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

A Dim Sum Jewel in Flushing

I admit it. I’m a dim sum snob. I seem to enjoy dim sum only when there are many carts filled with all sort of little dishes. Dim sum is the only thing I haven’t had in Taiwan that is better than New York. I’ve heard great things about the dim sum in Toronto and Vancouver, but I have yet to experience it. I’m sure it’s awesome in Hong Kong as well. Anyhow, for those who don’t know what dim sum is, it literally translates into “snack” in Chinese. In Cantonese, most people say “yum cha”, which means “drink tea”. I think that the main reason I am a big fan of dim sum is that most dishes max out at 4 portions and this allows you to order many little dishes. Also, I love that I can see the dishes before I order. For a Taiwanese-American, I’m quite a picky eater. I only eat certain seafoods (no sea cucumber, abalone, clams, shark fin, bird’s nest, geoduck, etc.) and I despise mushrooms. This eliminates many Chinese/Taiwanese dishes for me. I like having the opportunity to ask the cart pushers what is in their dishes. Most of the time I have trouble understanding them because they always answer me back in Cantonese when I asked in Mandarin. If I knew Cantonese, wouldn’t I be asking in Cantonese?

Sticky Rice in a bowl - YUMMY!

Okay, I’ve been to many dim sum places in Flushing. I have distinct memories of spending my Saturday mornings at dim sum in Flushing or Boston. Once I moved out to Manhattan, Flushing became quite a trek, so I resorted to Chinatown. I was surprised to find that the dim sum in Chinatown pales to Flushing. I thought with Chinatown’s huge Cantonese population, I’d find superior dim sum, but I was soon disappointed. Not to say there isn’t “good” dim sum in Chinatown, it just can’t compare to all the creative dishes I’ve seen and had in Flushing. When I was a kid, my favorite dim sum place was called “KB Garden”. It was right by the huge municipal parking place on 39th Avenue. Their name and management has changed quite a few times and currently they are called Jade Asian, which I still think is a great Cantonese/Dim Sum restaurant. In fact, I was there twice last week.

On the day after Christmas, I convinced my parents and younger sister to brave the crowds to get dim sum at Ocean Jewel. I had only been to Ocean Jewel twice before in my life. My first experience was very disappointing. I found the shrimp dumplings (har gow) were lacking real shrimp and had too much filler. Also, the prices were more than my usual go-to dim sum place (KB Garden). To me, if a restaurant couldn’t get the basic shrimp dumpling right, then they must be a really bad place. However, years later, I kept reading raving reviews on Chowhound, so I wanted to know what was so good about this place? A year ago, my uncle and aunt took my little sister and I out for dim sum. Since they were paying, they picked Ocean Jewel. Being the polite niece that I am, I did not comment about their selection. Good thing I didn’t, I had a great meal!

I don't even know the official Chinese name for this dish. It's delicious!

In order to have dim sum on the weekend, one must arrive before 11am. This will minimize the time you’re waiting in the front area with all the other hungry guests. Once you arrive at any restaurant, you must fight your way to the front where the hostess is and inform your party size. You will receive a number (most of time it’s handwritten). Sometimes, they will be nice and tell you the estimated wait time. This is not always accurate, so I highly recommend that someone from your party stays and waits while others go elsewhere to kill time. Since this was my outing, I waited while my family walked around Flushing. Also, the hostess does not go in number order. Instead, they go by group size, so even though you might be 99 and they are only up to 75, don’t be discouraged! I was impressed with the accuracy of the wait time at Ocean Jewel. We arrived around 10:51am and were seated in our OWN table at 11:25 or so. If you do not want to share a table with strangers, it’s best to let the hostess know at the beginning.

Xia Chang Fen, one of my favorite dishes at dim sum!

My parents and I ordered a myriad of dishes: chicken feet, pork spare ribs, shrimp wrapped in rice skin, fried crueller wrapped in rice skin, sticky rice in a bowl, shrimp dumplings, shumai, Chinese broccoli, fried shrimp egg rolls w/mayo, baked roasted pork buns, etc. At most dim sum halls, it’s very difficult to get a plate of the delicious baked roasted pork buns. There are plenty of the steam versions, but my older sister D and I prefer the baked buns. I think it’s because it’s the perfect size for me. The real sized baked roasted pork buns found at local Chinese bakeries have too much fat in them and I can’t finish a whole bun. This sadly includes the famous Mei Li Wah Bakery in Chinatown. I just order the plain buns there because the bread is just so tasty. I was surprised to find the baked roasted pork buns on multiple carts at Ocean Jewel. I snagged three dishes early on in fear that I’d never see the cart again. Throughout our meal, I kept seeing more and more baked roasted pork buns. I was happy. No longer do I have to place a special order with the waiter to get this super popular dish. Overall, the quality of the dishes were good. I did find the shrimp dumpling skins to be a bit over steamed. They were sticky and hard to separate from each other. However, the filling was good. There was a good shrimp to filling ratio.

All in all, I would be more than happy to return to Ocean Jewel in the near future. They will definitely be added to my dim sum rotation in Flushing.

Ocean Jewel
133-30 39th Avenue
Flushing, NY 11354
718.359.8600
Supposedly takes credit cards, but I recommend bringing cash as Flushing is a cash-friendly environment.

Taiwan 2010 Part Two

Okay, so I lied about having my second entry on Taiwan published within a month. Here I am on Christmas of all days to write about the warmer days I spent in hot, humid and rainy Taiwan. J and I spent our first night in Taipei in our very comfortable hotel room in the Da-an district of Taipei. Our warm hostess, W already informed us in the car that she’d be chauffeuring us to Taizhong (it literally means the middle of Taiwan) so we can feast on their famous “ma la” hotpot. Ma la means a lot of spicy Sichuan peppercorns, which is just what J loves. In fact, he likes any kind of spicy pepper. I had previously introduced J to hotpot/shabu shabu a couple of years ago in Flushing. First we started him off with the simple seaweed soup base, but he was envious of my mom’s kimchi soup base. Then the next time we went, my mom got the ma la soup base while he moved up to the kimchi soup base. Again, he was envious of my mom’s soup. I knew then that he’d love the shabu shabu/hotpot in Taiwan!

Anyhow, it is about a 2.5-3 hour drive from Taipei to Taizhong. My little sister and I had taken the wonderfully comfortable high-speed rail to Taizhong a couple a years in 45 minutes! So amazing. After some traffic, W, her friend, J and I arrived at the bustling restaurant, Ding Wang Spicy Hotpot (鼎王麻辣鍋). This is a chain in Taiwan, and there is a location in Taipei, but W said the Taizhong one is much better. We ordered both the ma la hotpot as well as the non-spicy hotpot. When the hotpot came out, I was really impressed with how authentic it looked. This was no ordinary pot. It had legs!

Look at our cool hotpot!

We had a wonderful meal accompanied by some plum juice. Apparently this is how they do it in Taiwan. After our meal, we ended up at a bubble tea cafe to have a late afternoon “snack” before heading back to Taipei. I love hotpot!

A trip to Taiwan wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory meal at Din Tai Fung. I am a huge fan of soup dumplings, but the crowds and tourists really kind of ruin Din Tai Fung for me. Also, the prices are pretty expensive for Taipei. I know that I could have a meal for half the price at a restaurant around the corner. However, their dumplings are quite tasty and they have really good soups (my personal favorite is their chicken soup, which is very pure). J, W and I went to the “original” location for lunch after J and I toured around Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial. There was a line, but the employees at Din Tai Fung are very efficient. I was handed an order sheet as soon as I put my name down. After parking the car, W met us at the front of the restaurant and she took care of the ordering. After 20 or so minutes, we were called and we headed upstairs to our table. W handed our order sheet to our waitress and we waited. All our food came out relatively fast. I don’t remember all the items we ordered, but here is what I can remember: soup dumplings, hot and sour soup, Chinese spaghetti (zha jiang mian) and hollow stem vegetables. I was surprised with how tasty the Chinese spaghetti was. Who knew their noodles would be so good? I used to own a Din Tai Fung dumpling phone attachment, but alas it broke. I wish they still gave those out to customers!

Mmm dumplings

Besides all the carbs I enjoy in Taiwan, my other favorite food to enjoy is the really awesome fruit. I hate to say this, but their pineapple is sweeter than Hawaii’s. I know this because we went to Taiwan after a family reunion in Hawaii years ago and it was pretty obvious that Taiwan’s pineapple was superior. I love how at the fruit markets in Taipei you can buy pineapple cored and peeled ready to eat. If you want, they even have them cut up with toothpicks. It’s great. However, my favorite fruit is not the pineapple, as I get a mouth rash when I eat too many of them. My favorite fruit in the whole world at this moment is lian wu. I believe that one of its many English names is “wax apple“. It’s found in Asian countries such as Taiwan and Malaysia. W’s wonderful mom and my grandma were able to procure me some of these wax apples even though it technically wasn’t in season. It seems to always be out of season when I’m in Taiwan. Or usually the crop will be depleted because of some huge typhoon that recently hit. It’s really hard to describe this fruit. It has the texture of a star fruit, but the sweetness of an apple. It’s refreshing!

My favorite fruit in the world!

I also enjoy Taiwan’s guava and mangoes. They are just so much sweeter than the ones I can get in the US. In fact, in Taizhong, I was able to have some pink guava. W stopped by a fruit truck in Taizhong on the way to Ding Wang so we were able to have a nice tasty treat! Yum.

I have always been a huge fan of pork and pork jerky specifically. In my favorite Taipei alley near my grandparents’ old apartment (they recently moved to a modern apartment building WITH an elevator), there is a pork jerky store. I can still remember vividly walking through the alley to Nanjing East Road and smelling the delicious dry pork floss scent in the air. These days, the dry pork floss machine is enclosed in glass so there’s no more fragrant smell. However, their pork jerky is still just as good. They have a few flavors of pork jerky. I recently tried the lemon pork jerky per my Cousin Jane’s recommendation. I was not a huge fan because it just tasted wrong to me. It wasn’t gross or anything, just not my cup of tea. I also think they have a pepper flavor, which I have yet to try. Besides these flavors, you can get the jerky in thick ham-like slices or crispy thin. I like both and usually get a bag of each to snack on during the week. Then I’ll go back towards the end of my vacation and get more pork jerky have for “snack” during my flight back to the US.

My delicious bowl of beef noodle soup!

For those who aren’t beef noodle soup aficionados, there is a yearly Beef Noodle Soup Festival in Taipei. In this festival, the top beef noodle soup restaurants will compete to be crowned as the best beef noodle soup in Taipei. This is a very serious accolade to attain and from what I hear, different restaurants get crowned year to year. While J and I were staying at the hotel in Da-an, we ventured out to one of the famous restaurants that previously won by Yong Kang Street. Even though I fully researched the address of Old Zhang’s Beef Noodle (Lao Zhang Niurou Mian), we managed to get lost anyway. There are so many little alleys and streets in Taipei. I asked an employee at a bubble tea shop and he told me that I was very close and it was just a block away! We finally arrived at the restaurant and I was impressed with the decor. It looked newly renovated. I am used to the older and dirtier Old Liao’s Beef Noodle restaurant, as that’s where I usually go when I’m in Taipei. However, this time I decided to go to a new place to compare. Also, I wasn’t sure how to get to Old Liao’s without a car. We were lucky that there was no wait. It could be because we went there after 7:30pm. Our waitress handed me an order sheet. I was a bit puzzled because they had all types of beef noodle soup and I wasn’t able to read all of them. I asked our waitress to read some out to me, and she did something even better! She came back with an English menu with PICTURES! J and I decided on the spicy beef noodle soup for him and the original for myself. We also shared a cold dish of spicy cucumbers. It was super spicy and fresh. Yum! Our food arrived quickly and I was quite pleased. The beef was very tender and the broth was rich. These are two things that I look for in a good bowl of beef noodle soup. If the beef is too difficult to chew, then I am not happy! Also, I don’t like any tendons in my beef noodle soup. I know many people love this, but not me! J’s spicy beef noodle soup was also a big hit. The broth was spicy and the beef was also tender. All in all, we were both quite satisfied with our dinner. I do wish I had time to have another bowl of beef noodle soup during my vacation, but I did not have enough meals as I was under house arrest at my grandma’s apartment during my second week in Taiwan! I am excited to go back to Taiwan in the near future. Hopefully, I’ll be able to try out some new restaurants the next time I’m there.

Weekend trek to King 5 Noodle

LTR, ST, MM and I planned a Saturday trip to my favorite Flushing restaurant that does Taiwanese Breakfast: King 5 Noodle. I have been going to this noodle restaurant for years. I remember that during my first ever trip there, the restaurant forgot to bring one of the items we ordered. My dad went Napoleon on the owner and it did not go well. Despite the missing dish, the meal was very good and I was worried that my family would not be welcomed back. Fast-forward a few years, my dad made amends with the owner and my parents were even invited to the owner’s daughter’s wedding!

In order to get this delightful meal, one must travel either by LIRR or the 7 train. During the weekend the 7 runs local so it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get to Flushing. Also, if you live downtown, you could pay about $3 to take the Chinatown->Flushing mini bus and arrive in about 30 minutes. Since I live in the UES, it’s a bit inconvenient. Anyhow, my friends and I met at the Old Navy and perused for a bit since my mom and little sister, JL, were running late. My mom, also a big foodie, was picking up my FAVORITE Taiwanese cake from Red Leaf Bakery. This is the only Chinese/Taiwanese cake I will eat. I find that most other cakes are dry, tasteless, and the canned fruit is not appealing to me.

My favorite is the beef in sesame pancake. They usually run out of the sesame pancake (shao bing), but we were in luck yesterday!

We arrived at King 5 Noodle at about 2:30pm and we were surprised that it was still packed. I was happy because that means business is good! We were lucky to snag the only circle table left for our party of six. I quickly ordered some Taiwanese breakfast items since they were still available on the menu. We started with: beef in sesame pancake, scallion pancakes, fried crueller and an order of pan fried dumplings. We devoured the majority of our “snacks” before JL and my mom arrived. I warned my friends that my mom has a tendency to over order and that they better be ready!

King 5 Noodle's famous Beef Noodle Soup!

JL and my mom arrived. My mom ordered three noodle dishes, water spinach, a squid dish, pork belly (per LTR’s request), soup dumplings, and I can’t remember what else. I was hesitant to try the soup dumplings because I wasn’t really expecting much since King 5 Noodle’s strengths are noodles and Taiwanese breakfast. I really doubted that their soup dumplings would be any good. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the dumplings were actually very soupy and the skins were thin. Just the way I like them! For noodles, we got the restaurant’s famous beef noodle soup. The beef was very tender and the broth was very beefy. You can tell that the beef has been stewing for hours. I prefer to have beef noodle soup with minimal tendon/cartilage and this is how they make it at King 5 Noodle. Yum. We also got an order of the “Chinese Spaghetti” as LTR calls it. It’s just noodles with minced pork in soybean sauce. We especially like King 5 Noodle’s version because it has actual soy beans and bean curd in the sauce and makes the dish more hearty. MM ordered Sauteed Noodles with Beef Satay and it was also very good. There was a slight kick to the noodles.

LTR and her dish of the day. It was a bit spicy, but we all enjoyed it.

After our feast on delicious carbs, my brought out the cake that was chilling in the restaurant’s fridge during our meal. My mom was smart to bring paper plates and utensils. I sliced up this cake that I’m always talking about with my friends. I told them that this cake has “fresh cream” and that’s why my mom ordered the cake. If we were to just buy slices of the cake at the bakery, it would be “regular cream”. I was a little nervous that my friends would not love the cake, but they were all impressed. Most of us forced a second piece down our very full stomachs. I would have loved to bring home the leftovers, but the cake needs to remain chilled otherwise the cream will melt. We offered our delightful leftovers to the owner. She accepted our offering and informed her staff NOT to throw out the cake.

Only my mom would order a cake for no special occasion. Yum!

My friends and I rolled out of the restaurant and then headed to get some bubble tea at Ten Ren. We then resisted going into bakeries and headed food shopping at Hong Kong Supermarket. We all bought a bunch of snacks (pork jerky for me & MM and candies for ST and LTR). We then walked back to the 7 train stop with our stomachs still full and headed back to Manhattan and Brooklyn. I am known to eat a lot and I get hungry easily. I did not have dinner until 9pm (we left Flushing around 5:30pm) and it consisted of a half a Japanese yam. That’s all I really needed after my FEAST!!
 
King 5 Noodle
39-07 Prince Street (between Roosevelt and 39th Avenues)
Flushing, NY 11354
718.888.1268
Cash Only
**Arrive by 12pm to get all the good Taiwanese Breakfast items.

 
Red Leaf Bakery (Yeh’s Bakery)
57-25 Main Street (between 57th Road and 58th Avenue)
Flushing, NY 11355
718.939.1688
Cash Only
**Limited English spoken. Order cakes in advance.

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