Posts Tagged: chinatown restaurant review

NYC — 1 Comment
29
Mar 10

Best Asian (non-Chinese) restaurants in NYC’s Chinatown

by Louie D

As a follow up to my previous post regarding the best Chinese restaurants in New York City’s Chinatown, I would like say that NYC Chinatown has many authentic Asian restaurants in addition to traditional Chinese food. If you are in NYC Chinatown and don’t want to have Chinese food, I recommend the list of restaurants as excellent alternatives. Like the Chinese restaurants, these Asian restaurants in NYC Chinatown offer authentic flavor for a very economical price. I wish you enjoy these restaurants and provide us some feedback.

Nyonya – Located on Grand Street on the border of NYC’s Chinatown and Little Italy, Nyonya is the best Malysian restaurant in NYC’s Chinatown. My favorite and one of their signature dishes is the sizzling tofu. Nyonya’s curries are also good options. Getting the Roti Telur (Indian pancake with curry dipping sauce) as an appetizer is highly recommended. Nyonya also has locations in Brooklyn if you want to venture out to the outerboro.

Pongsri Thai Restaurant – There are actually several Ponsgri Thai restaurants in NYC (Chelsea, Uptown and Chinatown). My personal favorite is the one in Chinatown, located on the corner of Baxter and Bayard Street. Pongsri offer great traditional Thai curry dishes and is the oldest Thai restaurant in NYC’s Chinatown. Pongsri also offer great lunch menus such as curry, Pad Thai, and other noodle dishes.

Nha Trang or Pho Pasteur or Thai Son – There are three Vietnamese restaurants located right next to each other on Baxter Street (between Canal and Bayard). All three restaurants serve authentic Vietnamese food. Although these three restaurants aren’t as good as the Vietnamese restaurants in San Jose, CA, they are the next best thing in New York City.

Below is a map showing the locations of the restaurants. Hope you enjoyed this review and visit these NYC Chinatown eateries!

Best Asian (non Chinese) restaurants in NYCs Chinatown

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NYC — No Comments
21
Dec 09

Best Chinese restaurants in NYC’s Chinatown

by Louie D

ANew York Chinatowns 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…

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SF — 1 Comment
15
Dec 09

Where to eat in San Francisco’s Chinatown?

by admin

San Francisco’s Chinatown is America’s oldest Chinatown. There are lots of real old Chinese restaurants there as the newer and trendy ones have moved to the suburbs. However there are still plenty of options and economical choices for Chinese food in SF’s Chinatown. Below are our recommendations:

Where to eat in San Franciscos Chinatown?1. House of Nanking – Great place for lunch and dinner. House of Nanking is Cantonese food with some western flavor. It is usually crowded but worth the wait. If you can’t decide what you want on the menu, just tell the owner how hungry you are and  let him order for you. House of Nanking also has great herbal tea, one of Louie’s personal favorite.

2. R&G Lounge – R&G on Kearny is one of the more upscale Chinese restaurants in Chinatown.  They offer fancy Hong Kong style dishes with classy service.  Fresh seafood and quality food is their staple.  Make reservations as this place is packed during all hours.  And of course expect a large bill.

3. Z&Y – This is one of the newer restaurants in Chinatown on Jackson street.  Z&Y has the more traditional Szechuan style food.  If you are looking for spicy, this is the place to go.  They also offer free 2 hour parking for lunch!

4. Hing Lung Restaurant – Hing Lung is an authentic Chinese restaurant with economical prices. You can get tons of items/dishes for under $6.00 and be full after the meal. Hing Lung has excellent congee and soup noodles.

5. New Sun Hong Kong – New Sun Hong Kong is practically open 24×7. This is a great place for after you have done partying. Our personal favorite is the beef chow fun (fried flat beef noodles).

6. Golden Gate Bakery – Located on 1029 Grant Avenue in the heart of Chinatown, You won’t be able to miss Golden Gate Bakery as there usually is a long line outside.  Golden Gate Bakery is the best bakery in San Francisco. Golden Gate Bakery’s egg custard (egg tarts) is probably one of the best in the entire US. They also offer other baked Chinese bakeries such as traditional buns. Only gripe we have is they don’t have coffee or warm drinks to go with the bakery.

7. Good Mang Kok Bakery – And our personal favorite for cheap dim sum to go, try Good Mang Kok (although it should probably be spelled:  Mong Kok) on Stockton.  There’s a line sometimes, but it moves quick.  The har gow (shrimp dumpling), siu mai (meat dumpling) and steamed buns are amazing.  We’ve tried many other small dim sum shops, but this place offers the best quality for the price.

One of many reviews by Kirk + Louie

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