Fried silver fish (top photo; $11.95) were clothed in a very light batter; pea leaves with dried scallop (bottom photo; $15.95) were full-flavored, all garlic aside; a fried caramelized chicken (half; $11.95) was OK. The dining room, one floor above a gloomy stretch of East Broadway, is surprisingly ornate; King's might be worth the climb to investigate weekend dim sum.
King's Seafood
39-41 East Broadway (Catherine-Market Sts.), 2nd floor
212-233-3359
The sesame pancake (with beef, $1.50) is particularly fluffy; inside is a more-than-ample helping of sliced meat, carrot, and cilantro, wetted down by soy sauce. Perhaps cucumber and some other vegetable, too; I scarfed it down too happily to notice.
Time your visit, if you can, to avoid the after-school rush, though don't expect to find a seat at this tiny joint without other customers looming over your shoulder. It's more enjoyable to cross the street with your booty and catch one of the very competitive handball matches.
Prosperity Dumplings
46 Eldridge St. (Canal-Hester Sts.)
212-343-0683
The sesame pancake, and this eatery's recent makeover, left me flat.
Here's the liveliest-looking dish of a less-than-inspired lot.
As at nearby New Chao Chow Restaurant, Vietnamese items crowd the menu, but the dishes at Bo Ky that most deserve your attention hail from the southern Chinese city of Chaozhou (also rendered Chao Chow, Chiu Chow, and Teo Chew).
Packaged foods from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines mix freely at Asia Market; the point-of-purchase display might well be a countertop box of kaffir limes.
Drink the wax gourd.
Chilli paste: It's what's for breakfast.
With the exception of smoothies, you can order most of this café's lineup hot or cold. I've always been tepid about bubble tea, and even though most of this peanut-flavored variety (large; $3.95) awaited out of frame, in a pot, it was no better than tepid, too.
Teariffic
51 Mott St. (Pell-Bayard Sts.)
212-393-9009
XO keeps a pot of soy milk (cup; $1) on a two-top warmer, ready for all comers. As for the long, meandering menu, I haven't ventured it in years.
XO Kitchen
148 Hester St. (Elizabeth St.-Bowery)
212-965-8645
The red date honey drink (small; $1) is simply two spoonfuls of fruit concentrate, a drizzle of honey, and a cup of hot water; it's like a thinned-down version of a cough syrup I used to know, back in grade school. Also in ginger, citron, and lemon.
Egg Custard King Café
271 Grand St. (at Forsyth St.)
(one of two locations)
212-226-8882
To make my ginger Coke (small; $1.50), the counterman cut slices from a ginger root, added them to a cupful of bottled Coke Classic, and nuked it. It tasted about like you'd think, but at least it had a personal touch.
Happy Time Café
51 Bayard St. (Elizabeth St.-Bowery)
212-732-2395
Keep an eye out for the dishes at the next table.
Point made: My roast pork bun (70 cents) was too big and fluffy for a game of backgammon but just right for a midafternoon snack.
This fried chicken leg (yes, that's a leg in there; $1.25) was sloppily but generously hacked into shape.
Shing's Food Shop
Cart on Catherine St. near Madison St.
A rice ball ($1) — flaked with coconut and stuffed with crushed peanuts — was exceptionally light despite the typical glutinous texture.
A double scoop of durian, please.
The "Saigon pork" banh mi, spicy ($3.25), with roast pork, pork pate, carrot, daikon, cucumber. The baguette might have been just a wee bit more pliable; the fillings made their own point better than I can say.
Banh Mi Saigon Bakery
138-01 Mott St. (Grand-Hester Sts.)
212-941-1541
Fast-food café from the Left Bank, except that the river in question is the Mekong.
If you've ever wondered what they're having at the next table, here's the place to find out.
Even after my meal, I'm still not sure if this restaurant is owned by Laotian-Americans, but I did figure out why the squid had that peculiar texture.
Three meats over rice, $4.75? Worth stepping inside for a closer look.
I've dealt with smelt.
Beat-up Bowery dweller on the outside, well-provisioned Vietnamese grocery on the inside. Not for produce, though; Tan Tin Hung is best for packaged goods and the array of hand-packaged sticky-rice sweets like Banh Tet chuoi dac biet (sweet rice and banana "cake"; $3), resting here on its banana-leaf wrap. Those are red beans studding the outside; the now purplish-brown banana was rolled within.
Also tried the Asian Boy basil seed drink with honey (12 fl. oz.; 75 cents), which happened to hail from Taiwan. It had an unnatural note not known in any beehive; from the label, I later learned, banana flavor had been added here, too.
Tan Tin Hung Supermarket
121 Bowery (Grand-Hester Sts.)
212-274-8811
(This venue is closed.) Several varieties of the sandwiches called banh mi are on offer at Tu Quynh, but I always get hung up on the elaborate spread of Vietnamese treats. Limiting myself to just one, or perhaps two, is the problem.
Take these cured pork mini-sausages (10 to a half-pound package; $5). The meat is nothing special, but that garlic-and-pepper touch makes a tantalizing impression. Would be a great bar snack.
On another visit, around dessert time, I ultimately settled on a trio of glutinous rice balls filled with mung bean paste (one is shown in cutaway view), swamped in coconut milk, and topped with sesame seeds of varied toastiness ($1.50). Probably very tasty at room temperature, but the lady at the counter obligingly warmed them up before I carried them off to the park.
Tu Quynh Center
230 Grand St. (Elizabeth St.-Bowery)
212-966-6878
