both places offer cheap, Cantonese style food. You can get BBQ pork, roast duck and other traditional Cantonese dishes at either of these restaurants. These two restaurants are probably the cheapest in town. You can get a wonton noodle soup, or roast pork with rice for under US$4. Big Wong King is located across the street from Wonton Garden, and Big Wing Wong is located on Mott between Canal and Hester. If you want the cheap meal, you better go early. These two restaurants close at around 9PM and their roast ducks are usually gone by 8PM.
Golden Unicorn – This place is usually packed on weekends and most tourists know about it. Golden Unicorn serves great dim sum for breakfast and brunch. Golden Unicorn also has a good menu for fine dining in the evenings. Dinner can be a bit on the expensive side. Golden Unicorn is also cleaner than other dim sum restaurants in New York’s Chinatown which is probably the reason why it attracts so many tourists.
Hop Lee – Located on 16 Mott Street by Chatham Square, Hop Lee is a casual dining place with traditional Chinese food. Like most traditional restaurants, food is served family style. The Cantonese style lobster dish and fish with vegetables are my personal favorites. Dine at Hop Lee and you will not be disappointed. Your meal should not run you over US$40 for two people and I will guarantee you will be full.
Joe’s Shanghai – There are three Joe’s Shanghai locations, in New York City – Chinatown, Uptown and Flushing. The Joe’s Shanghai in Chinatown is by far the best. You can order a tray of soup dumplings (which comes in either regular meat or with crab meat) costs you no more than US$6. Joe’s Shanghai also offers other Shanghainese dishes which are authentic. The Shanghainese noodles and crispy beef are my personal favorites. Joe’s Shanghai in Chinatown is located on Pell Street between Mott and Bowery. There is usually a wait during peak hours so I recommend you go early in the afternoon (like 2PM) or late in the afternoon (like 6PM) to avoid the long lines.
New Chiu Chow – It’s a noodle shop on Mott Street. Noodles and the flavor of the soup is from Chao Zhou (in Cantonese: Chiu Chow), a city in Guangzhou. New Chao Chow’s noodles and soup also has a Vietnamese flavor to it as the owners are probably from Chao Zhou and have spent time in Vietnam. You can only get this unique blend of flavor from a Chinese chef from Vietnam.I have been going to this noodle house for 20+ years and it’s still great!
New Wonton Garden - In my opinion, New Wonton Garden is one of the best wonton noodle shops in the US. New Wonton Garden in NYC’s Chinatown has the best soup in the nation. Wonton Garden is located on Mott Street between Canal and Bayard. Each bowl of wonton noodle soup or any other dumpling with soup will cost you under US$6. New Wonton Garden is also open till 2AM – a great place for after you’ve had a few drinks!
Trust you will enjoy my recommendations. More info about NYC’s Chinatown to come…
