My foodie friends and I hit this place before the holidays for our annual “Friendsgiving.” My wife and I had ordered delivery from here before, and we liked everything we got. It was time to go in for a proper sit-down meal.
Here’s what we had:
The duck was by far the favorite of the night, with the dumplings coming in second. From prior delivery orders, I can also recommend the kung pao chicken.
YONG CHUAN
90 Clinton Street
New York, NY 10002
First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:
I’ve been meaning to try this spot for a while, and then recently a friend told me that their rice rolls with homemade crullers inside are great. I had to give them a try.
They were awesome! These had dry shrimp on them, which packed a lot of flavor. We also had the regular roast pork rice rolls. Tough to choose a favorite.
We figured, while we were here, we may as well try some other stuff. The roast pig was a huge portion for $11, and it was incredible.
The roast duck over rice for $8.50 was a pretty good deal, despite the duck being mostly skin and fat (I don’t mind too much).
We also had this heaping bowl of tripe and wonton noodle soup.
The broth lacked flavor, but the insane portion size of noodles, tons of tasty tripe, and I think six wontons made up for that.
Two people over-stuffed for around $55 all-in, with enough leftovers for another full meal for two. Great deal. I will definitely be back here.
BIG WONG
67 Mott St.
New York, NY 10013
This hot pot spot in Flushing took over where Baidu Shabu Shabu left off (same location), and upped the ante on quality and dining experience. Check out the video HERE.
What a beautiful interior! And this was easily one of the best hot pot meals I’ve had. We split the pot between medium spicy beef tallow broth and mushroom broth. Absolutely delicious. Go give it a shot!
LAO ZAO CHONGQING
37-04 Prince St.
Flushing, NY 11354
First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:
This spot recently opened down by Two Bridges, and I’ve been psyched to try it out.
We got five items; three mains and two sides.
1. The Blackened Chicken Sandwich
This was probably my favorite of all the items. It has a distinctly earthy Mexican flavor to it from the Oaxaca cheese and pickled jalapeños. Absolute banger.
2. Chili Quarter Chicken
I expected this to be wetter, spicier and saltier based on what I’ve seen on Instagram to date, but it was still goo. A bit expensive at $9 without a side, but I’d definitely get it again (perhaps the extra hot version though).
3. Salted Egg Wings
These were delicious. No dipping sauce needed! The batter from the salted yolk comes in nice and crisp, and with the wings being slightly smaller than your typical bar room Buffalo wings, you get a perfect ratio or meat to crisp with every bite.
4. Chicken Salt Fries
These could have used a bit more crisp on them, but they were tasty. Also – not too salty! Nicely seasoned, as a matter of fact.
5. Charred Cukes w/Ginger
These were unique! Charring the cucumber softens them a bit and adds a different flavor profile to them that I’ve never experienced before. The ginger sauce isn’t too pungent, so you still get all that fresh cucumber flavor to cool off from the spicy food between bites.
PECKING HOUSE CHICKEN
83 Henry Street
Shop 1
New York, NY 10002
First, check out my episode of Around the Hood in 8 Minutes HERE:
We hit a bunch of places, so let me just get down to business!
First was Sun Hing Lung, which I already covered in a previous Ride & Review HERE, so check that out!
This time I added an egg to the Chinese sausage and mixed veggies roll. It was divine! Noodles here are always a bit mushy, but you really can’t beat it for the price. Adding all of the sauces is the right move (peanut, soy, hoisin and hot sauce).
Chang Lai Fishballs Noodles
They ran out of rice rolls by time we arrived here, but the curry fish balls mixed with pork skin was the best bite of the day, by far. Make sure you try that!
Yin Ji Chang Fen
This is where we really got our rice roll fix. We tried five or six different rice rolls, but the clear favorites were the truffle and mushroom, the fried dough, and the special dried shrimp and scallion rolls.
New Kam Hing Coffee Shop
The sponge cake here is famous, so we had to give it a try. I have to say it was really unique and tasty. Not really my thing, in general, but I can see the appeal.
Dumpling Story
This new spot was really nice inside. We tried four different dumpling items: truffle pork soup dumplings, spicy crab meat with pork soup dumplings, chicken pot stickers and fried pork soup dumplings. Of those, the crab and fried pork were probably tied for the best. The fried beef udon noodles were excellent! Great texture and flavor.
SUN HING LUNG
58 Henry St.
New York, NY 10002
CHANG LAI FISHBALLS NOODLES
55 Bayard St.
Store B
New York, NY 10013
YIN JI CHANG FEN
91 Bayard St.
New York, NY 10013
NEW KAM HING COFFEE SHOP
118 Baxter St.
New York, NY 10013
DUMPLING STORY
250 Grand St.
New York, NY 10002
Bo Ky is a mixed Vietnamese pho and Chinese restaurant in Chinatown that’s been around for a long ass time.
I went in last weekend with my wife, who hadn’t been there since college, and we tried some stuff.
I ordered the beef belly soup, which was really good with a hit of spice.
My wife ordered a Cambodian style hu teiu soup that had mixed seafood and pork in it. This was more like a consomme and had some sweetness to it.
We also shared a fried shrimp roll on the side. This reminded me of shrimp toast.
Nice spot! I would go back.
BO KY
80 Bayard St.
New York, NY 10013
First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:
This was easily one of the best Szechaun means I’ve ever had. I think my favorites were the thrice cooked bacon, lamb ribs, beef cheek, wings and the dry pot pastrami, but the mapo tofu was one for the ages. Wait… was that everything? I can’t wait to go back!
MISSION CHINESE
43 Mott St
New York, NY 10013
First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:
Sun Hing Lung is a little hole in the wall rice roll and dumpling spot on Henry Street in Chinatown. I walked by here once and made a mental note that I wanted to try it, but I was never able to find it again on all my walks and rides in the area. Fast Forward to last weekend, when my friend Peter suggested it as a spot to try for rice rolls. BOOM! It’s the spot I have been trying to re-find for almost two years!
After a skate park session, I rode over to pick some up. I took them home and devoured them all. Chinese sausage with mixed veggies, curry fish ball, and pork. All great. Hard to choose a favorite.
SUN HING LUNG
58 Henry St.
New York, NY 10002
First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:
My photos of this meal aren’t that great, because I forgot my light. My video is fine, however, because the built in video light for the phone is nice. Flash photos, not so much.
This place has a retro vibe, with a Polynesian, pu-pu platter and tiki drinks old school feel to it. The cocktails were great.
We started with crispy fried mushrooms, pork ribs and shrimp toast. All of these were good. I think the mushrooms were my favorite of the entire meal, actually.
Next up, short rib beef chow fun, dry fried string beans, and crispy Szechuan calamari. Of these, the string beans were best, with the calamari close behind. They just needed to be a bit more crispy.
There’s a lot that looked nice enough to try here, so we will most likely be back.
KINGS CO. IMPERIAL
168 1/2 Delancey St.
New York, NY 10002
Ye’s Apothecary is a cool downstairs spot in the Lower East Side that serves great cocktails and some tasty Szechuan food. The Szechuan old fashioned was a great way to start the meal. It IS spicy, so beware.
Our favorite dish was “husband and wife,” which was a chilled appetizer of beef tripe and tendon in a spicy chili oil.
The egg noodles with char siu pork was also a nice dish, but I wouldn’t get it on a second trip.
The crispy squid was excellent. Slightly salty, but I didn’t mind.
With everything being so spicy, the chairman’s pork belly was a great way to sneak in a bite of sweet every so often. Only downside here was the thick rubbery external skin that sometimes still seemed to have the texture of stubble/hair on it. Otherwise really tasty and tender.
The mushroom salad was a bit misleading, as it was a hot dish. Tasty though.
YE’S APOTHECARY
119 Orchard St.
New York, NY 10002
