NYC Neighborhoods: Chinatown

Manhattan’s Chinatown is arguably the best. 

I’ve been to the Chinatowns of Boston, London, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, and New York’s other Chinatown in Flushing, Queens, internally comparing each and every one. While it’s important to have these cultural neighborhoods, some **cough cough Boston** can be lackluster compared to the beauties of Canal Street. So when my friend from the colloquial Pennsyltucky came into town, I knew what neighborhood Bryley and I had to explore next for our NYC Neighborhood food tour (and the irony that the majority of our neighborhoods have been in Manhattan is not lost upon me).

First things first, I plan the menu: pork BBQ over rice at Wah Fung No.1; a Giant Scallion Pancake at Deluxe Food Market; dumplings at Tasty Dumplings; pork buns at the famed Mei Lai Wah; Shu Jiao Fu Zhao’s peanut butter noodles; and sesame buns at Fu Zhou Wei Zhong Wei Jia Diang Fend Wei. With the menu confirmed, my personal GIS guru strategically plans it out for us on Google Maps. And we head to our first stop, Wah Fung No. 1.

While we organized the day as usual, there was one slight difference that made the evening go somewhat awry. See, Finn, the only college roommate of mine who made it out alive, came to NYC for a mere 24 hours. He arrived midday on Wednesday, and we met at 6:30. But on line for our pork/rice platter, Bryley’s keen eye noticed that shops were shuttered; she opened the map, eyed the closing times, and realized half my list was closing at 7 pm. 

New York may be known as the city that never sleeps, but that isn’t the case for Chinatown. As born and bred New Yorkers, Bryley and I had no clue that Chinatown had such a strict curfew. We admit that upon reflection, we had never visited at such a late hour, but would like it to be known that our mothers, aunts, family friends, and fathers (who were raised in the UK but claim to be New Yorkers) didn’t know Chinatown closes at 7 pm.

As a somewhat jetlagged Bryley scours the internet for a new dumpling place, I sulk, stuffing my face with an absolutely absurdly delicious bowl of pork and rice, while the lovestruck couple sits googly-eyed. To say the least, this was not our most organized evening, but enough drama. Let's get to the good stuff and where we ended up eating.

As mentioned above, Wah Fung No. 1 is my newest must on any tour of Chinatown. We made the mistake of getting two smalls for $5.75, when a large was about $10 and would have been financially smarter, but we survived and thrived off of this juicy pork. Hidden under the heap of pork and above the slab of rice was a thin layer of cabbage, which Bryley (and her German ancestry) went crazy for (personally, I wish they were caramelized onions). Faith’s Takes and Bryley’s Beliefs rank them a 9.

Good Mong Kok Bakery's Scallion Bun

Two years after indulging in Good Mong Kok bakery’s scallion bun in San Francisco, I have been searching for something similar. So I headed out to try a scallion pancake at Deluxe Market. And let’s just say, never again. While it is unclear whether the quality was bad or whether it had just been sitting out for too long, that was one of the worst things I’ve ever eaten. I am still haunted; while the initial taste and texture are nothing to be desired, the aftertaste is what truly sticks with you. If you, reader, have been to the Deluxe Market and are a fan, take me with you—let’s see if they can be redeemed in my eyes. I am choosing not to rank them; this is definitely a case of “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” (Plus, I only had a scallion pancake, so how can I judge a whole market.)

We then headed out to my favorite spot, Mei Lai Wah. I have taken or sent almost every visitor and friend (who isn’t vegetarian or vegan) I know, so it was a must. I was too full from the pork and rice to eat a whole bun and already knew that the textures brought Bryley no joy, so this one was for the tourists. With no line so close to closing, they slipped in and got a Baked Pork Bun and a Pineapple Bun. Don’t let the name fool you; there is no pineapple. The top has a sweet egg custard topping. But don’t worry, they paid their tax and I got a bite. As always, a 9 from me and a 7 from my texture peculiar counterpart.

In Flushing, Chinatown, Bryley fell in love with the ever-spherical sesame ball. We had no luck finding one at Mei Lai Wah or Deluxe Market, so Bryley took us to Great Taste Bakery. And it did not live up to the hype. It was neither spherical nor crunchy, and while it tasted good, it was extremely oily and brought her no pleasure, which is infinitely clear in the image below. She suspects they’d been sitting out too long—remember, reader, it was about 7:30 pm at this point—and will refrain from rating them, but her sesame ball craving lives on.

The Lesser Sesame bun

To end the night, we finally got dumplings. While Tasty Dumplings sells 4 for $2, North Dumpling serves 10 for $4, an absolute steal. While I found these dumplings a little doughy, they were absolutely delicious. Plus, their soy sauce-vinegar was on point. I give them an 7.5 while Bryley gives them a 10/10.

With full bellies, the Chinatown tour ended there. While I raved and raved about how superb Chinatown is, it is truly superb when it is open! While I would apologize to Finn and Cade, they live in Reno, Nevada, and were still blown away. So I apologize to you, dear reader, myself, and to Bryley, as we didn’t receive the fullest extent of Chinatown has to offer. No street vendors selling affordable fruits. No dumpling comparison. No peanut noodles. No worthy scallion buns and sesame balls. But thankfully, we (Bryley, myself, and any NYC readers) can hop off the NQRW and 6 trains and try some more. Before 7pm, of course…