MING YING Chinese Pan Asian Restaurant Long Branch NJ
Upon very good recommendations we were in the area last night and tried dinner at
MING YING Chinese Pan Asian Restaurant 80 Montgomery Ave Long Branch NJ..
this tiny take out restaurant with only 2 tables has the best food Chinese / Pan Asian food I have had in a very long time....what sets them out above the rest is that they only use fresh vegetables & products cooked to order. I ordered the Shrimp Dumpling Soup which was to die for ..definitely the best dumplings I have ever had and the portions are huge, My wife had the Chicken Corn soup OMG it was delicious loaded with sweet corn & fresh garlic YUM! Volcano beef w/onion in Black Pepper sauce , crispy Fish in garlic Sauce .....the menu is extensive and way beyond the normal take out place.....check it out soon you wont be sorry....this place is the "REAL DEAL" *****
enjoy
-
I have never eaten at Ming Ying and about to give it a shot after reading this thread. It surprises me to read the description of the House Special Duck that comes with broccoli, carrots, onions, and zucchini. I thought this place was closer to real Chinese cooking than most
restaurants in this area which do not serve authentic asian vegetables to cut costs. It is hard to find a place that uses bok choy, black mushrooms, snowpeas, bean sprouts, scallions, etc. Instead, cheaper western vegetables are substituted as if most customers don't know the difference. This is why you can order the pseudo-Chinese lunch specials at such low prices.Maybe I am biased because I grew up on real Chinese food in NYC.
›1 Reply -
Just wanted to give some feedback on the House Special Duck and the Volcano beef from Ming Ying. I ordered these two for take-out and for the price, the portions were a little disappointing. The beef was tasty but it wasn't anything special and they also skimped on the vegetables that came with the duck. Maybe it was a busy evening but I was disappointed especially with all the positive postings.
›2 Replies-
re: bcmchong
JustJake
Feb 14, 2011 03:33 AM
Had the House Sp. Duck on Thursday - the predominate vegetable with this dish is broccoli - more than enough with secondaries being sliced carrots, onions & zucchini. Then again, the rest of the container contained duck so there's not a helluva lot room to add much more than which they do right now. Love their brown sauce.
For the $12 Volcano Beef dish, I get more flank steak than I would at most upscale Shore restaurants. It is NOT a skimpy offering - at least in my eye.
Shrimp dumpling soup remains a staple. There are things that they do which are no different than most 'good' Chinese restaurants - then there are the 'gem' dishes.
-
-
OK so it was really busy as it was the second night after "the blizzard". Called for delivery and was told 35 minutes. Ordered the famous shrimp dumplings in sesame sauce, hot and sour soup and house special chow fun. Was told that the owner was only accepting orders for LARGE portions...I guess trying to rake in the $$ when he could. Here's my verdict on the food: The shrimp dumplings were worth the price alone. They were absolutely fantasticly good!! About an hour after I ordered (and was quoted 35 minute delivery), I was called and told they were out of chow fun noodles, what would I like. Changed to mei fun, no problem. Another half hour elapsed, and the food came. The Singapore chow mei fun was not spicy, and VERY curry like. A poor version of SCMF...I've had it from MY before and it was awesome...this was far from that. The hot and sour soup, that previously was wonderful, was barely broth. Seemed like the chef was not there tonight, and they were just raking in the $$. For a place that prides themselves on making great takeout food, this was, in MHO, a great compromise for them.
This all said, I know that they were slammed, and I was ok with taking full portions of everything, but the food, other than the incredible shrimp dumplings, was very fair at best...
Snow day excuse? OK, but, we'll see what happens from here. Awesome order taking girl by the way....they were SO NICE!!!
-
Seen in today's APP: Ming Ying received an Unsatisfactory rating. This means it will likely be required to close for a while. While Conditional ratings happen all the time for minor things, this is more serious. Anyone know what's going on? Does it change anyone's opinion of the place?
-----
Ying Restaurant
520 W Side Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07304›12 Replies-
re: cantkick
Yes. My husband and I own and operate a food establishment, and at one point owned five, and we know what is required by the county board of health, as well as that in various towns. I also worked as a waitress during college and saw the back end of a few local restaurants, so I know what is standard procedure and what is not. From my own personal experience, something has to be majorly wrong to get an unsatisfactory rating. I read the write ups each week in the paper and see who has gotten which rating. I am bothered by this as this has become our go to take out when we want asian food. Depending on the strength of Long Branch's Health Inspector, they may not have to close. Smaller towns are usually governed by the county, and the county has no ability to shut anyone down. For anything. Pretty disturbing. Other towns have other policies, so it all depends. The full report, if done by the county, can be found online.
-
-
-
-
re: sockster
equal_Mark
Dec 20, 2010 11:35 AM
No doubt they were cited for not making their food spicy enough... :-)
-
-
re: sockster
stack_c
Dec 24, 2010 09:17 AM
MING YING UPDATE**
like many of you we were devestated to hear of the recent citing of unsatisfactory conditions at Ming Ying....we live around the corner and have been religiously going there about 2x a week for the past 8 years...
My DH was so distraught and going through "spicy sezchaun wonton" withdrawl that he decided to call them up last night and ask them what was going on.
He spoke to management who said they were cited for having too much grease on the floor of the kitchen...and inadequate means of disposing of the grease...apparently this was a massive safety hazard...also he mentioned something about a fan (DH did not catch all of it)...he said that they were closed for only about 2 hours and then were able to re-open. Then one of the counter girls got on the phone and said everything was perfectly OK and the satisfactory rating was reissued...so we decided to give it a go....went to pick the food up and DH noticed a new certificate on the wall from the Dept of Health with a Satisfactory rating dated 12/16/10....the article in the APP came out the week of 12/18 and they are usually 1 -2 weeks behind so this would make sense...i understand that this report we got was from the mgmt...and i'd like to think they would be honest to their loyal customers...I understand others may be more skeptic...
either way our food last night was fantastic as usual and business was booming...long live Ming Ying! LOL-
-
-
re: menton1
equal_Mark
Dec 25, 2010 03:41 AM
I'll be back for the shrimp dumplings and hot sesame sauce. Have resigned myself to having to add my own seasoning unless they can someday grasp the concept...
-
-
-
-
re: stack_c
bgut1
Dec 25, 2010 03:33 PM
stack - The APP is reporting that they have been "satisfactory restored".
http://www.app.com/article/20101225/N...
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
OK after much wrangling decided to give it a try this weekend...
ordered steamed shrimp dumplings, chicken in scallions and ginger, volcano beef and steamed wontons in hot sesame oil and some thai beef fried rice..
drove over to get and got very concerned as I approached the garish sign overhead and cartoonish pictures of menu dishes visible form the street over the counter and a surly looking person staring over his soup at me through the window as I approached the door
But the food was ready, counter staff friendly and clad in clean green polo shirts and the kitchen was busy but certainly clean!
They offered me a free coke and I accepted as I grabbed my booty and headed back home to MB
OK so the verdict
the steamed shrimp dumplings maybe the best ever, including NOBU in London.
The wantons were ok, the sesame oil pasty and too sweet
The volcano beef was very tough but the onion and pepper sauce was very well done
Chicken with ginger and scallions almost perfect, vegetables crisp, sauce just right , chicken seemed fresh and was delicious
The Thai fried rice was awesome! Just enough heat, just right amount of grilled beef, a great choice
Thanks everyone for this find...
shrimp dumplings and fried rice will be a staple of the summer season for us!!!
-
Sockster - no soup dumplings. Their menu is basically just a regular takeout menu with a few extras thrown in.
My girlfriend lives right down the street from this place so I find myself going there from time to time but I've never been blown away by the food, seemed to me like an average chinese takeout place with the exception of a few other dishes. I go there for the noodle bowls, since they're the only place in the area i know of that does that sort of thing. And yes, their shrimp dumpling/wontons are really good... i like to get the seafood noodle soup which comes packed with shrimp dumplings.
In my experience the place really seemed like a regular takeout joint, but then again I've never had any of their specialty dishes like the Volcano Beef, I guess it's about time I tried it out!
By the way, does anyone else find it puzzling when you walk into a Chinese joint with white people working the register? I always feel so weird ordering there haha :D
›2 Replies-
-
re: joonjoon
Tapas52
May 6, 2010 06:49 PM
Long Branch has a large Latino community....and the owners only speak a certain dialect of Chinese (not main stream Mandarin) they even have a Mandarin speaking worker to talk on the phone to Chinese Mandarin customers...as for the Latino workers there they are critical to translate to the customers taking orders....I would also suggest you delve into the menu specialties..as Ming Ying is certainly no ordinary Chinese take out joint.
-
-
-
-
re: wench31
-
-
re: wench31
Tapas52
May 3, 2010 09:54 PM
Justjake.....had dinner there again today.....the VOLCANO STEAK was Excellent!!
We also had the Shrimp w/ Asparagus which was so fresh the spears snapped when you bit them.., Shrimp Dumplings fantastic, which they made when we ordered them, & Chicken corn soup OMG ! it was Sooooo Good!
Can't wait tio return again.
-
-
-
-
JustJake
Apr 28, 2010 04:01 AM
Thursday's are take out/dine out at something very casual and hopefully 'inexpensively' as well. Being a 'local', this is but 5 minutes from the house and we'll try it tomorrow. Sounds very appetizing.
›5 Replies-
-
re: Tapas52
JustJake
Apr 30, 2010 04:15 AM
Did go yesterday, and it didn't start out well. Bride initially didn't want Chinese, my oldest (24) no problem as long as he gets to put food in his stomach. There was no hot water in that coffee maker and I had to ask twice for that to be given some attention. It's a busy take out place and the table we were seated at, had a 'local', seated at a stool at the side counter who was either eating the soup (with a lot of siracha) or the wings, as his face was totally sweaty, there was food on his lap, etc, and it was extremely 'gross' to have him in view. That and some of the clientele coming in provided quite a menagerie of characters (and I did not grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth either, having led my formative years in a gritty blue collared town with a lot of bars, etc)
Now, onto the crux of this place: "the food". IT IS THAT GOOD. The Shrimp Wonton Soup is chock full of flavor, with the wontons in that delicately 'thin' wrapper (that I like). The soup was piping hot and the best that I have had. My wife immediately begins warming to the idea that what once appeared to be a 'train wreck' was interesting enough that we may have found a 'diamond in the rough'.
Son had the volcano beef, wifey had the butterfly shrimp and I had the sliced duck in garlic sauce. We all shared dishes. She commented that that was the best butterfly shrimp she had in a long long time (has long stopped ordering it); a nice sauce, bacon done fairly crispy and I have to agree, it was delicious. The Volcano Beef is outstanding, plentiful, marinated, tender and peppery (GREAT) though my son would've liked more vegetables (though he had plenty to pick over from my dish), with my sliced duck being so good; crispy,, boneless, in a nice brown sauce (that could have been just a tad less sweet, but nevertheless quite good) with a nice assortment of fresh vegetables (including red pepper, zucchini).
We ordered a few things to go (as my youngest was returning from college last night), and I have to say, I did sample one of the 'chicken dumplings' at the house and all I can say is wow!!! Also ordered the Thai Beef fried rice, and as I finish up, I will see what I can take to the office for lunch today.
4* for this wonderful eatery, and I can't believe that it was that close and that unknown to us. Tapas, your recommendation was right on the money.
-
re: JustJake
JustJake
Apr 30, 2010 09:51 AM
Just a quick addendum. The Thai Beef Fried Rice that I just finished up at lunch was delicious. Charred tender beef, just enough basil & hot pepper to give it flavor and a smidgeon of 'heat.
This is one terrific little hole in the wall. We need more of them (and not just confined to Chinese or pan Asian cuisine).
Thanks again Tapas.
-
re: JustJake
Tapas52
Apr 30, 2010 06:37 PM
JustJake...I am so glad you and your family enjoyed your experience at
Ming Ying. As I read your review my mouth was watering..lol. I am in the area every Monday evening & although we've been there twice so far and loved it..I just can't wait to go back next week to try some more dishes....
The Shrimp dumplings are sooooo good also......they really have put their talents to work there for sure....hope you and many others here on CH try it many more times...I'm glad I was able to put a smile on you face, it really is a 'diamond in the rough".....enjoy!-
re: Tapas52
JustJake
May 1, 2010 09:49 AM
I'm going to try the crispy fish in blackbean sauce the next time there (they also do it with squid as well). I'm hoping that it's even better than than either the squid or fish (cod) in black bean sauce that I get at Hong Kong Restaurant on Easton Ave. in Franklin (which is excellent)
Btw, with the open kitchen @ MY , it looked to be very very clean too (that's always a big +)
-
-
-
-
-
