Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
While New York has neighborhood Chi-
nese takeouts all over town, locals still
head down to the Manhattan Chinatown
for the evocative dining experience.
Big
Wong King
(67 Mott St.;
&
212/964-
0540
) is one lively favorite, with commu-
nal tables loaded with steaming bowls of
congee,
plates of stir-fried vegetables, and
platters of roast pork and duck. The no-
frills
New York Noodletown
(28
1
⁄
2
Bow-
ery;
&
212/349-0923
) wins raves for its
seafood-based noodle soups, salt-baked
shrimp, and chopped roast pork platters.
For seafood, head for
Oriental Garden
(14 Elizabeth St.;
&
212/619-0085
), where
the Cantonese-style seafood dishes are
drawn from immense fish tanks set
throughout the restaurant. The always
bustling
HSF Restaurant
(46 Bowery;
&
212/374-1319
) is perhaps the city's
best-known spot for Hong Kong-style dim
sum, with a continual parade of carts trun-
dling past your table and dispensing small
servings of various delicacies.
Joe's
Shanghai
(9 Pell St.;
&
212/233-8888
)
and its offshoot
Joe's Ginger Restaurant
(25 Pell St.;
&
212/285-0999
) excel in
Shanghai-style dishes such as steamed
soup dumplings, braised duck, and spicy
yellow fish.
Wo Hop
(17 Mott St., btw.
Worth and Mosco sts.;
&
212/267-2536
), is
a longtime favorite for cheap and deliciously
filling Cantonese standards like chow fun
and chop suey. If it's full, pop down the
street to the similar
Hop Kee
(21 Mott St.;
&
212/964-836
).
Top among the many Vietnamese res-
taurants that have infiltrated Chinatown,
Pho Viet Huong
(73 Mulberry St.;
&
212/
233-8988
) offers some amazing soups like
beef-based
pho
and the hot and sour
canh
soup; barbecued beef wrapped in grape
leaves is another specialty. The tiki hut-
style Malaysian restaurant
Nyonya
(194
Grand St.;
&
212/334-3669
) wows diners
with its
roti canai
(an Indian pancake with
a curry-chicken dipping sauce) and hearty,
spicy
prawn mee
noodle soup.
For dessert, head to the
Chinatown
Ice Cream Factory
(65 Bayard St., btw.
Mott and Elizabeth sts.;
&
212/608-4170
),
where the ice cream comes in Asian fla-
vors such as almond cookie, litchi, and an
incredible green tea.
(
John F. Kennedy International (15 miles/
24km); Newark Liberty International (16
miles/27km); LaGuardia (8 miles/13km).
L
$$$
Carlton Hotel on Madison
Avenue,
88 Madison Ave. (
&
212/532-
4100;
www.carltonhotelny.com). $$
Washington Square Hotel,
103 Waverly
Place (
&
800/222-0418
or 212/777-9515;
www.washingtonsquarehotel.com).
Chinatowns
271
Canadian Chow Mein
The Canton of Canada
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto is known as a multiethnic city, but
its Chinatown is nonetheless impressive—
the world's third largest outside of China,
with 350,000 Chinese Canadians and
counting.
Not only is it big, Toronto's thriving Chi-
natown—centered along Dundas Street
and Spadina Avenue—is one of North
America's most vital immigrant neighbor-
hoods, with a special sort of urban energy.
Walk through it at night and you can easily
be mesmerized by the bustling sidewalks,
the shimmer of neon lights, windows hung
with rows of glossy-brown cooked ducks,
record stores blaring tracks from top-10
Chinese records, and trading companies
