Do not be deceived by its dirty looks

Well first off, this is my usual breakfast on Sunday mornings; this stuff never gets old. Right on Allen St off of East Broadway lies this street vendor. This balding old man works every morning in the same spot till a little past noon. There’s usually a long line of people waiting for the cheap delicious taste of Hong Kong. The fishballs of course are probable his best work, each one is filled with flavor. Also the amount of sauce that he gives is plentiful, which is rather rare for street vendors selling rice noodle rolls with fishballs. Although the location is quite far, I always make the walk back towards Mott St, because they are completely worth it, top it off with a nice 99 cents Arizona ice tea and I am pretty sure you won’t be hungry for a while.

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

If you’re looking for a cheap, fast, and tasty snack, “Fried Dumpling” on Mosco Street across from Columbus Park is the place to go. Service is not grade A but you expect that in a small mom and pop joint. The menu is very basic, I don’t think the prices have changed ever since it opened a number of years ago. For $1.75 you get you 5 pieces of dumplings and a soy bean drink to wash it down. Seating is limited to 4 stools but it’s best to just take your food and sit at the park. Don’t forget the dumpling sauce and the hot sauce, I suspect they watered down the dumpling sauce (vinegar) but I guess they need to cut back on something.

[Read more →]

Today I eat with my friend at Joe’s Shanghai on 9 Pell Street, across the street from Confucius Plaza. We started off with a pork wonton soup which a friend recommended. Definitely not my taste, the texture was very dry, taste like cardboard and the soup was nothing special. The next dish was the famous Joe’s Shanghai dumplings(pork) which every shanghai restaurant has. The dish was steaming hot as the waiter placed it to our table. I haven’t had this for a while but it tasted just like I expected. The hot inner soup and the soft pork meat were hmmm yummy. We wind up ordering another dish right after. I ordered for myself the Singapore noodles, which was OK I was really hungry plus it was few dishes that was under $10 bucks.

It was a good Saturday crowd, the waiting was out the door when I left.Overall I rate this place 3 out of 5.

Joe’s Shanghai
9 Pell St.
212-233-8888

[Read more →]