 A brand new list about the best restaurants in New York's Chinatown has just dropped and no, it's not written by us, although we've eaten at all these spots. David, we're gonna give our takes on whether we agree or disagree. Yeah, this list was written by Robert Sitzema. I would say he's one of the most prolific and well-known food writers in the entire city, quite possibly North America. So we gotta give our evaluation on his evaluation because he is non-Asian. I'm not saying he doesn't know his stuff, but I feel like our opinion is valid too. Can Asians have an opinion on this? Absolutely. All right, David, starting off the list in no particular order. He talks about our friend spot, Corey and Tommy Potluck Club. I'm gonna give this one a big agree. 100%. I think the key sentence here is Potluck Club is a hyper-modern restaurant that remakes basic Cantonese food with all type of twists and influences. That is a good way of describing it. Amen, I'm not gonna lie. I started using this little kung fu boy from Shanghai Poppy as my profile picture for a little while. Anyways, I would definitely recommend getting the beef chow fun with the hanger steak. I think that's one of the best dishes that happen. A little pricey though, right? I mean, obviously more expensive than people are used to paying. However, the quality's there. And listen, if you're an ABC and you ever felt like nobody ever glorified your childhood both from a culinary or a media perspective, you need to come see this because I've only ever seen this done before in Hong Kong and Singapore. I've never seen anybody in North America have the confidence and the balls to bet big on like nostalgic fusion Cantonese food. This is very Chinatown American. And by the way, guys, don't be fooled by this picture. Actually still, yeah, a lot of Chinese people eat here. Anyways, guys, next spot is a low key spot, easy to miss, Green Garden Village. If you're talking about a spot where you can bring your grandma, your great grandma, Green Garden Village is it? Because this is a very traditional menu in terms of the sense of like every Chinatown in America has menus that are like Green Garden Village but Green Garden Village is just gonna do it one notch better. Yeah, I mean, I can tell it's pretty good. I've been here once before but I can tell it's good because a lot of old Chinese people and their families eat here. Guys, but it's super low key. I wouldn't have thought to put it on the list to be honest but I'm not mad that it is. Do you think that somebody who will spend $100 at Green Garden Village is very different than somebody who's spending 100 at Potluck Club? Probably. Yes, these are different generations right here, guys. Moving on to number three, Andrew. We got a deep cut one. Glad to see it on there though. We are talking about Golden Steamer. Golden Steamer. This is, this doesn't even have any seating inside. It's not really a cafe where you sit there and chill. It almost feels like you're supposed to buy bows in bulk. Right, it almost feels like a wholesale spot. Yeah, I wouldn't have thought to put it on this list either but it serves its purpose just because it's one of those bakeries that you could literally run a resale bakery business based off the bows that you buy from here. Right, the Montau. The Montau game is A1 and it's very, very, very affordable. I think that that's why he put it on the list. Props to Robert Seitzman. I didn't think he was gonna see that one. Low-key pick, he got a good eye. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Come sighting, Dolce August Gathering. I 100% agree with this pick. August Gathering's over there on Canal. It's kind of got a weird location. I don't love it. However, however, the innovative Cantonese Hong Kong Nese dishes, delicious, pricey though. It's pricey. Oh, expensive. It's like $36 for rutabaga with the aulam, which is the beef tendon. Normally that dish might be like 17 or 20 somewhere else. It's 36 there. But for a reason, and are these chefs that started this place? They are from some of the top hotels in Guangzhou. The top hotels in Guangzhou, straight to Canal. Kenny Lern, he has become the water, one of the most respected chefs. Oh, I would say the Guaifei Gai. They're the house special chicken. They put so much chicken. Oh, with all the scallions on it? Oh my God. I don't know, are those farm to table scallions or something? I don't know, it's good though. There's so many scallions, it made my mind blow. Listen, man, this list is good so far. That's good. It's pretty solid. Three for three, okay? Next up, Andrew, we've got Harper's Bread House. This is a favorite of Hoopers at Grand Street Park, especially the Chinese ones. Yeah, I feel like if he had put that in the description and said shout out to all the Hoopers at Grand Street, I would have 100% agreed. I think it's a weird pick personally because I personally only go here for the convenience. I do not think any single one product they have is like superb. It's solid, but not superb is my opinion. You're saying, what separates the forte danbao, which is the ham, egg, and mayo, and in a bun than here, than anywhere else? Yeah, I think it's got a great location though, so I'd score points for that. At least give them a half agree on this one. All right, Chong Nan over on Bowery, wowie. Bringing in the Mandarin speaking spots. This is a new spot now, I get it, guys. This is the next generation of mainland Chinese food in Chinatown, yes, yes it is. What if some people don't like that though? Well, I'll tell you this, it's delicious. I've been here multiple times already. Is it on the pricey side? Yeah, it's a nice restaurant, but man, they have a mixture of different regional Chinese food. This black bean cabbage dish with the chilies. Oh my God. Dude, this is probably one of the dishes that looks super not luxurious, but in terms of flavors on your tongue, it actually is luxurious. Now overall, this one's pretty good, guys. This is good for a nice dinner out, you know, if you got some family or you got a business person that you'd like to, you know, meet up with or something, it's a good spot. They got Peking duck there too, it's pretty good. Oh, kitchen ko'ut, this is good, man. This is the only place where you can get authentic deep cut viet dishes cooked by like viet, viet in Chinatown, because obviously most of the spots aren't owned by Chinese Vietnamese. Yeah. Yeah. So they started off as like the little stall over on Elizabeth, and then they expanded into ko'ut, which is their fully like sit down menu. And I would say some of their deep cut viet dishes here are really, really good. I don't even love their fo here personally, but I love other dishes that they got. Yeah, I think, shout out to this spot, this was a good find. No, you need the viet representation, I support it. Okay, next spot, Mott Street, eatery guys. I think this is a little bit of a controversial when it first opened, because to be honest, I don't know if they knew what they were doing. It was not good. They've changed stalls already, but they have a big Cantonese stall there that serves like all your dim sum and everything like that. And even your toy son, horse boughs, what are those called? Little horseshoe boughs. Oh, you said horse boughs. No, horseshoe boughs. Sorry, anyways, I forgot the name, it's like the toy son donut. I know what you're talking about, yeah, yeah. It's a toy son donut. Anyways, Guy Kitchen, which is their Kaomun Guy concept. No, there's two spots in there, Sammy Wago from Taiwan. Oh my God. That is a 10 out of 10 guatier and a Guy Chicken and Rice, I think, or I forgot what is Guy Kitchen. No, I just said it, Guy Kitchen. Yeah, yeah, that is a 10 out of 10 Kaomun Guy. Yeah, the other stalls are okay, but still supported, check it out. Next spot, Spicy Village, the original location on four sides. Who would have thought, Andrew, that Fujianese people could cook Henan food that good? Oh my gosh, dude, this is a legendary spot, Super Hole in the Wall, Super Packed all the time, very small, but they do have a rival restaurant that comes from the same family, apparently. New Spicy Village, that is still pretty good. I think it was opened up by somebody's sister or cousin. It's a family beef, that's what I'm talking about. It's someone from the family. If you guys know about Chinatown beef, man, there's two different types of beef. Of course, there's the whatever, whatever stuff, the street stuff, but I'm talking about, there's just endless amounts of restaurant copycat beef in the Chinese community. Gotta get the Dapparn G here. Oh my goodness, next up, Andrew, you got Uncle Luz. Oh! Uncle, Suk Suk Lu. Uncle, this is kinda like your classic, super like, Chinatown Toy Sun. Chinatown Toy Sun style food, but updated. And honestly, the prices are pretty good, guys. I definitely recommend it. Shout out to Uncle Lu himself. He's sometimes in there. Honestly, the fried chicken, dude, the fried chicken. The Tzatziki. Oh my God, the Tzatziki is so good. I don't even think that this duck dish, I think this is a duck dish. I actually don't even like it that much. This is too sweet for me, but oh, they got a bunch of other fire dishes. I could totally agree with this. So far, I've got to say, I do not disagree with anything that Robert Saitzema put on this list. Oh, classic, classic spot. Joe Shanghai, of course, everybody knows. Now, I'll tell you this about Joe's. Do I go to Joe's all the time? No, but if I know someone that they asked me and I know that they're coming to Chinatown for the first time and I want them to enjoy it, hands down, and I don't wanna try anything risky, I'll just tell them to go to Joe Shanghai. Yeah, because not everybody has the same taste buds, right? Yeah, yeah. At the end of the day, I agree with you, Andrew. When you are recommending somebody who is not Asian, white, black, Latino, whatever, and they're asking for a place in Chinatown, I usually six out of 10 times send in of Joe's. I just know it's a safe pick, like it's good enough. It's kind of expensive, but for what you get, but it's just like they're gonna enjoy it. It's a good gateway to the rest of Chinatown. Anyways, moving on, we got New West, Malaysia, and they have a new location over on Bayard Street. I would say New Mahist Malaysia is very, very good. I do also wanna throw in Curry House, which is a new Malaysian spot. Not, vibes aren't quite there like New West, but the food is. Yeah, dude, I don't know. I might, I don't wanna say it, man. I might put Curry House here. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Because people from Penang, Penang is a very good place for food, yeah. New West Malaysia is a classic, though, but so I don't fully use it. They're both good. They're both at least eight out of 10. Moving on, Andrew, we got the original Chinatown ice cream factory. This spot definitely deserves to be on there. I think an honorable mention for Asian, Chinese flavored ice cream is Hulu Desserts, Hulu Desserts over on Grand Street. But yes, I think Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. It's got the cache, it's got the colors. Got the flavors. Got the flavors, got the service. I love it. Moving on, oh, we got Chaki. I did not think he was gonna get this on there, but shout out to Chaki. I actually really, really recommend this place because it's sort of like Hong Kong food mixed with some Japanese influences. I do think it's good that he put this on there, so shout out to him. I think Chaki is underrated. I think not enough people go. It's not busy enough because the food is actually really good. And the interior is underrated. Listen, listen. From Wednesday through Sunday at 2 a.m. in the morning, you can get chicken pho and beef pho, and it's good. So they serve kind of a mixture of dishes which I think is a little bit weird, but ultimately, the food is good. Try the kimchi fried rice too, the dandan noodles, the mussels are solid, the branzino, and just go there. Go to Chaki. Agree. Like I said, man, Robert Sitesima, he does know his stuff. I mean, this guy has a reputation for being a good food critic for a reason. To be honest, he knows a lot more than a lot of ABCs do. Because this guy is super intellectual. Dude, he does his research. He does his due diligence. Super taste. Wow, this is a FJ sleeper that also serves, obviously, some Taiwanese Hokkien dishes or whatever. It's good. It's packed. It still has some of the best guabaos in town, honestly. It has the best guabao deal in New York City. Wow. Overall, pretty good. I agree with super taste. That should definitely be on there. OK, oh, oh, oh, oh, me some cafe over on Pell Street. This is a super old school classic spot. You can get like the little tin steam, like Buckeye Fond. Yeah, the Hup Fond. Hup Fond, yeah, and stuff like that. So that's pretty good. And the menu completely unchanged. Decor completely unchanged for 60 years, literally since 1960. I think if you're very nostalgic for old school Chinatown, ones where they would still film a movie that takes place in 1960. You mean because they did film Ronnie Chang playing detective Jackie Yu there? Yes. Me and me some. A father son. Yeah, if you need to film something that was in the past and literally the menu, everything is unchanged for 60 years, go here. Obviously, everybody has a different ranking on nostalgia. You know how some people rank it really high and other people don't value it? It's up to you. Fried dumpling on Moscow Street. I am surprised he got this one. I'm surprised he got this one. This belongs on there. Yeah, it does. I know a lot of people have their own opinions on their favorite like, you know, two, three dollar dumpling spot. And I would say here, fried dumpling. And actually on, is that Henry Street? They got like this other Tianjin dumpling spot. So interestingly enough, most of the people who run fried dumpling are from Tianjin. I think the original owners from Shandong. There's this other spot that's also the owners are from Tianjin. I would say Tianjin people got the best cheap fried dumpling spots. All right, that's fair. I would also throw in Shu Zhao, Fu Zhao, dumpling over on Grand Street and King Dumpling is pretty good too. And I think the reason why fried dumpling is better because the Northern style, the dumplings are more simplified and they don't even have as much like veggies in them. It could just be like meat in the dumpling. And that's very appealing obviously to a more wider smattering of demographics. Coming up next, you have the classic Nam Wah tea parlor. I think aesthetics-wise, the location-wise, you cannot beat Nam Wah. I think it's very cool. I think there is better dim sum in Chinatown, but as far as the whole entire experience, I don't blame people for coming in. And when you say that different people rank things differently, you know how some people are just all about the hakao or all about the siu mai, but I would say that Western people in my opinion are more about like an overall holistic score. They don't compartmentalize like dishes or flavors. No, I mean, honestly, I get why people go to Nam Wah, guys. Not mad at this pick for sure. I think it should be on there. Yeah, shout out to Wilson. Pings! Pings is good. Pings is good. Pings is very, very good. Man, the crab dishes at Pings, the crab sticky rice. Honestly, I mean, David, all right, compare Pings to the Green Garden Village real quick. Obviously they're kind of like, just the whole format is different. Pings is more Chinatown-y. Yeah. It's more Chinatown Cantonese. And if you guys know what that means, that means like more fried dishes, more like salt and pepper dishes. I think this dish right here, man. Pings is good. I don't know. I don't know what else to say. I agree. Wow! And from Pings, Andrew, we going on to Mings. Wow! Mings, pings, ding, ding, I don't know. That's some people's fake Chinese. I'm just kidding, guys. Yo, I'm honestly surprised that he put this on there because we actually put it on one of our favorite lists like five, six years ago. This spot has always been underrated. Super low key. Get the Kalei Kai, aka Curry Chicken. Oh my gosh, the Curry Chicken is fire. Their Kalei Kai is the best Curry Chicken Cantonese style for the money. Dollar per dollar, best Kalei Kai in the game. Guys, trust me, Mings Cafe is still holding it down in Dime Square. You gotta support them. The next spot we have is Warhop. Warhop, yeah, absolutely a legend. You know, do I think that Asian would put this on the list? Yes and no. You know what I mean? But definitely for non-Asians, this is the top five pick. I mean, you know, for spots like this, it's obviously not what we think of as like modern day Chinese food. However, this was absolutely Chinese food back in the day in representing Chinatown. So you gotta give it a try. I mean, it's been around for 80 years. Yeah, I don't know particularly about this dish. I don't think I would order this chicken chow mean. This is a true top story. That's the real top story we're doing. I can't maybe agree on this one, but yeah, I mean. You know, Andrew, when it comes to like a genre like this, in my opinion, and the reason why I do agree with him, to an extent, I give him like a half agree, is because it's about the execution. You can't really judge a cuisine for just being that cuisine. You almost have to judge it in its own spectrum of the execution of that specific style, which is American Chinese from like 1940. Next spot, I do agree with this Taiwan pork chop house. I mean, you gotta have the Taiwanese represent in there. I also think Taiwan Bear House is another mention. What do you think about May Wah, bro? And I think May Wah fast food. For the chicken leg. Dude, the chicken leg at May Wah might be a better deal than these spots, even though these spots quality might be higher. Not to clump all the Taiwanese spots together, but I'm gonna clump all the Taiwanese spots together. I think all three of those spots should share this Taiwanese pork chop house spot. Okay, moving on, tasty hand-pulled noodles, Andrew. This one, you know, I'm 50-50 on this one. I really like this spot. I've actually made noodles in the back with the seafood. We're actually just watched them make noodles. But, so I know that the noodles are legitimately hand-pulled, but just flavor-wise. It's solid, and it's a popular spot. And I think everybody loves to go there. It's got a great location. Anything on Doiers kind of gets the Doiers bump. It has the movie magic. Because Doiers is cool. Yeah, you get the movie bump for Doiers Street. I would say it's pretty good, but I do not come here that much. Interestingly enough, Andrew, back in the day, Doiers used to be called Murder Alley. Yes, for many of these. All the gang fights. A lot of people died on that street. A lot of people died on the street. King's Kitchen, David, this spot is pretty good over on East Broadway. The Boat's Iphone, of course, is good. And you know what? When you buy the Boat's Iphone, they give you the Boat, they give it to you, and then you can bring it back. And I think you get a dollar back. Yeah, I would say some of the things to me here, I could totally see why I made the list. A little could be hit or miss, but their hits are pretty high. Because you know when you judge spots, it's like really weird. Sometimes people got like 30% 10 out of 10 bangers, and the rest is 70%, but other people got eight out of 10, but it's like 80% of the menu. So it's very difficult to weigh it all out. I think it's person to person. Oh, next spot, we're getting into the LES Two Bridges area. Woo's One Ton King. Yes, this spot is good. I mean, we live nearby here. I get, I personally think the Cuma, AKA like the roast meats is selectionist, it's pretty solid. And the lunch vessels are very, very cheap here. Yeah, I do think spots that BYOB for, you know, people busting out bottles of wine, they do get a little bit of a bump, but yeah, Woo's definitely, I could see why it's on there. Woo's is good. Yeah, the sticky rice crab dish there. That was really good. That dish is a 10 out of 10 bangers. All right. This is underrated. This one, a lot of people refuse to go here because it looks way too expensive. This spot is good. So David, is it weird to say Hua Yuan is underrated when it has been recognized in the past a lot? I feel like it's underrated recently. Yeah, it's underrated also possibly within the community because it's like, got a Taiwanese chef. He's not Cantonese. They don't really serve that much Cantonese food. And it's like Sichuan food. Yeah, it's a little bit like outside of like, it's like Taiwanese Sichuan. This spot's really good, guys. It's really nice on the inside too. It's just, you know, it's weird because it's on East Broadway. All right, so that's the end of the list, but I do want to talk about our own picks and we're going to go through them really quickly because we have the restaurants that we think should be mentioned. Very solid list. Yeah. I give it an 8.5 out of 10. Shout out to Robert Sitesamal. No, he overall pretty much got, I have no, you know. Like I said, I mean, he really does a lot of food. Dude, he does his research. I'm telling you, I really think he's one of the best writers in New York City and I got to give him credit because a lot of writers, even when they write about Asian food, they don't know what they're talking about. He does know what he's talking about. All right, David, let's quickly go through your honor roll mentions and you have quite a few of them. Wafeng. Yeah, the reason I put it here is because you just can't beat it for $4. The fact that you can get something there for $4.50 is unbeatable. Do I think it is worth waiting an hour for to buy something for $4.50? There is something economically, Andrew, and microeconomics called opportunity cost. I personally don't think so. I would rather go to this next spot right here, Andrew. My preferred spot, Yewang. Yewang is really good. Yeah, I don't know about all their other dishes because usually I just get roast meats there. They got this Peepaw duck, significantly more expensive, Andrew, than Wafeng. But guess what? In my opinion, significantly better. Cam Hain Coffee Shop. Oh my goodness, guys. I love their multi-colored sponge cakes. Andrew, in Seattle, they're probably still only even one type of sponge cake. Here, they've got green tea, they've got ube, they got chocolate chip, they got butterscotch, they got pandan. I think that these Cantonese sponge cakes deserve Cam Hain and vice versa. They deserve praise. Noodle Village, man. I love Noodle Village. Noodle Village is something that a lot of only Chinese know about it. It's the favorite chok mean, spot mean, chok chok mean. This is very, very HK cart noodles from like 1962. This is the best rendition in New York City. Hands down, I stamped my name on that. It needs to be on more lists, but a lot of non-Asians don't eat chok mean. Bun Mi Saigon, David. Is this really your favorite bun mi in Chinatown? Wow, bun mi saigon. Is this the spot that I'm talking about or is this Saigon bun mi is the other spot? I think I actually brought up the wrong Yelp page. I think you meant Saigon Vietnamese sandwich. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So shout out to them too, but I actually mean this spot that... Yeah, see, this spot. This is the best bun mi to me in Chinatown. And I will say this though, they're not like maybe always the most traditional tasting because they tend to lean away from the pate. They're a little bit westernized, possibly a tiny bit Chinese tasting. These are my favorite. No, this one's good. It's good, it's good. Buda Bodai, I mean, if you got to go to a kosher vegetarian Chinese restaurant, this is a really good spot. They also have a vegetarian dim sum spot over on Pell Street. I think it's very solid. But yeah, look at this. This is all vegetarian guys. Andrew, I think the owner speaks Hebrew. He does, he does. Because, you know, it's a kosher spot, so a lot of people of the Jewish faith... Yeah, we're still on the LES. Yo, Andrew, tofu, tofu is underrated. Oh my God. I will tell you this, Andrew. Everybody is always surprised that a Korean restaurant this authentic and this good, I'm not saying it's like the best in the world, but I'm just saying relative to it being in Chinatown, it's way, way more authentic and better than anybody would ever think. And you know what I really love about this spot? Aside from also the lovely Kelly who works there, I would say, I just think that they just have a range of the club late night, kind of like, you know, street food. You're talking about like party Korean food? Yeah, the tteokbokki and like the fried chicken, they have that, but they also have the tongs, they have the Korean stews, and then they have the arm, the Budae-jigae, and then they have Calbee and everything. They just have a little bit of everything. Yeah, they have like something for me, but then they also have something for like harmony. So they have something for the grandmas, but also the younger people. Yeah. Ajamas, everybody, just all the generations. Soft-serve, yeah, when it comes to soft-serve, this is a Chinese-American-owned spot. Man, shout out to them. Always good, high quality, very soft. Melts quickly though, eat it quick. I think that I have never seen a mixture between Asian-themed flavors and McDonald's ice cream soft-served textures. So for some people, Andrew, out there, they don't like to eat regular ice cream. They only want the soft-serve, you know, from the McDonald's style. And Andrew, for me, guess what? I happen to be one of those people. You like it. Next spot, Sweet House Drinks and Dessert. Yo, this spot is the most similar to any sort of like Hong Kong, Wong Kok, like Tsim Cha Tsui, like TST type spot. Yeah, I just think it's good because I think they do like an eight out of 10, maybe nine out of 10 rendition of Hong Kong. Oh, David, actually, you know what? Robert forgot he didn't list any hotpot spots. Now, I think the reason why he didn't list Da Long Yi is because it's a chain. And, you know, like, it's kind of like not as cool to mention. Right, it's a chain from Chengdu. Yeah, it's a chain from China. So it's like a little bit of a cheat code. But, man, Da Long Yi. If you want to just light your intestines on fire but in a delicious way. Oh, my God, this spot is so good. Oh, my goodness, man. I'm telling you, this spot, they have some of those meat dishes, Andrew, that have been like pre-soaked in the Sichuan chilies. It's just, I mean, it just depends on what your tolerance level is. Oh, man, this spot deserves a shout out. Oh, my God. Oh, Lao Jie deserves a shout out, too. Oh, wait, okay. Bo Ki Andrew, we're getting into your recommendations. Yeah. Bo Ki, I love this spot. I would definitely recommend the country. What is Bo Ki, man? Bo Ki is a Chinese Cambodian spot, but it has even elements from Thailand and Vietnam. Because, basically, it's all about the Chiew Chow Southeast Asian diaspora. So, Chiew Chow people, they come from a place in China called Tao Dou, or Chiew Chow, actually, and then they just went everywhere and they sort of maintained their own Chiew Chow culture, but they mixed it with the local Cambodian Vietnamese Thai culture, and this is what came out from it. Guys, the satay noodles with egg noodles, no, with haul fun, sorry, with rice noodles and the satay is crazy. And I noticed, Andrew, their haul fun, their rice noodles, they're super wide. Yeah, they're almost like a ribbon. Yeah. Yeah, here we go. We got Lao Jia Hot Pot. This is the best affordable all-you-can-eat hot pot spot in Chinatown. It came from Brooklyn, Andrew. I mean, how was it able to leapfrog, you know, and shout out to them? I'm not trying to take food out of anybody's mouth, but it is better than 99-favorite Ho Yeh and hometown. Oh, I mean, it's just, I think it's the later iteration. That's why. I mean, the decor is kind of cool, too. So definitely check out Lao Jia over on Bowery. For 87, this is a underrated Vietnamese spot. Nobody talks about it. Underrated. Nobody talks about it. The grilled meats here, very, very good. Yeah, what is it about? Dude, I don't know who's working their grill or where they get their meats from. And it's a 10 out of 10, man. I would say their bunmeas are overlooked, too. Don't sleep on these bunmeas. Our next spot, David, four, five, six, new Shanghai. The reason I had to put it on here, Andrew, is because New York Times said that they have the best Shaolong Bao. And it was a white writer, non-Asian writer. And I had to address it because every time non-Asians, they talk to me that are like, I'd say like, let's just call them foodies, right? But they're pan-cultural foodies. They always mention four, five, six. I think the Shaolong Bao are pretty good. It's hard for me because every spot serves Shaolong Bao, like so many spots do. In 2022. And they're used to not be like that. And a lot of them are solid. So it's hard even for me to say which one is exactly the best in my opinion because each one maybe does something a little bit better. Like one's a little bit more nuttier. Like Tipsy Shanghai has some pretty good Shaolong Bao. But maybe they're not juicy enough. Because they're Wushi-style right now. No Shanghai's are huge. They have a bunch of soups. It's more oily. Right? You eat like four of them, you're full. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think it's different. But yes, these are good. I will say this about four, five, six. They're small. There's just the right amount of juice. And interestingly enough, and it really depends on your exposure to this item, they taste like half Shaolong Bao and half Shui Zhao. Like the filling is like almost a hybrid to me. But I could see some people loving that. Well, you can't go wrong going four, five, six, four Shanghainese food. Ming Wang, really solid. Dude, nobody likes this place. But I... It's because I think it's... Oh, this is the wrong Ming Wang. Yeah, anyway, we had somebody else grab this one. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hold on, go to Ming Wang. But yeah, I would say that Ming Wang, Andrew, I heard it was another beef that came out of Dai Wang. That came out of Big Wang. Somebody split off like a manager and a chef split off. And I, like I said, I'm not trying to take food out of anybody's mouth here. But I like Ming Wang better. Okay, yeah, if you were gonna battle the two, they are right next to each other, which is always... And they're very similar. I'm just saying, I think the flavors here are a little lighter, a little bit less oil. Like I said, it really depends on what's your vibe. All right, and then we got Chipolo, which is David, not a Chinese restaurant. No, Andrew, I'm telling you, this is a Italian sandwich shop owned by Mexicans who come from a city of Chipolo in Mexico that was founded by Italian immigrants. So a lot of people don't know about the history of Mexico. There was different people from Europe who came over. Italians, they founded Chipolo. And that's why it's almost like a, I would say 80% Italian, 20% Latino sandwiches in Chinatown. Very, very good. David, the last one is Canton Lounge. Why is this one underrated? And I wanted to say this one's underrated, not because I go here all the time. And it is very expensive. It's like 30 to $40 per entrée. But it's just actually just better than I thought. Cause I kind of thought it was like this whack spot. But then actually, Andrew, anytime you see like richer looking 70, 80 year old, 90 year old Chinese people in there, that is a indication that it is good. And I just felt like nobody gives it respect. If there's a bunch of older Chinese people with tucked in shirts and slacks that constantly eat there, that's a sign. It's a sign. And if the mothers look like they kind of dressed up even halfway, like they got coats. If they look like the aunties from Turning Red. Yeah, if they look like they're from Hong Kong and got that little Hong Kong steeze, definitely check it out. It's just better than I thought, to be honest. So I just felt like I wanted to give some love to some legacy spots rather than just, you know, going with the four square Yelp spots. All right, here's my list, guys. I'm going to go through it really quickly. Nam Sun for Pho with the brown rice noodles. It's an extra $2.50 right now, but it's totally worth it in my opinion. Andrew, interestingly enough, our old director Rose, who is from Vietnam, said that this is his favorite spot. Yeah, I would say so, man. I love the noodles and I love the meat quality. It has, honestly, the best meat of any Pho spot. What do you think about the Chinatown Pho slander, man? Honestly, I think the Pho out here is solid. And, you know, fine, I'm not Vietnamese. I get it, but that's just my opinion after eating a lot of Pho. I think it's solid. Yeah, it's not Houston. By all means, it is not Houston, it's not Philly. It's not OC, San Jose, I get it, I get it. But man, when you need a hot bowl of Pho in New York, they're still giving you the best deal. You can still get a bowl of Pho for 12 bucks at some of these spots. Thai sun is the same family, so that's really good. Maywa fast food, we mentioned this earlier. The chicken leg, specifically this end. Go, just go to the picture of the chicken leg. I'm just gonna leave it right there. I don't know what it is about this chicken leg, but man. Oh my God, it's so good. That is a great lunch. Guys, one spot that wasn't mentioned is Yeezy Shermore. This is a Cheng Fun spot, Rice Roll, this is my favorite Rice Roll spot in all of Chinatown. Maybe it's because I do think it is a chain, so it is a company, but I'm telling you right now. I think it's in Guangzhou, yeah. It is Fire Fire. One other spot that also in the Cheng Fun game is Lady Chao's Kitchen. Guys, this is one, Andrew. A lot of people are like, what are you talking about? You're probably people that are watching this, maybe grew up in Chinatown. No, this is a weird one because actually the family, they're Shandong, they're from the North, but they grew up in the South. So they have like the North-Southern-like kind of influences. No, it's weird when you're in there, you almost feel like you're in a Northern Chinese restaurant from Flushing. You know what I mean? It's just serving like Guo Tian, but then it's actually Cantonese food. This, they're, the way they do their Cheng Fun is actually a special way, and it's very delicious, I recommend it. Dim sum go-go, the reason why I put dim sum go-go here is only because they have a lot of colorful, I like how they make it. This one's the kind of controversial, Andrew. Some people are very, very, very polarized on dim sum go-go. Let me explain, let me explain, let me explain, let me explain, let me explain. My people, my people, my people. Because some people are like, don't, this does make Andrews less the worst because I don't like dim sum go-go. Okay, well let me just tell you, let me say my piece. First of all, nobody does this variety dim sum platter. I think this is a great idea. I think more traditional dim sum spots should do this, and they also usually give you gherng cheong, ginger scallion sauce as the dipping sauce, which is unlike any other dim sum spot out there. So no, it is dumpling for dumpling, is this by far the best spot? No, I'm not saying that, I'm just saying, it's a little different, I respect it. Andrew, I'm gonna stick my neck out for my brother, man. I agree with you. It's better than you think. Yeah, it's better than you think, because it's been labeled one of those spots that people go against. Nah, man, I still go there sometimes. Zhang Liang, dry hot pot. Again, this is a chain from Dongbei, so I do think maybe this is a cheat code again with the chains, but this is really good, you guys should check it out. Oh, you see a lot of people straight from China hanging out at Zhang Liang hot pot, getting Ma La Xiang Guo, Ma La Tang, Mao Cai. And be careful when you pick it yourself because you easily can spend 30 bucks on it. Oh, no, because they weigh it out before they cook it for you. Honestly, that spot's really good. Xuzhou Fuzhou is my favorite dollar dumpling spot. I literally buy this on Uber Eats, I'll eat it in person. I love this spot. I agree with you. I don't think there is a better place that you can get, eat for $5. First of all, that's crazy to be able to eat Manhattan in 2022 for $5. You can eat here for $5. Guys, the peanut noodles, AKA Ban Mian, and then you even have the Ban Mian with the rice noodles with the Mishan instead. It's still, oh my God, man. And I would say their Sui Jiao fresh is even better than the fortune. They're one of the few spots they serve. Their chicken and mushroom dumpling is fire. Oh, they just added the chicken aspect because obviously, like we said, a lot of people in New York, they don't eat pork for a variety of reasons, health reasons, religious reasons. All right, I'm gonna have to give a shout out to the new guys here, Art Bean Coffee. These are like the coffee hipsters over on Doyer Street, shout out to them. They are doing some inventive dishes. They do like a ying ying, like coffee, cold latte. They definitely bring that like almost West Coast Asian American vibe, you know? They sell matcha cookies there, ube cookies. I would say check it out. It's a cool little new spot. Great NY Noodle Town. It's back open again. You cannot overlook Great NY. It's not really a late night spot anymore, unfortunately, but man, let me tell you. I don't think that there's a spot that's more representative of Chinatown food than Great NY Noodle Town. Like in terms of just encapsulating what I imagine Chinatown foods to be. I mean, guys, look at the plate. That's all I need to say. That's some solid Guangxianguo hall. Yeah. I would say that it's almost like a catch-all that's good. I would compare it, maybe Western people to what? Like what is this some place that Western people really like? Cheesecake Factory, BJs. And I'm not saying that in a derogatory way. I'm saying that in the positive way. I like Cheesecake Factory and I like BJs. E-noodle, often overlooked too. E-noodle's a really good spot. They just opened up a second location over in the two bridges neighborhood, very close by, but man, look at that buttery churring fun for breakfast. Ooh. Yeah, E-noodle, relatively new. They have a killer curry beef brisket, killer. Dude, I actually just have to augment what I said earlier, Andrew, about Great NY Noodle Town. It's actually more like, it's actually more like the Smith. Oh, okay. The Smith is good though. That's an interesting analogy. All right, moving on. Low-key spot, Hong Kong station. Yo, you even shocked me with this one. Yes. This is Andrew's list, by the way. Yes, yes. Because they're yelling right now and people are thinking about it like, yo, what are you talking about? No pictures, no nothing. Gosh darn it, Kenny. You gotta step it up with these photos, but I'ma tell you this, man. Look at these prices, 350 for this stuff. And then you can get this scallion chicken rice. Oh, the Kung Chun Kaifanya. Dude, everything's under $10. It's made by like one guy, maybe two guys in the back. I recommend it. It's on 43 Bayard Street. Right next to the famous street. Yeah, and it's really confusing because in Cantonese, it's Hai Lito, which is actually something very difficult to write in Mandarin, is Xi Ni Tu, which doesn't mean anything in Mandarin, but Cantonese is slang like that. Yeah, and they had to give it the Hong Kong station, like English name, because it was so hard to find, so. This is, yo, that's the deepest cut spot easily. Nobody's gonna know about that spot. Shout out to them, Hong Kong station. Oh, of course. Curry House. What is it about Curry House, man? I'm telling you, Curry House, they just opened, I wanna say like a month or two months or three months ago, but I'm telling you, in terms of replicating it, and we've spent time in Penang, Malaysia. In terms of replicating Penang, Malaysia, I think it's the number one spot that I've been to. I mean, it's delicious, guys. Look at this. I mean, the fact they even have, I'm not gonna lie, is that skate wing? The fact they have stingray. They have stingray, just like Pakistan. All right, everybody, I'm gonna end up, my list is the last shout out. Hey, hey, Roasted Meats over there on Mott Street. I love how they do business. Two Malaysian spots in a row to end with, Andrew. I love how they package things, they seal it, they have a new way of doing it. Show, show, show the packaging, man. It's very modern, it's modern, man, yeah. They have a great system there, man. I honestly, I think it's, I like their side dishes too. I noticed a lot of my corporate Cantonese friends, Andrew, they got like, you know, very corporate suit type jobs, they go here, because it feels like very systemized. Yeah, systemized. Anyways, David, overall, let's wrap up this video. We've been talking about Chinese food for a long time, and I'm sure, David, we could go on and talk for another hour about this, but overall, I wanna give a shout out to Robert Seitzma. He wrote a really good list. I agree with most of it, but at the end of the day, what does it matter? We all just love Chinatown. Honestly, after reviewing this list, and shout out to him for writing it, how good the deals are in Chinatown. I think a lot of times people in New York City, they're so caught up about like, oh, did this celebrity eat here? Of course, a lot of the celebrities, they're gonna go to the new Chinese spots in East Village, Flatiron, Chelsea, et cetera, et cetera. But in terms of like, for the people dollar for dollar, Chinatown's still very, very, very strong. Whether people know it, or not, whether Chinatown's trending or not, still some really, really, really people, some spots punching way above their weight and price point. I mean, as far as Manhattan, we live nearby Chinatown, LES, two bridges. We have the best cheap food in Manhattan. This is it. Yeah, hands down. Chinatown, LES, East Village, best cheap food in Manhattan is crazy down here. But yeah, definitely, guys, let us know what you thought about the picks. Let us know any spots that you have in Chinatown you wish were on the list, but overall, we gave it a pretty thorough breakdown, so. And I'm sure there's some spots that we forgot that just slipped our mind. Let us know what you think in the comments section below, whether you agree, disagree, just try to keep it civil. I know for some people, Andrew, this is what gets their blood going. You said keep it civil. Yeah, I hope so. Yo, no, yeah. This is a food video. How can you not be civil? Hey, man, different people value different priorities in life, man. There's a, you know, they can come down to identity, who knows? Anyways, guys, thank you so much for watching, and until next time, we out. Peace.