Chinatown Cart - Lingo help needed

[michele cindy]

There's a decent cart at the corner of Bowery & Grand. I like the "plain rice noodle roll" they sell, but they put 3 different sauces on it. I want the "plain" rice noodle roll, no meat, with the one sauce (similar to a soy sauce, with a hint of sweetness) you usually get with these at other places. I don't know the name of the sauce or how to communicate this effectively. Can someone assist? Thanks

[polimorfos]

I've had luck speaking english at this cart. (I've requested the plain rice roll with fish balls on several occasions and they understood).

[Miss Rennie]

I used to be able to get half a roast duck, sliced and in a foil box, at a cart on Canal at around Elizabeth Street, and dynamite roast pork at a place on Center Street just north of Canal, long since closed. Anybody know any carts that have this?

[hellomarisa]

Does anyone have any other favorite chinatown carts? There are so many... enticing and daunting!

[fourunder]

One of my favorite carts or types of carts are the ones that make the little cakes where you get about 15-20 for a dollar. I noticed on Grand Street, there's an automated one that makes cream filled ones for two dollars per bag.....how many cakes in each bag I do not know at present time.

[Lau]

the cream filled one on grand is bad...its a branch of the same thing in flushing mall except the one in the flushing mall is way better

however the guy on grand street is probably the best one of those little egg cakes from hong kong, the one of canal is ok and the one of bowery is bad

[SomeRandomIdiot]

there were like 8 cakes in that bag the one and only time i tried it. Blehhhh! The guy that makes the regular mini cakes and sets up like 10 ft away puts out a much better product.

[nooyawka]

This vendor most likely speaks Mandarin Chinese.

The standard "plain rice noodle roll" at the vendors usually has krill. Do you consider that meat? I don't like krill, so I used to order a "jai cheung" (Cantonese), meaning "no meat rice noodle roll". It had scallions and/or parsley. But, in recent years, I had difficulty finding that at the vendors. Another source you should try is Rainbow Cafe on Mott between Grand and Broome. They serve a plain, white rice noodle roll, which is probably what you're looking for. It comes with 2 types of sauce mixed: hoisin (see below) and peanut. You can opt out of either or both sauces. I believe they speak English there. Any similar Hong Kong-style food establishment will probably carry the plain white rice noodle roll.

Hoisin "seafood" sauce is brown, sweet and comes out of the squeeze bottle with the consistency of ketchup (Cant.: hoy seen jeung; Mand.: hi shen jaang). There is also soy sauce, to which they add sugar, to make it sweet. (Cant.: see yull (rhymes with 'hull'); Mand.: see yo) Pronunciations are non-standard, but my own just to help you get the point across. Then there is the 3rd: peanut sauce (Cant.: faa sung jeung; Mand.: hwa shung jaang).

[fourunder]

Simple pointing for items which I want........ and a shake of the head for the items I do not care for always works for me. I've been to the cart you mention and that's what I do there. First I pay attention to what others have ordered and I see what food items are under each cover. When it's my turn to order, I simply point to the cover where I know the item is under. The worker always looks me in the eye with the condiment bottles in hand and then I simply nod or shake my head....or point to the squeeze bottles I want and shake my head and index finger to the ones I do not want squeezed onto my order.

Also, when I want a small order, I keep my hands or my thumb and index finger close together. When I want a large or double sized order, I pull my hands apart and they will put the food item ordered into a plastic quart container, rather than the foam lid/tray.

btw, for anyone who does not know....most items on this cart are usually $1 if I am not mistaken.

[michele cindy]

I can point and determine which size I want, but the sauces are in opaque bottles, so I can't see the contents. Thanks!

[fourunder]

MC,

Should no one jump in and tell you how to communicate with the sauce names, I would suggest you look at the squeeze bottle tops and check out the residual sauce on the points. At least you will be able to rule out the red hot sauce. :0)

I seem to recall there is a thinned out Hoisin or Oyster sauce and a Soy sauce variation. I would imagine if you say either word, even with limited English command/skills, they may be able to understand your choice.

[fourunder]

Here's my last ditch effort to help you tackle this problem......I just got off the telephone with my Chinese friend's Grandmother and asked her how to say phonetically the three names for sauces. Please bear in mind, I do not know which province the Grandmother hails from....or which province the cart owner is from....but she says this should not be a tremendous barrier to overcome. If the three sauces are indeed based by the previous ones I mentioned, they are phonetically pronounced:

Hoisin Sauce........Hoy Then Deng

Soy Sauce...........Cee - Yu.......as in see you

Oyster Sauce........Ho - Yu

Although Hoisin is the obvious choice for sweet, both Soy and Oyster sauces can be used to make sweet variations...... The phonetic pronunciation for the following is:

Sweet.......Hem

Salty.........Hom

[kobetobiko]

what language is this? This isn't Cantonese as far as I can tell!

[fourunder]

kobe,

I guess you missed the part where I said I do not know which province my friend's Grandmother hails from originally.......

If you can do better, I'm sure MC would greatly appreciate your efforts.:0)

[Lau]

yeah i was about to say the same thing...toi son? maybe chiu chow? those pronunciations could be problematic depending on where the person is from (they are likely cantonese)

so the above sauces translated in mandarin (they will definitely understand these):
hoisin: hai xian (hi she en)
soy sauce: jiang you (jang yo)
oyster: hou you (hoe yo)

sweet: tian (tee en)
salty: xian (she en)

[kobetobiko]

Nice job lau.

Michele, don't get intimidated by just pointing to the bottles. Body language is the best language in Chinatown.

Sweet sauce (hoisin sauce) in Cantonese: Tim Cheung

[michele cindy]

the sauce I like on these is similar in flavor to a watery hoisn, but not thick like the hoisn you get with peking duck. Do you think it's hoisin or something all together different. I know it isn't soy sauce, fish sauce or oyster sauce,. They also have this other sauce I really don't like which is very peanuty in flavor.
Thanks everyone for the quick lesson. It's very appreciative.

[Miss Needle]

I think the "watery hoisin" you're referring to is a sauce made with dark soy sauce as a base. Dark soy sauce is thicker and sweeter than what most people think when they hear soy sauce. There's molasses in it. It's like the soy sauce they put when you order rice rolls at a dim sum restaurant.

[michele cindy]

Yes! that's the one I like, how do I tell the guy this is the one I want and to forget about using the other 2? Does it have a name?

[Miss Needle]

I just call it dark soy sauce. But here's the translation from wiki:

(老抽 lǎochōu)

[fourunder]

Do I get credit for one out of five???

[michele cindy]

Thank you for going that extra mile fourunder.

[LloydG]

I like these carts too. If I recall, there is one dark (soy?) sauce, peanut sauce and something that looks like oil but is probably a light vinegar. I always ask for on peanut sauce.

I imagine if you order and ask for only soy sauce you are likely to get what you want.

[Chandavkl]

Grandma speaks Toishanese, which is what my family and 95 percent of pre-1950s Chinese spoke. You still hear it around Chinatown, but not nearly as much.

[Lau]

yeah i think it is / was very prevalent in NY's ctowns...i think almost ever cantonese person i know from manhattan family speaks / spoke it