Category Archives: Chinese

Pecking House Chicken

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

Chinatown Food Crawl

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!

Sun Hing Lung

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

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

Mission Chinese

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

Sun Hing Lung

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

King’s Co. Imperial

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

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

Little Pepper

We hitched a ride out to Little Pepper in Queens with another foodie couple who has been there a bunch of times. We tried a lot of shit, so I’m gonna just get right into it.

This Szechuan style pork sausage was packed with flavor and ate like dry salumi with a kick!

The sliced pork belly in chili garlic sauce was probably one of the best items of the night. That sauce was dynamite.

My favorite item of the meal, though, was the shrimp. “Prawn with chili pepper” is what to order on the menu. The lightly fried crisp batter on the outside gave this such an amazing texture. I could eat buckets.

The lotus root was a great veg item for the side, as were the string beans.

The tea smoked duck lacked smoke or tea flavor, and was a bit on the dry side. But it was really flavorful and still very tender.

The scallion fried rice doesn’t look like much, but it’s a meal in itself for sure. It’s really delicious, and it sure as fuck beats regular white rice. So get this for all your rice eating needs (to soak up the ma-po sauce).

Speaking of ma-po, their tofu dish was excellent!

Another classic done well are the dan dan noodles. Get these.

One of the more surprising dishes was the pork meatballs. These were tender, soft and gingery flavored. A little more on the sweet side when compared to some of the spicy items we tried.

Finally, the spicy and tingly cumin lamb dish was really nice. The lamb is thin sliced and tossed with tin slices of veg and onions. Really earthy and flavorful.

This place is definitely a banger. With the abundance of spots nearby in Chinatown, however, I’m not sure how often I would be back here in Queens. I do highly recommend it though.

LITTLE PEPPER
18-24 College Point Blvd
College Point, NY 11356

Hakka Cuisine

First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

My wife and I just walked by this place a few weeks ago and we were wondering if it was any good. Then, a few days ago, some friends of ours organized a lunch here. We were psyched to go.

This place is really known for their “blossom chicken,” which is basically a chicken that has had all the meat removed, chopped up, and mixed with shrimp paste to form a sort of chicken-shrimp sausage. Then it’s stuffed back into the skin and cooked until that skin gets golden crisp. It’s amazing!

We also had a really tender, delicious and savory braised pork belly dish. Make sure you order some rice to soak up those amazing juices.

The stuffed tofu (stuffed with pork sausage, I think) was good, but it was my least favorite of the main dishes. It just didn’t have the powerful punch of flavor like the others.

This stir fried white fish or bait fish dish was really tasty. I think this would benefit from a pop of spice, but the ginger in it was really refreshing.

If you’re looking for a big shared appetizer, get the sliced conch on ice. It’s heavy on the wasabi, but if you’re like me, that’s a good thing!

Last, we had some pea shoots with fried baby shrimp on the side. This was more soupy than I expected, as opposed to stir fried. It was still delicious though.

I will definitely be back here to try more dishes. Our waiter showed us a few more items that they consider specialties as he was bringing them to other tables (egg custard with clams, and lobster fried rice).

HAKKA CUISINE
11 Division St.
New York, NY 10002

The Dolar Shop

First, check out my Ride & Review video HERE:

This is easily one of the better hot pot joints I’ve tried so far. I would definitely go back!

THE DOLAR SHOP
55 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10003