Posts Tagged: nyc chinatown

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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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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31
Aug 09

Where NOT to eat in NYC Chinatown

by Louie D

New York’s Chinatown has many dining options available at nearly all hours of the day, from early morning late night. There are many great restaurants which you can try; a dear friend Captain G posted earlier on Triangle Trip has some exceptional places to eat in Chinatown. As a follow up, I wanted to point out some restaurants to avoid:

1.  Great NY Noodle Town (often known as “Noodle Town“), located on the corner of Bowery and Bayard Street. Noodle Town is open until around 4AM everyday and many people go there for late night snacks – especially those done bar hopping or returning from Atlantic City via the Chinatown shuttles. Noodle Town’s barbecue pork and duck dishes are often too salty, and their noodles and broth are filled with MSG. I’m hyper sensitive to MSG, so I avoid this place at all costs; I would recommend the same for people with a delicate or sensitive palate. The service is probably the worst in Chinatown, too; even with five waiters covering a restaurant at half capacity, it took them fifteen minutes to deliver the check to my table. That’s bad, even by Chinatown standards, as many Chinese restaurants are not known for their world class service.

2. Wo Hop: I don’t know why many Americans love to go to this place, especially for late night snacks. I am sure Wo Hop was a good restaurant in NYC’s Chinatown at some point; but definitely not now. One of my friends got food poisoning here. In addition, Wo Hop, like Noodle Town, over salts their food; avoid this place unless you want to drink two gallons of water throughout your meal.

3.  Bo Ky, located on 80 Bayard Street, between Mott and Mulberry: Unlike the above mentioned restaurants, Bo Ky isn’t open during late nights. I’m not entirely sure why they always seem to be packed and crowded; I first went to Bo Ky back in the mid 1980s when they first opened. The food wasn’t good, and service was horrible; I recently visited Bo Ky with a close friend, and nothing has changed. I am not sure what the fuss is all about at Bo Ky, as the thirty different varieties of soup they offer are fairly bland. If you want real noodles with a Chao Zhou (in Cantonese: Chew Chow) flare, try New Chao Chow Restaurant on 111 Mott Street, between Canal and Hester street instead.

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