Lunch’er Copyboy Reports: Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen II
Back in March Yvo reported that Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen II was coming to 55th & Lex. Lunch’er Copyboy checked in last week to let us know that it was open and to file this report.
I was wandering Midtown East searching for lunch with my wife when we realized we were just down the block from Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen II, which opened two weeks ago. My initial report after a plate of noodles: the food is outstanding but the prices leave me a little confused about this restaurant’s mission.
First thing to note is there’s almost no entree on the menu for less than $10. There are four noodle soups for $9.75 – they look like the best value.
We were in the mood for light though so we opted for a single fried noodle dish and an app – stir-fried ramen with seafood and cucumber salad. There is also a large variety of dumplings including shu mai and soup dumplings priced from $7.95-$9.95. But there’s a 20-minute wait for most because they make them fresh — at a booth in the dining room. The noodle puller is harder to spot, through a window to the kitchen.
The hand-pulled noodles are great – chewy and full-flavored with the saucy seafood, as good as I’ve had anywhere in NYC. But $14.75 is a high price for what turned out to be a tiny plate. Usually a $15 Chinese dish in midtown at least gets you a big plate of food. The cucumber salad was perfect – crunchy, salty, sesame-y. But again, $7.95 is a lot to pay.
With the obligatory eat-in 15% service charge the meal came to nearly $25 for what was, essentially, a big appetizer. We returned to our desultory employment intending a quick stop for lunch 2 – wife to pizzeria, me to hot dog cart.
So who is going to eat at Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen II? Noodle fans: the restaurant isn’t kidding when it boasts “authentic Shanghaiese cuisine … under the hands of a master.” They’re so into noodles that they don’t even serve rice! In all my years at NYC Chinatowns I don’t believe I have ever seen a noodle house that didn’t serve rice! There are a couple of non-noodle dishes on the menu – I’d love to try the mapo tofu ($11.95). But the server warns: you’ll probably want to order some plain noodles with it ($4.00). For comparison, nearby Land of Plenty’s ample mapo tofu lunch special costs $7.95 and includes soup and rice.
Business lunchers aren’t going to be impressed by the Spartan decor and I don’t think office drones like us are going to want to cough up $20 for lunch very often. The place was half-empty when we sat down at 1:30.
Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen II kicks ass food-wise, but it doesn’t feel like any kind of bargain.
Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen II, 146 E. 55th Street
Posted by Zach Brooks at 11:46 am, May 26th, 2015 under Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen, Little Steamed Buns Ramen 2.
6 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
It doesn’t sound like a very ML-price-friendly place, it’s true, but your statement that “they’re so into noodles they don’t even serve rice” is very odd. A lot of noodle houses don’t serve rice – Lam Zhou and Super Taste come to mind.
Thanks for the early report though, doesn’t sound like a place I should bother with for a ML post.