In the heart of Chinatown, a restaurant located at 69 Bayard Street, bearing the same name, is papered with dollar bills.  From wall to wall, dolla dolla bills, y’all, cover every square inch of the restaurant.  Customers, visiting tourists or local New Yorkers, leave their mark by plastering a George Washington (or Abe Lincoln) on the wall or the ceiling and write something, a declaration of love, a Greek affiliation, a gang motto, or a simple “________ was here.”

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Get ready, loosen up that belt and get ready for a feast, because East Boat Lobster Restaurant does the craziest 10 course “Chinese Style” lobster dinner for $100. It says its a dinner for 4 but the meal can easily feed about 6-8 people. Their specials are seasonal, so ask if they have any special deals.

East Boat Lobster Restaurant
72 Kenmare Street
(212) 226-8881

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It’s a little late but I’ve been busy with school and what not, but this past summer I spent about a month in a half in Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore. It was wicked hot, and I had loads of fun. Aside from the usual touristy attractions, I was more excited to eat my way through the places I visited than actually care about whatever else the country had to offer. Food to me is the best part of other cultures. First I was in Hong Kong for a little less than a week, and to say the least that place has the swampiest and mucky weather ever during certain parts of the summer. But I still love it. Let’s just start with the most traditional Hong Kong food, the typical HK style cafés with the ABCD meals on a tiny breakfast menu.
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Have you ever avoided a subway seat because of the filth on it? Well this person took the idea and made this an item called “seat savers”. Basically he took a messy situation you typically see on the street, like spilled coffee, spilled ice cream, exploded ketchup packet and froze it with some plastic material. Pretty cool idea, I bought a few of them, going to try and see how it works on the LIRR.

@ Union Sq

If you are in Chinatown, especially if you work around this area sometimes you want anything but Chinese, well this is the spot! In the morning you can get breakfast sandwiches, hash brown, and coffee. They always have newspapers so you can relax a bit before your day starts. For lunch, they have all the standard cold cut and many choices of hot sandwiches like chicken parmesan, chicken cordon bleu, etc. They usually have specials or new items so you can’t get too bored from eating here regularly. This deli wouldn’t be so special anywhere else, but because it’s right in the heart of Chinatown I think it really deserves a mention.

This dingy, steamy cart serves only one thing and that is rice noodle roll. They do it quite well and it’s made to order so it’s always fresh and piping hot. But if you want to try this cheap eats ($1.25 an order!), you need to be here early from 7am to 1pm. There are 5 varieties: pork, beef, chicken, dry shrimp, and plain. All are made by steaming in their special pan with the above mentioned ingredients. They are perfectly soft and practically melts in your mouth. The light soy sauce and scallions brighten this savory treat. I like mine with a little hot sauce on the side. Just remember to eat it right away and it’s perfectly fine to do so on the street.

(in front of 157 Hester st, Hong Kong Supermarket)
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Latest China food scare: Mid-Autumn Festival is coming up that means it mooncake season. Be sure to check where your mooncakes came from and most importantly look for the expiration date. A good advice is to buy the loose ones from bakeries so you’ll know where it comes from and can inspect for freshness.

Look what a pretty box.

They hidden the expiration date underneath a *FAKE* storage instruction label, how shady. You can’t see the expiration date because they marker out the month.

204-23 hillside ave
queens village, ny 11423
(between 204th & 205th streets)
gabyspizza.com

One of the best pizza you will ever eat in your life. The Sicilian slice is deLICious. The line can be long at times, but you never have to wait for too long. Relatively cheap. The slices are always hot and fresh. It’s pretty well-known — they have pictures of various actors/musicians coming here, throwing up their gang signs. One of the pictures I can remember is Ja Rule being there. Small and cozy. Trust me, you’ll be back for more after one slice.

There are two big Vietnamese sandwich shop in Chinatown, Paris Sandwich and Banh Mi Saigon, both well known for their fresh delicious sandwiches but which one has the BEST Vietnamese sandwich(Bánh mì)? My judging criteria are on presentation, ingredients, and taste.

1. Presentation:

(left)Paris Sandwich $4  (right) Saigon Sandwich $3.95

The Paris Sandwich took maybe less than 5 minutes from order to pick up. The Saigon Sandwich took about 20 minutes with close to 15 people waiting on line.

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Greetings!

Shanghai Cafe, located on 100 Mott Street, is a good eat for several reasons. It is cheap, colorful, and tasty.

The ambiance of the place makes it a good restaurant to bring friends, especially those of the Caucasian Persuasion. You know, it is not easy sometimes when figuring out where to bring such friends because they may not be as comfortable or accepting of the level of hygiene or taste of decor as you. You may feel right at home at a place whose walls are covered in dollar bills, where there is poor lighting or where the waitress/waiter throws, literally throws, you the bill when you’ve only just begun eating. But when you plan on going to Shanghai Cafe, cast aside your anxieties. Pastel colored lights line the walls and ceilings and the chairs and tables are modern metal.

In terms of food, I highly recommend the steamed pork buns; they are either number 1 or 2 on the menu. Get the cheaper ones, don’t get the ones with crab meat, it’s fake anyway. Below you will find a tutorial on just how to devour a steamed pork bun. It is rather like an art. ALSO, order the scallion pancakes; it’s simply divine and everyone likes them. They’re akin to French fries or mozzarella sticks in that they have a universal appeal.