Hot and sour cassia root jelly, the restaurant calls it. The knotted bundle on top is merely decorative; below, what resemble buckwheat noodles are the namesake of the dish. As best as I can determine, these brown, slippery noodles are made from fern-root powder; cassia, the New World analog to Ceylon cinnamon, seems to be present only as a complementary seasoning to hot-and-sour. It's an insistent little come-on.
Also shown: "grandma's mixed cold dish," over two lunches the only item that our table ordered twice. Three times, if you count the takeout order that one happy fellow carried home. For many more photos, see the EIT page on Facebook.
H/T Jade Young
Xiao Dong Bei (aka Private Kitchen)
36-35 Main St. (37th Ave.-Northern Blvd.), Flushing, Queens
718-358-6667
