Food Gallery 32 - New Cashier System!! and a visit during lunch!

It seems like I have been frequenting this place a lot recently -- perhaps because its the most convenient place for friends to eat at, especially with the variety of cuisines the Food Gallery offers to its clientele.

My most recent visit had a pleasant surprise! The annoying front-ordering system is no longer in place! YES, my previous blog assessments (info on food court, friday night review) to change the ordering system seemed to make good business sense. Customers can now order food from the food stall that they would like to eat from! Seems like a common-sense thing to do, right? Well, now it is. Turns out the customers are liking that a lot better now!

So I tried two places today. De-ppangi and Jin Jja Roo.

If you will recall, De-ppangi serves Japanese Style foods -- with Donburi's, Teppan-Yaki and Onigiri's and Jin Jja Roo serves a mixture of Chinese and Korean foods blended together.

At De-ppangi I ordered the Seafood Teppanyaki for $9.99. The seafood included imitation crab, octopus, and small sized shrimp. Nothing too spectacular about it ... Plus, it made me think whether they just used the cheapest form of seafood to make this dish. Something I will continue to ponder.

At Jin Jja Roo, my friend ordered the Deep fried Chicken in a sweet and sour sauce (I may have the name incorrect), but it was not that good. Flavor was decent, but I seemed to wonder "where's the chicken" .... There was definitely more dough than chicken in this dish. I much prefer this dish at Shanghai Moon, which is diagonal from the Food Court and more expensive (but sometimes you get what you pay for!)

Overall, in my opinion, I believe Hanok is still the best place to eat in the Food Gallery. If you're in K-town you're likely looking for a simple, but good Korean meal in this food court -- and like others in search of the same thing, you'll be standing in line behind the rest of them at Hanok. (btw, Hanok had the longest lines in the Food Court, so make sure you go earlier than later!) I sort of feel bad for the other food establishments there, especially Bian Dang and Jin Jja Roo who's operating space is minimized due to the people waiting in line for Hanok!

In conclusion, I still believe Food Gallery 32 provides a good option for people who are on a budget, or people who are eating with friends who can't decide on what to eat.

Happy Eating!

Chinatown wins again for offering cheap meals!

Photos from iphone

This is no gourmet meal, but if you have $4.50, you can have a five item entree with soup (taxes included) at this Chinatown establishment located on Hester and Centre street. I don't even think this place has a name other than $4.50 Combinations!

So what do you get? Just about everything you can order at a Panda Express and more. It's Chinese food on steroids with some good ole authentic dishes that Chinese American-born won't think about eating (well except me of course). Though the food is mass produced (think buffet line), the food is not lacking in flavor... There is however some dishes that have too much oil (some vegetable dishes). But overall, for the price - the quantity can't be beat!

You will see a lot of street vendors (aka people selling "designer" bags) taking a break from their work and eating here... Or just tourists getting their taste buds satisfied with the variety of chinese food here... Or someone like me who found this convenient spot to grab a quick bite before I went into work.

So if you happen to exit canal street on the 6 or n/r trains, this Chinese Combination food place is A few steps away (go north on Hester street) an if you don't have that extra 50 cents with you, take it to go and pay only $4!

Happy eating!

Le Da Nang at 75 2nd Ave in East Village; Vietnamese Food

Shrimp summer spring roll with iced coffee; Vietnamese sandwich with spicy shrimp

Rice and bbq pork chop; bun w/ tofu ; shrimp entree with soup/salad/appetizer

photos with the iphone camera

Finally, good and cheap Vietnamese food has made its way outside of Chinatown and into the East Village. Le Da Nang is on 2nd avenue between 5th and 4th street at the old Sea Thai restaurant.

This place has a variety of lunch special options starting at $5.99 for a Vietnamese sandwich with iced/hot Vietnamese coffee or $9.99 for a entree, appetizer, salad, soup and free drink. I ordered a main dish, appetizer and a iced coffee all for the price of $8.50. Wow! What a deal! You can get this deal everyday of the week from 11:30 am to 5:00 pm. This is definitely a food steal -- check out part of the menu here.

Overall it was a great place. Only comments are:

- watch the step as you walk into this establishment
- the menu is a bit confusing and on the verge of "daunting", but if you can navigate a NYC subway map, you can handle this
- if you order the pork chops and don't like the spicy Ginger sauce, you can ask for the typical fish sauce that you eat with the pork chops
- if you want the traditional Banh Mi sandwich, this is not the place to go -- they have some "fancy" options such as Spicy Shrimp, BBQ Pork Chops and more
- definitely get the iced coffee ... If it's not sweet enough ask for more condensed milk
- decor seems a bit upscale for the low priced meals, but that just ups the value of this place
- for the price you can't beat the convenience of the location and for the decent to good food!
- happy hour from 5-7 pm and it's $3 beer and wines, or 50% off on cocktails.

Alright that's enough... Happy eating!

About Le Da Nang from their website:

Da Nang is the largest city in central Vietnam and one of the country´s most important ports. Ringed by mountains on one side and the East Sea on the other, Da Nang has numerous cuisine with seafoods and mountain vegetables with the touch of French and Spanish influence.

Le Da Nang represents the taste of Vietnam, mixture of cultural crossover, as well as dishes from northern Vietnam and bordering country of Thailand.

The modern yet authentic flavors of Vietnamese cuisine.

Excellent Pork Chop House in New York Chinatown

Excellent Pork Chop House:
Pork Chop Over Rice

When you're in Chinatown and have to eat fast -- you can be sure to get your food quick at Excellent Pork Chop House -- this restaurant is among my top food places in Chinatown and it has been for many many many many years -- Excellent Pork Chop house serves my comfort food -- and I need comforting! :D

I personally love the pork chop over rice ($5.50). You can add a boiled soy-sauce egg for $0.60, which I do every now and then. What I love about this simple dish is the preserved vegetables and minced pork sauce that is draped over the rice (yes you can ask for more sauce if you'd like)... and the not-so-greasy pan-fried pork chops. The pork chops are usually plentiful for a meal; however, if I'm hungry, I tend to order a side appetizer of dried bean curd ($3.50). If you're adventurous, you can mix the dried bean curd with other small appetizers all for the same price. On this recent trip I mixed the dried bean curd with jelly fish, but you can also mix it with garlic cucumber or seaweed. It all depends on your flavor and desires.

I also recently tried their shaved ice -- yum. They don't have any extravagant toppings -- just the traditional - condensed milk, red bean, taro, tapioca balls, pineapple chunks, black jelly among other things ... I ordered my shaved ice with condensed milk (a definite must), red beans and black jelly ($3.50) and it was good... Simple, but tasty. For additional toppings, its another $0.50. Not bad compared to $5.50 at Just Sweet in LES.

The restaurant has been in New York for a long time and originated from Taiwan (its part of a chain there). So you can expect Taiwanese style pork chops here (not the deep fried that some of my Taiwanese friends enjoy, but the pan-fried ones). However, if you are looking for the deep-fried pork chops, you can try Wah Mei Pork Chop Fast Food on Hester Street between Baxter and Mulberry. I personally am still a fan and an advocate of Excellent Pork Chop House!

Excellent Pork Chop House is located at 3 Doyer Street and is directly across from the post office. Definitely make a stop by this place for its "Excellent Pork Chops" over rice ...

For a look at their menu, click here

Note: Closed on Tuesdays.

Happy Eating!

Live cheaply and eat like a King/Queen in New York City for $10 or less!

We all know New York City is an expensive place to live ... but is there a way to live cheaply in New York? Of course there is and I'll prove it to you with images I took with my iPhone.

So what do you think you can get for $10 or less in New York City? Not much, right? Well how about three meals? For $10 or less, this is what my friend Collin and I bought last night on our late-night food tour.

Gray's Papaya
2 hot dogs + 1 Drink = $4.45 + tax

White Castle
Choose your own meal = $2.99 + tax

99 Cent Pizza
1 slice = 99 cents!

Grand Total for 1 Night = $8.70! (and that's for 2 people, $4.35 each!)

Ok, you can't eat this every night -- otherwise, you'll end up like that guy from Super Size Me -- but, the point is -- there is a way to eat cheaply in New York if you're a pauper and want to be a King/Queen for the day ... sometimes eating like this can be an adventure... well, at least for us, we just kept on laughing as we went to our next food destination!

caveat: but we probably won't be able to do this for a little while, well at least until our stomachs recuperate from all the grease... ha ha, yes, read the fine print! :D

Other photos from our food tour:

Xi'An Foods coming to St. Marks in the East Village! aka Xian Foods

I previously blogged about Xi'An Foods in the Golden Mall, Flushing Queens (click for past review) and discovered that they will be opening their fourth store on St. Mark's Place in the East Village! Woo Hoo! Its coming to their second location in Manhattan this weekend!

You definitely should order the Spicy Lamb Sandwich!

Place: 81 St. Mark's Place.
Date: July 3rd
Time: 11 am - 11 pm:

Below is their email they sent out to past customers! If you respond now, you can receive a free burger on the day of their opening (available to the first 400 people who show up).

Facebook event www.xianfoods.com

Xi'an Famous Foods is opening up its 4th store location in St. Mark's Place in the East Village of Manhattan, NY!

We have come a long way since our original basement store on Main Street in Flushing, NY (which still does exist, by the way), and it's all thanks to our fans! :D:D

Mr. Liang Pi would like to say thanks to our fans for their support with some free giveaways and promotional prices! Here's how it works:

1. RSVP as "ATTENDING" to this event, and also send invites to anyone you know on Facebook. If you have friends that do not have Facebook, please have them email their full name (as shown on any photo ID) to xianfoods@gmail.com.

2. Show up at our new St. Mark's Place store at 81 St. Mark's Place on our event date with a photo ID that matches your Facebook profile name or a name that you emailed in.

3. Each guest on our "Attending" list will get their choice of one of our famous burgers for FREE! Our current burgers are: Savory Cumin Lamb Burger and Stewed Pork Burger. See menu at http://www.xianfoods.com/menu.php to see what they are!

4. Other promotional pricing will also be offered that day on our most famous dishes! Please check for Updates in your Inbox, or on here, for detailed info!


*The date of the event may be changed due to unforeseeable circumstances, but we will let you know of any changes ahead of time, so please check our Facebook/Twitter/your Updates inbox.

** Due to production capacity, free burgers are limited to 400 burgers total, so after you have RSVPed here, come earlier rather than later on the day of!

The Great N.Y. Noodletown is OPEN again!

Get your noodle on... or whatever you like to eat here cause the GREAT N.Y. Noodletown is back!

I was there this past Saturday and I have to say, whatever they changed or cleaned up, was not noticeable in the quality and taste of the food... Everything was just as it was the last time I was there -- good!

So go fill your soul with this yummy goodness!

Ah Wang Bakery in C-town (Hong Kong TEAS!!)

Welcome to Ah Wang Bakery on 42 Mott Street. This truly is a hole in the wall bakery that offers an assortment of Hong Kong prepared teas, small food items and limited baked goods. Its easy to walk right by this establishment, especially with all the optical stores around it and the distracting Chinese characters that have plastered the windows of the store -- but its an interesting little store to walk into if you are craving some good Hong Kong drinks and rice noodle with mixed sauce!

I tried a few of the items from the store and here are my thoughts:

Steamed Buns - $0.80 each (no, i didn't put the decimals in the wrong place). There are four different kinds - Pork with Vegetables Bun, Chicken Bun, BBQ Pork Bun and Plain Bun. I tried the BBQ Bun based on their recommendation and have to say I had better and would recommend not buying this. There was an interesting, almost medicinal herb like smell to it. The meat was - ok -

My favorite BBQ pork bun is probably still from Fay Day Bakery and if its Pork with Vegetable - I'd get it from the Bayard Meat Market (but there are so many other places too).

Hong Kong Drinks - The pink menu photo indicates all the different types of drinks that they offer and there are more variety in the refrigerator -- most of them being Hong Kong style drinks -- i.e. HK Style Tea w/ or w/o Lemon, Ginger Honey, Ovaltine/Holick Drinks, Red Bean, Sugar Cane, Milk Tea, Herbal Tea ... and my favorite - Chrysanthemum Tea with Honey/Sugar ... ah, so thirst quenching! I loved the Chrysanthemum Tea, probably because it reminded me of how my mom used to make it for me. :D The prices vary from hot and cold teas to small to large sizes -- but you won't pay less than $0.85 and no more than $2.50 for a drink (beat that Starbucks!)

They also make Smoothies in a variety of fruits -- watermelon, strawberry, mango, taro, etc...I personally didn't try it, but its offered there.

Small Food Items: They have an assortment of quick small food items. They have curry balls (similar to the foods you would get at the HK street carts) and rice noodle with mixed sauce. I didn't try the curry balls, but the rice noodle with mixed sauce was amazing! Its such a simple dish you'd be surprised at how great it tastes. The rice noodles are rolled up like a yoga mat and is served with a mixed sauce that consists of soy sauce, thin plum sauce and peanut sauce. It is then topped off with some sesame seeds. It is on the sweeter side of things, but not overwhelmingly so. If you want to add some "heat" to it, they also have hot sauce that they can add. Additionally, the rice noodles are given to you in a portable container -- which I ordered and took with me on the subway! very convenient! Price of the rice noodle with mixed sauce is $1.50.

Limited Baked Goods: Though the store is called a bakery, it doesn't provide what you think the typical American bakeries offer, or even some of the bigger Chinese bakeries. They offer Ham & Cheese sandwiches, Shredded Dried Pork Sandwiches (Formosa Brand Pork Sung - would say its an acquired taste, but i like it -- but do expect a lot of calories since the pork is held onto the bread with mayonnaise), Fortune Cookies, and a few other items. Again, I would use the term "bakery" loosely.

Overall, this store was a great find -- especially if you want some good HK teas and walk-and-eat like snacks. Don't let the small-ness of the store fool you, there usually a line to get your drinks and snacks at all hours of the day. The staff speaks limited English, but there offerings aren't so vast that you can't figure out what you want without pointing. So don't be intimidated by all the Chinese writing on the window or in the store - go in and order!

Happy Eating in Chinatown!

Food Stalls in Flushing Golden Shopping Mall

If you find the entrance to the Golden Shopping Mall (41-28 Main Street, lower level) in Flushing, you will find all sorts of restaurants in this underground food haven - heaven. Its not an easy place to spot -- there is a green awning on the outside and it states "Golden Shoping Mall" -- yes, the sign is spelled incorrectly. But if you find it -- you will find a collection of food stalls, or mini-restaurants, that will satiate one of your Asian food cravings.

So what and how do you choose from all the different food stalls/restaurants? I went with two other friends and we made our decisions based on what people were eating (or how crowded it was), what we smelled and what looked good to eat. In order to get a good sampling of the foods, we ordered one or two items from the stalls -- until we were stuffed.

We tried three different places, but by no means were these the only food places in here. Click on the links below to read our reviews.

House of Xie
Stall #38

Most Popular Item: Dumplings

5 Different Types of Dumplings
* Very juicy and flavorful
* Eight dumplings for $2.00


Xi'an Famous Foods
Stall # 36

Most Popular Item: Lamb with your choice

We selected Spicy Lamb Burger for $2.50
* Very tasty, very flavorful
* Lamb was tender

Lanzhou Handmade Noodle
Stall #27

Most Popular Item: Hand Pulled noodles

We selected the Oxtail Hand Pulled Noodle for $5.00.
* Noodles were as expected - thin, fresh and good
* Oxtail soup - abundance of meat, but flavor was bland

What other food items do you have to look forward to?

Left: Pork Chops over Rice at Stall 30 for $5.00
Middle: Two different restaurants -- soups, noodles, dumplings (price unknown)
Right: At the back-end of the hall (past House of Xie), you'll find red booths where you can order Hot Pot (or more known in Japanese as Shabu Shabu; price unknown)

Not enough food?


maybe you can wait until they open this next shop -- yes, its the size of a Manhattan studio!

or, if you don't want to wait that long -- can check out the first floor - yes, there's a first floor. There is no direct connection from the underground floor to first floor (at least, not to my obvious eyes); so you'll have to exit the way you came in, walk away from 41 Road and you'll notice the other door (photo below)

On the first floor there are not as many restaurants, but you will still find plenty of people eating here. Mostly, you will see people eating the Fu zhou cuisine. If you are not familiar with that type of food, check my previous blog on Fu Zhou Noodles and Fish Balls. There is also another restaurant here that sells Chinese deli-like items.

So that is my quick overview of the Golden Shopping Mall. Make sure you check the individual posts on the three restaurants that my friends and I scoped out for you. My favorite restaurants were Xi'an Famous Foods for its Lamb Burger Sandwich and House of Xie for its Pork with Celery Dumplings.

Happy Eating!

p.s. if you go here, tell me what your food thoughts are!

Lanzhou Handmade Noodle in Flushing Golden Shopping Mall

Welcome to Lanzhou Handmade Noodle aka Stall 27 in the Golden Shopping Mall (41-28 Main Street, lower level) in Flushing. It seems like everywhere I go -- Manhattan Chinatown and now Flushing Chinatown -- it would be amiss without a Lanzhou handmade noodle shop. It is quite literally everywhere I go. As I posted previously (Lam Zhou Hand Pulled Noodles, Tasty Hand Pulled Noodles), lamian is literally translated as Hand Pulled noodles and originated from Northern China.

The taste of the la mian noodles are quite similar across other la mian shops ,which is good for consistency purposes. The only slight or noticeable difference is whether the lamian chefs make the noodles on the thinner or thicker side -- otherwise, the noodles all taste the same. At this Lanzhou Noodle shop (most are just called lanzhou just to represent where the noodles originated from), the noodles tend to be on the middle to thinner side. Like many of the other lanzhou noodle shops, there are 19 different types of toppings you can have with your hand pulled noodles - beef, oxtail, seafood, beef tendon, eel, fish balls, roast duck, pork chop, etc. Among the most popular of lamian dishes, the beef (nee-ro-mian) and the oxtail hand pulled noodles are the most popular. We ordered the Oxtail Hand pulled soup.

Oxtail Hand Pulled Soup.
It included a good sampling of oxtail, but the soup was bland.

The oxtail was cooked long enough where the meat was easy to take off of the bone (notice, not fall off, its not expected to be that tender). The soup was bland for my liking, and even if I added the salty preserved vegetable or the hot spices, it was not the correct flavoring for this noodle soup. All it needed was some salt, but it was not on the table.

Overall, I didn't like this dish. After tasting this dish, my friends and I had food envy of other dishes that our neighbors were having. True to form, most of the clients were either having the nee-ro-mein or the oxtail soup. Next time, we'll have to try the beef noodle soup, which we hope carries more flavor than the oxtail soup.

Interesting Tidbits about Oxtail:

• Is oxtail what you think it is? Yes, its the tail of a beef animal (or ox - a castrated bull).
  
• Oxtail is not only used in Chinese cuisine, but also in Indonesia, Korea, Italy, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
• In Korea, oxtail bone is used to flavor the dish - Sul Long Tang - which is oxtail bone soup with rice, vermicelli/thin glass noodles -- all of which is flavored with scallions and salt to your taste
  

Lanzhou Handmade Noodle located inside the Golden Shopping Mall
41-28 Main Street, Lower Level

Xi'an Famous Foods in Flushing Golden Shopping Mall

Welcome to Stall 36 aka Xi'an Famous Foods, located in the Golden Shopping Mall at 41-28 Main Street, lower level. The stall is diagonal and to the right from Lanzhou Noodles and next to House of Xie. If you can't identify the stall by the photos above, its also easy to identify with the laminated photos of their foods that is located in the front of their stall.

We only ordered one food item from this stall and tried some of their drinks. We only tried one because this was the first stall we tried and wanted to save room for the others. The stall offered a variety of dishes made with lamb, so we selected the spicy lamb burger to test their lamb. We also selected the lamb because the other food stalls did not offer this meat.

Spicy Lamb Burger for $2.50.

The sandwich was simple -- lamb, jalapeno and some other herbs. Every bite was savory and spicy, which for me was a bit too spicy, but the taste was so pleasant that I found myself wanting more -- regardless of the consequences. Bite two, now my mouth was sort of in flames - but it was worth the consequences. The meat was tender to slightly rough, but to my pleasant surprise, the lamb was not like the sliced up meat you find at some of the food carts in Manhattan (previously blogged), but true cubes of meats. You could taste the lamb, which was not game-y in any sense. The bread didn't add much flavor to the sandwich, but it did add a nice crunch to every bite. Overall, the sandwich was delicious! Everything the name had, it offered - Spicy Lamb Burger. (note: my tolerance for spicy foods are low)

We also tried the Honey Red Ginseng drink here ... and for some reason I thought it was Honey with Ginger... so you can imagine once I had the taste in my mouth -- my immediate reaction was to spit it out -- but I didn't. Yeah, I was not a fan, but my friend Julie was.



For more info on their menu, check out their website at www.xianfoods.com (yes, its one of the only places that has a website!) -- there are plenty of photos and other helpful information about Xi'an Famous Foods.

Overall, all three of us (Michael, Julie and me), enjoyed this sandwich and would order it again (had it not been for the other stalls we wanted to visit!).

Interesting Tidbit:

• Anthony Bourdain has visited this stall before and you will see a photo of him there
  
• If you walk into the stall, there is a picture of a female body builder and a picture of the same lady in normal clothes (if you see this, you'll likely have a similar reaction - "WOAH, that can't be all hidden in that tiny lady's body!")
• Xi'an is the capital of the Shaanxi province in China. Tourists visit this area to see the Terra Cotta Warriors and is also part of the Silk Road. Food from Xi'an is generally spicy.
  
• According to wikipedia, Ginseng's traditional uses are for medicinal purposes - including increasing one's libido, increases resistance to stress, and helps with diabetes II.
  

House of Xie Food Stall in Flushing Golden Shopping Mall

If you find the entrance to the Golden Shopping Mall (41-28 Main Street) in Flushing, you will find all sorts of stalls in this underground food haven - heaven. Welcome to Stall 38 aka House of Xie located in the Golden Shopping Mall, lower level. The stall is across the way from Lanzhou Noodles and can be identified by its Blue Sign. Its essentially in the middle of everything (next to Lanzhou Noodles and X'ian Famous Eats).

Top, Left to Right: Part of the Blue Sign, Kevin grabbing Pig Feet,
Middle, L to R: Assortment of Deli Items, Flat bread for sandwiches
Bottom, L to R: Chinese Deli Items (tofu, mushrooms, potato salad, cucumber salad, sausage, etc), Tray of Uncooked Dumplings

This stall is known for its boiled dumplings and what I like to call "Chinese deli" items. Do not ask for fried dumplings or steamed dumplings because they do not have that -- only boiled.

There are five different types of dumplings:
Pork w/ celery
Pork w/ cabbage
Pork w/ chives
Pork, shrimp, and eggs w/ chives
Beef w/ scallion
-- all orders come with eight dumplings and cost $2.00

Of the five, we tried three.

Here is the pork w/ celery dumpling. Sounds disgusting, but surprisingly good. The celery gives it a crunchy-ness that is unexpected, but nice. The dumpling is extremely juicy and flavorful.

This is the pork w/ cabbage dumpling. My least favorite of the three.

Since cabbage retains a lot of water, the cabbage when steamed along with the pork likely made the dumpling flavors more subdued when compared to the other ones.

This is pork, shrimp, egg w/ scallions dumpling.

Sounds like an interesting mix of ingredients, right? Well it was. It reminded me of the steamed dumplings you would get at dim sum (the specialty kind). It was tasty, and certainly packed a punch of flavors. Although, I enjoyed this a lot, I think the pork w/ celery is my favorite with the surprising crunchy-ness factor.


The Chinese Deli Items.

In my opinion, there was nothing notable about these deli items. Normally, you can only select three vegetable items (but they were nice enough to let us try four). In our dish, we had preserved cucumbers (mediocre; spicy and was not preserved long enough), black-water-mushrooms (don't know the exact name of this - but the texture is chewy and reminds me of seaweed - its occasionally put in Chinese or Japanese soups; the dish had a sour taste), Fermented Bean Curd (average, lacked flavor, had better), and Potato Salad (thought this was fermented radish, but it was potato -- it was blanched in hot water then seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper and chopped finely - intricate flavors, memorable only b/c you would not have thought it was potato salad).

There are other deli items you can choose from, including, pigs feet, pig ears, sausage, and a few other unidentifiable items. Price of deli side dishes - $3.00 for a choice of up to three vegetarian sides; One meat choice and vegetables, $4.00; Two meat choices - $5.00

Another food item you can order is a Beef Pancake sandwich for $1.00 (did not try).

Overall, I enjoyed the dumplings and thought it was good value (all our food cost $9.00 and that includes two bottles of water!). House of Xie is probably one of the better dumplings places I have found in New York, especially with the five varieties; I would pass on the deli items.

House of Xie Located inside Golden Shopping Mall on the lower level
41-28 Main Street
(212) 518-1952