Tag: New World Mall Food Court

Twofer Tuesday
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05/05/20 12:37pm

Finding Our Favorite Fowl in Flushing Amid Covid-19

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Top: yen su ji, Taiwanese fried chicken, found at the otherwise deserted New World Mall. Bottom: Corner 28 may be shuttered, but sister restaurant Shanghai You Garden is now serving the famous duck buns.

It has been two months since I’ve been to America’s Greatest Chinatown, aka downtown Flushing. Normally, I’m there several times a week, whether I have a food tour to lead or not. A combination of sheltering in place and sadness over the state of affairs have kept me away.

Yesterday though, I had a doctor’s appointment in downtown Flushing, so naturally I had to find some lunch. Many of the restaurants on the strip of 40th Road—including Corner 28, a favorite for their Peking Duck buns—were closed. Then I noticed a tent in front of Shanghai You Garden, Corner 28’s sister restaurant, which lies across the street.

Installed in the front of the restaurant was a window with a sign that read “Peking Duck $1.50.” It sat above a realistic looking diorama of several ducks roasting over a glowing wood fire. I waited my turn while watching the face shield clad duo assemble the pillowy little sandwiches and then ordered two. They were as good as ever.

My spirits buoyed by this light lunch, I checked out another of my food tour haunts, the New World Mall Food Court. I expected the subterranean wonderland to be closed like many of the neighborhoods other purveyors of xiao chi, or small eats but was surprised to find it open.

Once downstairs though it was truly eerie how empty it was. Only five of the more than 30 stands were open. One of them being No. 27 a specialist in Taiwanese street food whose Chinese language sign features a jaunty chicken, midflight signifying that it specializes in yen su ji, crispy craggy morsels of salty fried chicken that are a favorite in Taiwan and downtown Flushing.

Like the duck, these crunchy nuggets of fowl were just lovely. I lingered a moment in the food court and ate a few. “Taiwanese food, no MSG,” the dude behind the counter informed me. Normally I would have made a comment about stinky tofu in Mandarin, but instead I just thanked him and walked upstairs to ponder the etiquette of removing my bandana to enjoy fried chicken while walking down the street.

Hao Xiang Chi Kitchen, No. 27, New World Mall Food Court, 136-20 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing; Shanghai You Garden, 135-33 40th Rd., Flushing

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Dish O' The Day
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09/21/17 1:07pm

Behold: New World’s Unnamed Uighur Lamb Burrito

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Mutton marrow, Uighur style!

PLEASE NOTE THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED

There are many places to get all kinds of lamb dishes in downtown Flushing from toothsome shreds of spicy cumin lamb to an entire spice-encrusted rack of lamb, but there’s none quite like a place I call Erqal Uighur. I call it that because despite being open since May, the place has yet to put up a sign. I only know the name Erqal because it’s printed on the receipt. Not only does it have the distinction of being the only Uighur spot in Flushing, it’s the only one serving Chinese  burritos.

Succulent lamb skewers ($1.61 apiece) are among the specialities here, but the real star is something called lamb leg polo ($8.96) , or what I have dubbed the Uighur burrito. I call it that because the polo—a Uighur style pilaf whose current lovely incarnation is shot through with fruit and carrots—and the mutton haunch, side salad, and blob of sweet yogurt are served atop a gigantic tortilla. It comes with sidecar of lamb broth, all the better for dipping the meat. Be sure to take a straw, you might be lucky enough to score a marrow bone. I’m not quite sure what the logic behind serving a mutton leg on top of a food-service grade flour tortilla is, but I didn’t let that stop me from making a burrito, nor should you.

Nothing says Uighur like fragrant polo and toothsome mutton served on a flour wrap

Three months ago when I first tried yang tui zhua fan—as the lamb leg dish would be called in Mandarin—it was served in a foil takeout container with the tortilla lining the bottom along with that delicious yogurt and a side salad. The yogurt, wrap, and side salad are still there, but the foil takeout container has been replaced by a much better presentation: a wooden dish. (more…)

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Dish O' The Day
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07/03/17 9:27am

Su Xiang Yuan’s Pan Fried Bao Made me say ‘Wow’

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How now shui jian bao?

I’ve been eating at Flushing’s Nutritious Lamb Noodle Soup (a/k/a Su Xiang Yuan) for at least a decade and almost always get the namesake dish. The Henanese delicacy is a bowl of milky white broth teeming with tender bits of lamb and chewy hand-pulled wheat noodles. Lately I’ve been branching out and trying other things, most recently something that goes by the English name lightly fried Chinese bread ($5).

“They look kind of like zeppole,” my dining companion said. I wasn’t so sure of that, but was pretty sure they’d be a great accompaniment to a bowl of soup. Much to our mutual delight we found out we’d ordered not fried bread, but shui jian bao, or pan fried buns. (more…)

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News
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12/05/14 10:39am

A First Look at Flushing’s New York Food Court

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NYFCSICHFRONT

Spectacular Sichuan street food can be had at No. 25.

“It’s the same thing as New World Mall Food Court,” a local restaurant owner said of downtown Flushing’s latest entrant in the Queens Chinatown food court game. Indeed the first thing one sees when entering the month-old New York Food Court is Tokyo Express, a fake Japanese chicken teriyaki joint that looks suspiciously like the one in New World Mall. And, yes just like at New World Mall Food Court, there’s yet another branch of Lanzhou Hand Pull Noodles as well as several spicy stir fry by the pound places, including the ridiculously named Incredibowl. Nonetheless I’ve been able to ferret out some good stuff. Let’s start with Szechuan Taste, No. 25, which lies just beyond the jivey Japanese. (more…)

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The Seven
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09/15/14 12:23pm

Our Favorite Noodle Dishes in Queens

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With such a diversity of culinary cultures Queens boasts all kinds of noodles from all kinds of places. Cold, hot, spicy, even dessert they come in all shapes, sizes and flavors. Here are seven of our favorites.

BIG-TRAY

1, Da pan ji, Su Xiang Yuan
One of the most surprising things about da pan ji, the Henanese specialty known as “big tray of chicken,” is that it’s actually a big tray of poultry, potatoes, and noodles. And not just any old noodles either, they are the very same springy broad ribbons that grace the specialty of the house at this stand whose name is often translated to Nutritious Lamb Noodle Soup. There’s no soup to be found in the tray though. Instead find hacked up bits of bird and chunks of potatoes atop a bed of hand-pulled noodles. The whole thing is crowned with fresh cilantro and shot through with dried chilies awash in a curry-like concoction with just a touch of star anise along with pleasant bursts of saltiness from preserved beans. The noodles are a perfect vehicle for all that sauce. Nutritious Lamb Noodle Soup, No.28, New World Mall Food Court, Flushing (more…)

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The Seven
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07/15/13 10:30am

Where to Eat Before and After the All-Star Game at Citifield

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ASG-SMALLPUMAS-2a

The Puma from Tortas Neza is big enough to feed your entire team.

Despite the Mets colors that I often fly I like to say that I’m more of a Queens fan than a fan of the beleaguered ball club. One thing that I’m surely a fan of is my home borough’s diverse and delicious food. So as a public service to baseball fans—native New Yorkers and tourists alike—I devote this week’s edition of The Seven to a lineup of places to eat before and after the 2013 MLB All-Star Game being held tomorrow night at Citi Field at 7:30 p.m.   (more…)

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Dish O' The Day
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04/09/13 9:55am

Old Duck Soup Fans at New World Mall Food Court

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Flushing
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Wonder what the Marx Bros. would have made of this duck offal soup.

Wonder what the Marx Bros. would have made of this duck offal soup.

About a month ago I was showing a tour group around Flushing’s New World Mall Food Court. As we approached No. 28—one of the few spots in the food court whose sign is only in Chinese—the new tenant, a strangely familiar looking woman behind the counter greeted me enthusiastically.  No matter how hard tried I couldn’t place her.

On my next visit it dawned on me. The mystery woman was the wife of the owner of Golden Shopping Mall’s Nutritious Lamb Noodle Soup, one of my go-to spots in the rag-tag collection of miniature restaurants. In addition to the wonderful hand-pulled lamb noodle soup there are several other items on the pictorial menu at this new outpost, including a largely forgettable knockoff of Xi’an Famous Foods lamb burger. And then there’s something that the menu lists as “old duck soup fans” ($6.50),which sounds like a club for elderly fans of the Marx Bros.

The offal rich soup’s Chinese name, lao ya feng shi tang,does indeed contain the words for old duick, “lao ya.” I can’t tell whether they came from an old duck or not, but the soup’s nasty bits—gizzard, bits of stomach, and blood cakes—were pleasant enough. Golden pillows of fried tofu, bok choy, and slippery glass noodles round out the bowl. Like the lamb noodle soup, it takes well to a dollop of chili paste. The proprietors of this new stall have set up a flat screen monitor. Instead of Chico, Groucho, and Harpo it plays a loop of Anthony Bourdain’s visit to Golden Shopping Mall.

Nutritious Lamb Noodle Soup, No.28, New World Mall Food Court, Flushing

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