439153 Fri Sep 07 14:03:35 -0700 2007 57 18 Manhattan 0 2920724 Someone told me the Duck Cantonese and the salt n pepper pork chops are amazing there. Anyone been? My friend originally went there because he saw cops and Chinese people waiting for tables and thought that was a good sign. Sounded right to me. Any other reccos for other cheap n cheerful Chinese places? d Fri Sep 07 14:03:35 -0700 2007 125507 pork_buns 1 2920732 wo hop! Fri Sep 07 14:07:08 -0700 2007 2920724 122578 TBird 1 2920911 OK, so which Hop gets the Hound vote? I myself haven't been to either since the years of my dissipated youth... Fri Sep 07 15:00:19 -0700 2007 2920724 111178 sea97horse 1 2921283 I've never been to Hop Kee or Wo Hop. I've never heard anything good about them. I like Hop Lee across the street, and also Cantoon Garden and New Big Wang on Elizabeth and Amazing 66 on Mott and the restaurant at 9 Chatham Square. Fri Sep 07 17:09:13 -0700 2007 2920724 11362 Brian S 2 3154582 They're both pretty bad. Just American Chinese done at a slightly higher level and open till convenient hours... like 3am. Mon Nov 26 04:34:19 -0800 2007 2921283 113604 JFores 2 3261024 I second New Big Wong for cantonese standards. always get some sort of soup with he fen there, and their cha shao is pretty good too. it's dirt cheap too. Fri Jan 04 11:00:39 -0800 2008 2921283 152700 Renguin 2 5289628 I second this. Although Hop Lee does serve Americanized Chinese food (there are always hordes of Long Islanders coming here for the same inauthentic crap they can find back in Long Island), the trick is to know what to ask for. Hop Lee's Boiled Chicken with Ginger Scallion Sauce (Par Wong Gai), Lobster Chunks in the shell Sauteed Cantonese Style with black beans, ground pork and eggs (Gong Doong Chao Loong Har), Twice-cooked Flounder Filets with Winter Squash (Loong Lei Kao), Pea Shoots Sauteed in Garlic (Suen Yoong Dao Miu) and Garlic Chip Roast Chicken are classical standbys. Have it with white rice if you want to include a "base" dish to eat it with (you don't have to but some people feel a meal is "incomplete" without rice). Only the "gwai lo" (barbarians) order the fried rice and other crap here. Even if you can't speak the lingo, they'll know you know your Chinese food if you order dishes like the above here because those are dishes you'll find at the more upscale Chinese households. Fri Jan 01 22:05:59 -0800 2010 2921283 33374 Gastronomicon 1 2922134 Hop Kee rules! It often gets lumped in with Wo Hop because it's been next door for decades and is similarly divey, but it's excellent. My parents (one of whom is Chinese) have been taking me there for over 20 years. It's still cheap and no-frills, but believe it or not, they've actually cleaned up a little and bumped their prices up a smidge (I guess that's natural over time). Anyway, the food: our faves are the salt and pepper pork chops (perfectly seasoned and moist), the crab (forget the name on the menu, but it's one of their famous items--quartered hard shell crab in a delicious light, non-gloppy brown sauce), and the chicken chow fun (far less greasy and with bigger, drier chunks of chicken than you'll find elsewhere). Great steamed fish, too. I took a friend who grew up going to Wo Hop recently, and he declared Hop Kee the hands down winner. Wo Hop is an institution for late-nighters, I know; Hop Kee has same hours and prices but, I'll wager, far better food. Sat Sep 08 06:29:07 -0700 2007 2920724 42960 janbrady 1 2922334 hop kee is actually pretty good; I'd also say the upstairs Wo Hop is better than the downstairs although historically, most people like the downstairs one. but for insane value, 69 is the late night place to beat; beef with egg over rice is something like 4 bucks (most of the over rice dishes are good, as well as the chow funs) and portions are huge. good eats after late night drunken karaoke at winnie's. Sat Sep 08 08:38:26 -0700 2007 2920724 12656 bigjeff 2 2935120 I grew up in Chinatown but have never gone to Winnie's. What's the draw? Is Winnie still alive and kicking? She's the owner, right? What kind of crowd—aging pensionsers and the like? Are there other Chinatown bars worth visiting? Wed Sep 12 12:47:12 -0700 2007 2922334 34193 pinkylechat 3 2935835 I don't know who Winnie actually is, but I'm pretty sure it's not any of the bartenders there. as far as bars go, its pretty damn divey but everyone has a good time and they've got comfy banquets. plenty of old chinese dudes at the bar and playing video poker, but the crowd is actually pretty eclectic; lots of after work gatherings, tons of loud drunken karaoke; it's a great time! some people go to asia roma which is on lower mulberry street, just across from columbus park, which is basically a typical looking bar, just with chinese people behind the counter. downstairs is a small basement which also has karaoke so if you get down there early, you can pretty much take it over. yello, also a karaoke place, is a few doors down, and, terrible. and of course there's double happiness just north of canal on mott street, but the scene is pretty tired. there is a pretty crazy bar just upstairs though, forget the name but it's very loud and fun and good DJs occasionally. for me, Winnie's is low-key enough to be a great meeting place for some drinks and best in either large groups of friends, or a little one-on-one if you want some relative privacy. Wed Sep 12 15:39:05 -0700 2007 2935120 12656 bigjeff 4 3154904 Winnie doesn't bartend but she does show up at the bar a lot. Stare at the pictures behind the bar enough and you'll recognize her when she comes in. Doesn't speak too much English though. Mon Nov 26 07:59:34 -0800 2007 2935835 144614 scythide 1 2922923 Hop Kee is our favorite Chinatown spot for crabs Cantonese, snails in black bean sauce and, my number one choice, pan-fried flounder. They also make a mean pork chow fun. Sat Sep 08 13:46:26 -0700 2007 2920724 10787 Deenso 2 2923306 I'll second the snails at Hop Kee. Sat Sep 08 17:42:53 -0700 2007 2922923 10195 KTinNYC 2 2924033 Crabs Cantonese. Thank you. Thought that was the name but couldn't be sure. And forgot to mention the snails--we didn't order them but were jealous of the folks across the aisle that did. Sun Sep 09 07:33:20 -0700 2007 2922923 42960 janbrady 1 2923246 I just got back from Wo Hop and it was dreadful. I looked in on Hop Kee and from the menu it looks better. They even have a second menu, with a red cover, entirely in chinese. Sat Sep 08 17:02:46 -0700 2007 2920724 11362 Brian S 1 2923415 I've always liked 69 Bayard in Chi-town, personally. Right down the block and dependably very good and very cheap. Sat Sep 08 18:40:10 -0700 2007 2920724 22662 Nick F. 1 2924120 For those of you old enough to remember, we used to go to a place called Hong Wah at #8 Bowery. When it closed down 20+ years ago, we scoured Chinatown looking for comparable old-style NY Cantonese. The best, as far as I'm concerned, is, by far, Hop Kee. For a while there was Hong Ying Rice Shop, but they're gone too. The snails, crab, chow fun are terrific at Hop Kee. I also love their spareribs in black bean sauce. Having heard from others that Wo Hop is also good, I tried both up and downstairs and was terribly disappointed. During her trial, Martha Stewart ate at Hop Kee several times, but don't let that stop you - it really is terrific. Sun Sep 09 08:22:27 -0700 2007 2920724 17572 foodluvngal 2 2924132 yeah, back in the day, the Hunan House at 45 Mott St. was an awesome walkdown for great Szcheuan...ain't dere no mo', as they say in N'Awlins...last time I went, I was very disappointed to find a karaoke bar in it's place. Sun Sep 09 08:28:47 -0700 2007 2924120 69700 funkjester 2 2924269 Have you tried Hop Lee, across the street? It's very good. 9 Chatham Square is also a good old Toishan place. Sun Sep 09 09:45:13 -0700 2007 2924120 11362 Brian S 3 2924362 I love chatham 9! I have fond memories of my grandparents sunday visitations along with a box of Dim Sum and baked goodies back in the 80's. New southwind is another on my list of cheap lunches. They close at 6 I believe. Sun Sep 09 10:23:21 -0700 2007 2924269 98136 DarthEater 4 2925526 i had to chime in for one of my favorite spots, a place my family and i have been going to for nearly 30 years. yes, there are cheaper chinese restaurants in chinatown, but this continues to be a mainstay. there are 2 types of crabs - one is crabs cantonese style, which has a sauce. then there's another that we generically refer to as crabs chinese style, which has no sauce at all, but is filled with that addictive "stuffing" they mix in with the crabs. they've raised the prices quite a bit over the years, but not enough for it to be a bad deal. also want to third, fourth... the snails, the flounder, and the (beef) chow fun. i can usually eat an order of beef chow fun myself. i think there's crack in it. you will come out stinkin' of crabs, but it's so worth it. remember the hong kong cake lady that had the stand right above hop kee's? gosh, i'm still so upset that she's closed. can anyone suggest a similar replacement?? THANK YOU in advanced. Sun Sep 09 19:54:23 -0700 2007 2924362 12330 Linda 5 2926866 Linda which restaurant are you talking about? 9 Chatham? And I wish someone would tell me how to eat those crabs! Mon Sep 10 10:05:35 -0700 2007 2925526 11362 Brian S 6 2937054 Eating Cantonese crabs. (My favorite pastime) Leg and body pieces: suck off all the sauce, pull each leg out, twist and gently turn them, do it carefully so that you get a large piece of meat where the leg meets the body. Eat the big piece. Take tiny leg and place in your mouth, pull and chew to get all of the tiny meat out. After you eat the legs, pull the body apart, you can use a large claw as a tool for scooping out the meat, or just dig in with your finger. For the hard shell tops, take some rice, place it into the shell, add a tad more sauce from the dish, and scrape around with your chopstick, now eat the filling. As far as the large claws go, I personally hate them, but will eat them rather then waste it. If you can get a cracker get one, otherwise you'll end up at the dentist, as I have until I learned my lesson. Maybe you can help me to find the best place for Cantonese crabs these days. Long ago my favorite spot was Yun Luck, (I really miss that place) which is not there anymore, then Wo hop, which I won't go to anymore. Thanks Thu Sep 13 05:08:34 -0700 2007 2926866 10147 michele cindy 6 2938197 hop kee's, in the basement. it's the one on mott & mosco, on the corner. the hong kong lady's stand is still right above the restaurant, but it's gate permanently closed. sigh. Thu Sep 13 11:01:29 -0700 2007 2926866 12330 Linda 7 2947159 I went to new greeb bo about 2 weeks ago, when I was there the place above hop kee they were putting a huge neon sign above it. Any idea what it was? I was just passing as they were raising it. Sun Sep 16 17:42:16 -0700 2007 2938197 10147 michele cindy 8 2948041 Michele, best post ever. Run, don't walk, to Hop Kee for the crabs Cantonese. I also wonder what that place above Hop Kee will be. Used to be a little dim sum place. Linda, I didn't realize the cake lady was permanently gone! I have such fond memories of stopping for a hot bag of egg cakes with my parents on our way out of Hop Kee. Mon Sep 17 07:18:47 -0700 2007 2947159 42960 janbrady 5 2949342 Linda, if you're talking about the egg cakes, there are several people in little carts that sell them. My favorite is an older man who usually has his cart on the southeast corner of Grand and Bowery. I've also seen a couple who sells out of a cart on Bowery just south of Pell, but they weren't quite as good. Mon Sep 17 12:52:39 -0700 2007 2925526 13059 Greg 6 3154793 yes! the egg cakes. thank you for your tips, i will have to check them out. as you mentioned in the latter cart, i've seen some but they were such poor substitutions of the hong kong egg cake lady of yesteryears. thanks! Mon Nov 26 07:23:30 -0800 2007 2949342 12330 Linda 5 5259479 I miss that hong kong cake lady myself. I was back in town from LA and went to Hop Kee on Monday night, and just thought to myself what does that lady do now? Used to get at least 2 bags from her after Hop Kee. The first bag was usually devoured while waiting for the 2nd bag. I also want to 19th the vote on the snails, flounder and Cantonese crabs. But I'd also like to add my vote on the winter melon soup there as well. Been going there as well for over thirty years and I remarked on Monday how the place did look way cleaner. Always remembered some kind of film or grease on the floors. Especially in the bathroom. If I remember correctly, they used to have the cloth towel roll in there. Now they have some xcellerator dryer. In terms of the cake lady replacement, there are people with carts, but just not the same. Thu Dec 17 14:40:53 -0800 2009 2925526 1132645 chenhouse 3 2927099 Hop Lee's (not to get confused with Hop Kee) is great. That's my family's go-to-place for old school Cantonese. The pan fried flounder with golden tofu squares is to die for. Mon Sep 10 10:57:35 -0700 2007 2924269 76186 moymoy 4 2935867 I agree! Hop Lee is terrific, especially for their Pan-Fried Flounder with Tsing Gwah (sp?) My former SO, who is Chinese, introduced me to the place years ago, and it is still excellent. Also, if you really want cheap and authentic, try Noodle Town on The Bowery (Chatham Square). You have to share a table with others, but it is really authentic and cheap! Wed Sep 12 15:48:35 -0700 2007 2927099 25376 Ted in Central NJ 1 2935557 can someone tell me where Hop Kee is? Seems like everyone in my company has been talking so highly of it, but no one is able to tell me where it is... Wed Sep 12 14:29:02 -0700 2007 2920724 77117 via jon 2 2935864 21 Mott, off of Mosco,downstairs. I was there for lunch today and had an insanely good dish: fried wontons (totally non-greasy) in an oyster sauce with strips of roast duck, chicken, and pork, plus a quantity of shrimp, plus a heap of bok choy and various other vegetables. YUM! It was enough for a family of four, but it was so good I coudn't stop eating. An unassuming, clean, place, and the waiters were quite nice. Go! Wed Sep 12 15:47:28 -0700 2007 2935557 111178 sea97horse 1 2947200 wo hop downstairs at 17 mott ,, best cheap low mein , chow fun, and congee .. thats all i recommend there . It's cheap its good and cops eat there too. Even chinese cops. Sun Sep 16 17:59:36 -0700 2007 2920724 118604 foodwhisperer 2 2947771 When was the last time you were there? http://www.chowhound.com/topics/439410 Mon Sep 17 04:23:42 -0700 2007 2947200 10147 michele cindy 2 3467520 Excuse my ignorance, but what is chow fun? Menu selections are few at the Chinese restaurants in N. FL and I've never had this. Thu Mar 06 15:49:26 -0800 2008 2947200 172299 FLnow 3 3467641 It's a broad rice noodle. Thu Mar 06 16:33:55 -0800 2008 3467520 57025 fgf 4 3539677 Thank you! Fri Mar 28 23:49:18 -0700 2008 3467641 172299 FLnow 3 3468109 Note also chow fun is a fresh noodle which probably doesn't have a shelf life of more than a couple of days. Consequently restaurants that serve it must be within a reasonable distance of a Chinese noodle factory. I'm guessing the closest to you would be in Orlando. Thu Mar 06 18:59:57 -0800 2008 3467520 10131 Chandavkl 4 3539678 Well, that would explain why I've never seen it on a NE FL menu! Thanks! Fri Mar 28 23:49:51 -0700 2008 3468109 172299 FLnow 1 2947223 I have had a few excellent dishes at New Chao Chow, 111 Mott. Very inexpensive. Anyone else have experiences there? Sun Sep 16 18:10:14 -0700 2007 2920724 78097 LIfoodie 1 2948355 Went there the other day after reading about it here. Was very disappointed. The sauce for the crabs cantonese was a bland lobster sauce while the sauce for the snails was too salty. As far as cheap goes, no way. Our bill for the two of us was almost $40 - by no means expensive but certainly not cheap. Mon Sep 17 08:41:58 -0700 2007 2920724 124587 mahalan 2 2948390 lobster sauce? you mean like that white-ish creamy lobster sauce blobs served at local chinese takeout joints??? hmm, that doesn't sound right. it's a more soy sauce based, dark sauce? Mon Sep 17 08:50:33 -0700 2007 2948355 12330 Linda 2 2948657 Not the other night, unfortunately. It was a white-ish creamy sauce w/ scrambled egg and ground meat. Definitely not a dark, soy sauce based sauce. Mon Sep 17 09:50:26 -0700 2007 2948355 124587 mahalan 3 2948841 That sounds like lobster cantonese. Mon Sep 17 10:43:35 -0700 2007 2948657 10147 michele cindy 1 2949264 def not New Green Bo has great soup dumplings and other schezhuan style food, there are some lines though. g Mon Sep 17 12:35:42 -0700 2007 2920724 121211 sukmon 2 3154585 They have bad Szechuanese and Shanghai food actually. Mon Nov 26 04:36:44 -0800 2007 2949264 113604 JFores 1 3153917 I went to Hop Kee tonight for the first time. I ordered a dofu dish from the Chinese menu. (Almost all the dishes on the Chinese menu are also on the English menu but this was an exception.) It was pillowy cubes of bean curd fried on the edges with pork strips, onions and a few mushrooms, with a bit of thin brown sauce. It was oddly flavorless, maddeningly so, and finally in desperation I put in a bit of soy sauce when the waiters weren't looking. Based on that one dish this place is well below the Chinatown average. (In food quality; the service is good.) But it is far FAR better than Wo Hop. Sun Nov 25 17:22:55 -0800 2007 2920724 11362 Brian S 2 3153975 Brian, you've inspired me to go to Amazing 66 for lunch tomorrow (Haven't tried it yet and I need to experiment more). Any recommendations? I eat everything. Sun Nov 25 17:50:40 -0800 2007 3153917 57025 fgf 3 3155092 others may report the same thing; good for group meals because a lot of the good dishes (short ribs in pumpkin, chicken stuffed w/ sticky rice, and a bunch more) are definitely not for 1 or even 3, but there were extensively posted lunch specials and single meals I think by Brian S, early on. Mon Nov 26 08:55:37 -0800 2007 3153975 12656 bigjeff 3 3155165 I've never been for lunch but they serve $5 meals until 3:30PM. Let me know if it's good! I posted a lot of dinner recs in my replies on this post (my favorite is braised duck) www.chowhound.com/topics/340879 Mon Nov 26 09:14:56 -0800 2007 3153975 11362 Brian S 4 3159672 Today was my Amazing 66 lunch (yesterday was my main stay, Szechuan Gourmet, crispy braised bean curd with pork belly, chili and leeks. Very good). Amazing 66 was a great experience. After a nice long walk around Chinatown I walked to the restaurant then did what I almost always do when having lunch alone, look for a place to buy a NY Times or other suitable reading material. Here things got a little complicated as every news shop for a few blocks had only Chinese language newspapers (what dialect I have no idea). I might have been able to get a racing form but wasn't interested. About four blocks north into Little Italy I was able to secure a Daily News which proved adequate and headed back to Amazing 66. I was seated at a communal table which was perfectly fine but outside the norm for me and handed the regular menu. Very nice menu, but it didn't include a lunch menu which I noticed other people (Chinese people) had. I asked for one and it was provided. I have been eating a lot of meat lately so I ordered the Pan Fried Butterfish with Soy Sauce, it sounded innocuous enough and pretty simple. While I enjoyed my included hot and sour soup (it seemed as if most others were enjoying some other soup, just broth) the diners at my table received their dishes and boy did they look good: fatty pork and what looked like caramelized onions, battered and fried shrimp, some stew looking thing with beef, carrot and potato. Then came the Butterfish, not what I expected but very good. A plate full of small whole fish - maybe freshwater fish which I hardly ever eat - head, fins, bones and skin. What was great is that I really enjoyed it but might not have ordered it had I known the presentation. A lot of little bones to deal with and a little labor intensive. But subtle flovors, nice meat and great textures. It seems I could spend weeks working through the five dollar lunch menu, a better deal in Manhattan would be hard to find. Next time I'm getting that fatty pork dish with the caramelized onions, at least I think they were onions. Tue Nov 27 15:39:44 -0800 2007 3155165 57025 fgf 5 3160160 Thank you so much for posting this. I haven't had lunch in Chinatown since the day ten years ago when I ordered lunch in my favorite restaurant and what I got, which was always carefully and perfectly cooked at dinner, was just slopped together in a wok, and was horrible. When I mentioned it to the waiter, he said, of course! You can't expect it to be made well for five dollars! Well at Amazing 66 I guess I can. I will link this to the main Amazing 66 post. The Chinese written language is the same for all dialects! That's the great thing about having ideographs. Those used in mainland China are slightly simplified and thus slightly different from those used in Taiwan, but they are similar to the Japanese kanji Tue Nov 27 18:18:54 -0800 2007 3159672 11362 Brian S 5 3162269 For the pan fried butterfish, if its crispy enough, you can eat the whole thing. Just crunch through the head/bones/tail so it's not labor intensive at all. My favorite part of the fish when its crispy like that is the head. I wish I could get there for lunch on weekdays. I only have access to the places by Grand and Chrystie because I can get there and back within 35 mins or so. Wed Nov 28 11:57:36 -0800 2007 3159672 19911 SomeRandomIdiot 6 3162365 Dear SomeRandomIdiot, Oh, I ate some bone allright. You're absolutely right, the whole fish is edible, and the bones offer a nice texture. However, the spine is a little much for my delicate sensibilities so I basically pulled the meat from the carcass with my teeth (not fully clenched) leaving the spine but eating whatever bone came along with the flesh. I ate three heads out of six or seven fishies. Very crunchy, better than fritos. I tried to take a look around and see exactly how much of the little suckers other people were leaving uneaten but couldn't tell (though it is a popular item). I don't feel guilty leaving a few heads, tails and a bunch of fish spines. I got my $4.95 worth. From Grand and Crystie (I walked there after for the subway) it's about two and a half minutes to Amazing 66. Less if you run. It's worth the run. Wed Nov 28 12:24:47 -0800 2007 3162269 57025 fgf 7 3166069 Correction: Amazing 66 is about a six to seven minute walk from Grand and Crystie. Thu Nov 29 13:56:10 -0800 2007 3162365 57025 fgf 1 3260488 It all depends on what time you are going to eat. Before 10 Amazing 66 is pretty good for innovative food at a decent price. If you have been drinking all night it would either be 69 of Wo Hop because I beleive that Hop Kee is closed at midnight now. If you go to Wo Hop be sure to go upstairs. The place in the basement is different owners and there food is terrible. I wouldn't eat in Wo Hop basement if it was the last thing on earth and they were giving it to me for free. Noodle Town is cheap but it just doesn't taste as good as it use to and the lady at the counter is just a b*tch especially if you are ordering take-out. Wo Hop closes at 5 a.m. and probably is the best food after a hard night of drinking. Fri Jan 04 08:39:53 -0800 2008 2920724 154333 suprakent