New York’s Chinatown is one of the largest Chinese enclaves in the world outside of Asia, and that means there’s a huge choice of places to eat. But not all are good – New York foodies have a shortlist of the places they like to go to:
Take a steep escalator ride up to Jing Fong (18 Elizabeth St, tel: 212-964-5256), a huge, bustling banquet hall crowded with patrons who choose from a wide variety of Hong Kong-style dim sum passing by their tables on rolling carts. It’s best to go closer to 10am when the food is freshest. They close at 3.30pm.
There are no rolling carts at Dim Sum Go-Go (5 East Broadway, tel: 212-732-0796), with its easy-to-order, reasonably priced dim sum menu – 24 kinds on offer. Recommended are the dim sum platter (good for the dim sum novice) and the roast chicken with fried garlic stems.
There’s usually a line-up to get into Joe’s Shanghai (9 Pell St, tel: 212-233-8888) to order their famous mouthwatering soup dumplings filled with pork or crabmeat. Other dishes are good here too, like the Szechuan string beans, salt-and-pepper prawns with shells, and the Shanghai noodles.
Oriental Garden (14 Elizabeth St, tel: 212-619-0085) attracts big-name chefs like Daniel Bouley, who come here for the exceptionally fresh seafood. It can be noisy and the menu can vary in quality. But you can’t go wrong ordering seafood dishes like the fried shrimp balls, lobster in XO sauce, or oysters with shiitake mushrooms and scallions.
