Soup dumplings are not simply just dumplings in soup, which is what I thought until about one year ago. No, my friends, the soup is actually in the dumpling and these delicious pouches of love are a Chinese favorite. But if you don’t eat them correctly, they  turn into pouches of pain! Since the soup is so hot in the dumpling you have to put one on your spoon, nibble a bit off with your teeth, pour the soup onto your spoon, drink it, and then dip and eat the dumpling. It’s a little complex, but I like to add some danger into my Chinese dining experience (that doesn’t involve ultra-strange foods to the Western palate).

Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao
38-12 Prince Street, Flushing

Nan Xiang was recommended to us specifically for soup dumplings or xiao long bao, which was helpful, because it’s a little non-descript joint in a row of places in Flushing. All the dishes were good, including soup dumplings and dumplings in soup, scallion pancakes, rice cakes, etc. and the place is certainly authentic as almost all the clientele is Chinese. While this was my first soup dumpling experience, I can’t compare it to others, but I know Joe’s Shanghai in Flushing and Shanghai Cafe Deluxe in Chinatown are popular destinations as well.

For more on how and where to eat soup dumplings, check out this Serious Eats post.

Nice Green Bo
66 Bayard Street (Mott/Elizabeth), Chinatown
Now there are hundreds of small hole-in-the-wall places like Nice Green Bo. I have no idea if this is one of the best or even very good, but we enjoyed its authenticity. The main reason I picked it was because of the sign, on which you can clearly see it was fka New Green Bo. I guess it’s not new anymore, so they had to change the two letters. Although the staff was not overly nice either, but this place is clearly about the food, the service and ambiance are bare bones. We thought we had ordered 4 small appetizers, but received a table full of noodlicious goodness. Cold sesame noodles are always a favorite. The vegetable dumplings and pork dumplings were huge and doughy – in a good way. The real standout was a dish new to us: shredded pork and szechuan cabbage rice cake. I expected a giant ball of rice, but instead found small disk-shaped rice noodles with meat and vegetables. We left with dumpling filled doggy bags so that could we venture directly across the street…

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
65 Bayard Street (Mott/Elizabeth), Chinatown
I was expecting a large cement structure with many workers bustling around, but instead Chinatown Ice Cream Factory is a narrow shop with one person behind counter and similar to any other NYC ice cream store. However, the main difference is in the unique flavors. They have all the standards, as well as the Asian influenced wasabi, lychee, durian(!), pandan, and taro. We tasted a few and made the choice of almond cookie and zen butter. Zen butter sounds transcendent, but is peanut butter with black sesame seeds. It was pretty good, although sesame seeds belong on a bagel, they are too overwhelming for the subtle nature of ice cream. The almond cookie was excellent and tastes just like its namesake. The Ice Cream Factory is no trendy downtown place, it has been around since 1978.

We recommend this solid twosome or try any of the fantastic, authentic eateries in the area. It’s fun to be immersed in another culture and still make it home by 8 o’clock. Plus, it is Chinese New Year now, so C-town will be one giant par-tay.

There really is no better place to have a large group of people hang out and eat than at a Dim Sum brunch. This past weekend we celebrated Blairitza’s B-day at Jing Fong in Chinatown. There were 12 of us who gathered and we were all thoroughly amused at this institution. You wait outside and then they shuttle you in and up a giant escalator where you pour out into a large banquet hall decorated with colorful dragons and garish flowers. There are hundreds of people seated at large circular tables and everywhere you look there are Chinese men and women with carts filled with small dishes of yummy dim-sum.
We were seated and immediately the fun began……we tried pork buns and shrimp dumplings, fish balls and scary meat balls, gelatinous custard balls and fried sesame crusted dough filled with bean paste, vegetable dumplings and seven treasure sticky rice, scallops and bacon wrapped shrimp, and beef egg foo yung. We even were braved Durien fruit deep fried dumplings, which really did look like bright green caterpillars.
Now, Jing Fong is not the best dim-sum you will get, but it is the true experience that you need to have with a large group of people……the food was definitely so-so, with some of it (especially the meat balls) rendering even slightly inedible…..but, it was FUN, and aren’t birthdays supposed to be just that? Plus we all stuffed ourselves for about $11 each!