5 EAST BROADWAY
NY, NY 10038
10AM-11PM

To be fairly honest, I rarely venture to the other side of Bowery by Chatham Square, but as I was walking back to my place after eating with the family, I saw a rather interesting restaurant. First, the discrepency in that area was obvious: clean with an Asian minimalist look. Second, 24-HOUR DIMSUM??? (Well, for as long as they were open, actually.) After my doubletake, I thought to myself, this must be my potential heaven. This is what God would say to me: Behold my child, eat all the dimsum you possibly can and not get fat. (Although that does sound more like gluttony, doesn’t it…) Third, it seemed to cater mostly to foreigners.

So, one night I went with two of my friends at around 930-10pm, excited and rambling about the food I was going to order to stuff my face (I heard “fatass” thrown around a couple of times). We entered the place, and it was designed very simply; white walls adorned with mirrors and splashes of festive red throughout the place. Albeit small, it was rather homely. It was different from the other exuberant dimsum places where you have to yell for the person sitting next to you to hear what you’re saying. We sit, and there is a small piece of paper with a pencil next to it. Exciting, is it not? Revolutionizing the way dimsum is ordered! Instead of old women pushing the carts, yelling out what they’re coming around with, now all you need to know is how to read what you want to eat, and then: check it off, waiter takes it, food comes. Bing, bang, boom. Ah, the potential of education in China. Ah, China — efficiency at whatever cost, including food. The only problem I had, I shared with my father when we first saw this concept in beautiful, hot, shop-glorious Shenzhen: while my father couldn’t read the menu because he had contacts on and the characters were too small, I just can’t read at all, and I have no idea what the Chinese dishes are called in English.

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Congee Restaurant
98 Bowery Street
congeeinc98.com

Not many restaurant are open on Bowery late night during the week. If there are it’s rare to find one busy with many customers. This establishment distinguishes itself from others with a wide selection of congee or jook , pronounced in Chinese, dishes served all day. Congee is a traditional dish that is basically a rice porridge, normally eaten early in the day. The joint is also known for their seafood and it’s diverse items on their menu (shark’s fin). We started with the frog leg congee, this was my first time eating frog meat, which it seemed a bit dry to me. Yes, it’s true it does taste like chicken. The meat are very small and you will need to suck on the bone to get the meat off. The whole time I can’t get the image out of my mind how they cook the frog and better yet where they get these frog from? But if you get over that idea the congee was not bad. Our favorite dish was the large crab sauteed with ginger and scallion, it was a good portion for two, be prepared to messy handing the crab shell.

Congee open late

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Jumbo Hot Dogs
139 Canal Street
Chinatown, NY

What better way to welcome a visitor to NYC than with a jumbo size hot dog. Next to the Fung Wah Bus station where daily commuters from Boston to New York gets dropped off, this small window front shop offers quick snack for riders. With a self proclaim sign of “the BEST in New York” (so they claim on their sign), I was eager to try.

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When: SUN, AUGUST 19th, 2007 Noon - 6pm
Where: Riverview, NY : Long Island City

What: CHILI CRABS and other SOUTHEAST ASIAN festival foods festival

Festivities include:
~ Chinatown Young Lion Dancers
~ Asian Cultural Dancers ~ Shaolin Martial Artists
~ Chinese Folk Dancers ~ Thai Dancers
~ Live DJs Vanillamania ~ Live Music from Byron Wu

***LOCATION this year is at RIVERVIEW, LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS ~ NY (between 48th & 50th Avenue)***

more info go to tigerbeer[dot]us

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