WTD: Cheap Bowl of Beef Knife Shaved Noodles

For the few readers of my blog, it’s quite obvious that I am obsessed with all things noodle. I enjoy ramen mostly because of the broth and other ingredients. I also like chewy (qq) noodles regardless if they are thick or thin. However, if I could only eat one type of noodle for the rest of my life, I’d have to pick thick and chewy. Some people ask me why I like noodles and how they think noodles are so tasteless. That’s the beauty of it! Noodles soak up the broth/flavor of whatever it’s in. I think I also enjoy the texture of it as well.

Nice thick and chewy knife shaved noodles with beef!

I can’t remember the first time I had knife shaved noodles (dao xiao mian – 刀削麵), but I know I love them. They aren’t that common in NYC. I only know of a handful of places that serve it in Chinatown and Flushing. These noodles are quite simple. The chef takes a large piece of dough and then uses a very sharp and wide knife to “shave” noodles into a boiling pot of water. Then they put the cooked noodles in soup or stir-fry it. I prefer mine in soup of course!

HLTR (she used to blog here) and I first discovered this Lan Zhou Handmade Noodle (蘭州拉麵）almost three years ago. We were amazed at how cheap the food was. I believe our first meal cost us about $12 and this included an order of dumplings (8 for $2). Even though this hole in the wall (think of a food stall in China) was located in very East Chinatown where no tourists would dare to visit, we made it out there a few times a year. After a few visits, I asked the chef if they do the knife shaved noodles. To my surprise he said yes! I was very happy and ordered these noodles with my beef noodle soup. At the same time, I came another time and requested these noodles and they said no. Going forward, I always call the restaurant ahead to confirm they are indeed making knife shaved noodles before I trek all the way to the eastern side of Chinatown where only the F train runs. Now that this place is quite popular with the foodies, they have put up an English menu to make it easier to order. During our first visit, the menu was handwritten in Simplified Chinese so even I had some issues comprehending. I always order the beef noodle soup, but my friends have been adventurous and order other items. Being the beef noodle soup connoisseur that I am, I rate their beef noodle soup at a B+. Their noodles are outstanding naturally and their broth is very rich. However, their beef could be a little more tender, but what do you expect for $5 a bowl? I’m not expecting perfection. A couple of weekends ago, I brought JC to this humble restaurant. I was a bit worried she would disapprove since we spent our previous meals at Momofuku Noodle Bar and Alice’s Tea Cup, but she was brave and JC ordered a mix of tripe and tendon for her beef noodle soup. Wow! I was really impressed.

Mmm, crispy dumplings!

I definitely recommend ordering the pan-fried dumplings. They are 8 for $2. What an amazing deal. They are nice and crispy and you dip them into the black vinegar. If I haven’t made it clear, this restaurant is NOT known for service. You place your order with either the chef or the lone waitress. You get your own utensils/napkins/drinks. In fact, I don’t think they even gave us plates to eat the dumplings on. You just have to fend for yourself! The good news is that they don’t charge tax and you get to eat for cheap. Also, you don’t need to worry about not having enough noodles. They definitely give enough in each bowl. At the same time, if you’ve never had hand-pulled noodles, I highly recommend you try it. You can watch the chef make them in the restaurant. I do want to warn you that he slaps the dough quite hard, so do not be scared!

If you ever are by East Broadway or the Manhattan Bridge (maybe catching a Chinatown bus) and are craving for some soup noodles, you should make a quick stop at Lan Zhou Handmade Noodle. You’ll be surprised just how tasty the food is.

Lan Zhou Handmade Noodle
144 East Broadway (between Pike and Rutgers Streets)
New York, NY 10002
212.566.6933
Cash Only
Call in advance to confirm knife shaved noodles availability

Best Duck in Town: Peking Duck House

I have been a fan of duck since I was little. I don’t remember the first time I ever had Peking Duck. I think some people have trouble with the fattiness of the meat and skin. I really love it. Especially when the skin is nice and crispy. Since my older sister, D and I loved Peking Duck, my hands-on mom made her version of it at home when we were growing up. I clearly remember her hanging the seasoned duck in the garage to “dry” it out. Even though her version wasn’t quite as crispy as what we have at the Peking Duck House or the famous Quanjude in Beijing, I ate it with much pleasure.

The chef is actually carving our duck!

Back when I was a kid, the Peking Duck House in Chinatown was a typical Chinatown restaurant. It wasn’t very clean and service was not the best. However, about 10 years ago (could be more), they went through a renovation and may even have moved locations. Now, the current Peking Duck House is very modern and there are waiters always standing by to help. Also, the clientele is more mixed. There are plenty of tourists, business people and Chinese people all sitting at the tables almost always enjoying a roast duck. Also, there is always a check standing at the carving table carving freshly roasted duck. Just yesterday, my dad, D and I arrived at Peking Duck House at 6:00pm. To my surprise, the restaurant was almost completely full. It was a good thing D made a reservation. Since it was only the three of us, they had already ordered the Peking duck, sauteed Chinese zucchini with gluten and the house special duck soup. I arrived a few minutes late so I added an order of scallion pancakes and stir-fried homemade noodles with pork.

Look at all the crispy skin!

Our sliced duck arrived promptly with all the necessary sides: hoisin sauce, sliced scallions and cucumbers and the steamed homemade pancakes. At this point D and I were practically drooling. D waited impatiently as my dad and I took pictures of the feast. I had two pancakes worth of Peking duck. It was delicious! For those who have never wrapped their own Peking duck burrito, you start with some hoisin sauce on the pancake. Next you put as much scallions and cucumbers as you wish. Then you put about 3-4 pieces of duck. Lastly, you wrap it up like a burrito and enjoy your creation. Please note that a whole duck for three people is a bit much. I would suggest going with at least 4 people. It’s definitely much more manageable. Also, D and I can handle more duck than the average person since we love it! If you are with a larger party (4 or more), you could order the Peking Duck Dinner which comes with a number of additional entrees, appetizers and choice of soup. Speaking of soup, another favorite in a typical Peking duck meal is the duck soup. After the chef carves out all the meat from the duck, the carcass/bones are thrown into a pot and very tasty duck soup is made. It usually comes with chunks of firm tofu and vermicelli. I highly recommend ordering this soup instead of the typical wonton soup or eggdrop soup. The Peking Duck House is probably one of the few places you can get this soup in NYC. I was unimpressed with the scallion pancakes. They were a bit over-fried and crunchy. We were unable to finish our two measly small pancakes. I didn’t want to waste room in my stomach for such a mediocre scallion pancake. On the other hand, the homemade noodles were quite tasty. I stuffed myself with noodles, peking duck and soup. It was a great meal!

At the end of dinner, D suggested that we celebrate Lunar New Year at the Peking Duck House this year. I whole-heartedly agreed. I can’t wait until February!
 
Peking Duck House
28 Mott Street (between Pell Street and Chatham Square)
New York, NY 10013
212.227.1810
Takes Credit Cards
Reservations are highly recommended

Peking Duck House (Midtown)
236 East 53rd Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)
New York, NY 10022
212.759.8260
Takes Credit Cards
Reservations are highly recommended

Bubble tea in Chinatown

Passionfruit green tea w/half sugar and grapefruit slush with mix jelly

During the hot summer months, my craving for passionfruit green tea skyrockets. Recently, I was reading a bubble tea topic on Chowhound on good quality bubble tea and I read about Teado. It was a relatively new shop and after reading the reviews on Yelp, I decided to give it a try. I went with a few people after dinner and I was aware of the two for $5.50 special. I ordered my usual, passionfruit green tea with half sugar. To my surprise, the employee let me try a little cup of my drink to confirm if it was indeed sweet enough. I thought this was a nice touch because what if it was still too sweet or not sweet enough? Also, to my delight, they have a device that shakes your tea very well. They also seal your drinks with a sealer (+100 points) which I love because that’s how they do it in Taiwan. HungryLTR was of course there to try the new bubble tea shop. Besides the regular tapioca pearls, you can also get litchi jelly, aloe vera, green tea jelly or mix jelly added to your drink. During our second trip to Teado (within a week), LTR ordered the grapefruit slush with mix jelly. It was very good. During our most recent trip to Teado, the employee (who probably recognized us since we come so frequently) made my drink with no sugar and it tasted just fine. Why not cut out any additional sugar in my drink? I guess it would be “healthier”.

Compared to the other bubble tea shops in Chinatown, I definitely think the quality at this shop is better. They even have the popular Taiwanese yogurt drinks. It is a little more expensive than Quickly ($2.75 instead of $2.50+discount), but the menu is a lot more extensive. They even have fruit flavored sodas! However, one thing to note is that they do not carry any snacks. This could be because the kitchen is quite small. The staff is extremely polite and if you have any questions about the menu, they are always ready to help steer you in the right direction. There is seating for about 4 people. If you happen to be in Chinatown and are craving bubble tea, you should definitely give this place a try.

 
Teado
145D Hester Street (between Chrystie St and Bowery)
New York, NY 10002
212.226.7687
Cash Only

Shanghai Cafe and Boba

It came to my surprise and disappointment that New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe (my favorite Shanghainese restaurant in Chinatown) has closed from their original location and moved.  This only means there must be new management.  I have read the reviews of the “new” location, and they haven’t been pretty.  When my co-worker PS told me she was craving soup dumplings, I had to inform her that NYSD was closed, however I’d find another place for her.  I scoured all my regular online sources and I figured that we would try out Shanghai Cafe.  I’ve been to Shanghai Cafe years before and I remembered the dumplings being tasty.  We arrived at the empty restaurant around 12:30pm.  We placed our order:  pork soup dumplings,  shredded pork & preserved vegetables with ricecakes and beancurd skin with preserved vegetable and green bean.

The super soupy dumplings!

The soup dumplings came out first.  They were steaming and looked super juicy.  After biting a small hole in the dumpling, I drank the soup and it was so flavorful.  PS and I both agreed that these dumplings were more soupy than NYSD.  Also, we enjoyed the black vinegar/soy sauce dipping sauce more.  It was more tangy (probably there was more vinegar).  Then came out our two preserved vegetable dishes.  Yummy!  I am quite obsessed with preserved vegetable (雪菜) and pressed vegetable (榨菜) in my noodles/ricecakes.  It could be because I enjoy the salty flavor.  I’ve noticed that when I’m eating my way through Taipei, I very rarely see preserved vegetables in noodle soup, and that pressed vegetables is much more common.  Both preserved vegetable dishes we ordered had very “fresh” vegetables.  I can tell this because they were quite crunchy.  I forgot how much I like beancurd skin.  We both agreed that it was a “healthy” dish despite all the oil.

Our "healthy" dish. Yum!

After getting the leftovers boxed and MM’s takeout order, we ventured back to the BD subway station.  I had mentioned earlier that I’d like to have some boba (without bubbles of course) on the way back at Quickly.  I used to frequent another bubble tea shop on Bayard (the one with the huge Homer Simpson in front), but to my surprise, my real Taiwanese friends shunned this place as not having authentic and good bubble tea.  I then discovered Quickly, which is a chain through out Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.  They also have a sealer machine (this is a huge plus because I have a weird fascination with the sealers).  We stopped by the Grand Street Quickly location.  I ordered my regular Passionfruit Green Tea and PS decided to try their new Thai Iced Tea.  I flashed my VIP card and our total came out to $4.40!  It was great to have a nice drink after such a satisfying meal.  Shanghai Cafe was reasonably priced and it came up to about $15 per person.  I believe this is because the beancurd skin dish was whopping $8.50 (or something).  Please note, that the MenuPages menu is quite outdated and the prices have increased.  The only downside of this meal is that after placing my leftovers in the company’s communal fridge, it was gone when I went to retrieve it at 5:30pm.  I was heart-broken.  I guess that just means a trip to Shanghai Cafe will be happening sooner rather than later!
 
Shanghai Cafe
100 Mott Street (between Canal and Hester)
New York, NY 10013
212.966.3988
Cash Only
 
Quickly
237B Grand Street (between Bowery and Chrystie)
New York, NY 10002
212.431.0998
Cash Only for bubble tea

Food in the basement of 88 Broadway?

Entrance to 88 Broadway Mall

Went to chinatown for lunch today with my co-worker friend, Kid.  Usually we try to eat in a different place when we go for lunch so that we can discover some new places.  Anyhow, the last time we were in ctown – Kid was looking for somewhere to sit and eat his lamb burger from Xi’an foods when he stumbled upon the restaurant in the basement of the mall at 88 Broadway.

So today we gave it a try – I guess I was too busy eating because I don’t remember what the place was called!  Oh well.  Here’s what we had: won ton soup, egg noodles with peanut butter sauce, steamed small buns, and lamb soup.

The egg noodles with peanut butter sauce (from the breakfast menu) were my favorite!  Probably just because I love noodles.  They were similar to what you would find at Sweet Spring Restaurant on the corner of Henry and Catherine.   Although, I preferred this version.  The won ton soup was nothing that special but definitely warmed me up on a windy day like today.  The steamed small buns:  inside was a little pork meatball in a sweet-ish sauce.  Not what I was expecting but very tasty!  I tried Kid’s lamb soup – yum!  Light and full of flavor.

So, next time you are waiting for the chinatown bus or just find yourself over on East Broadway, give it a try!

-hungryLTR