Walking around on the East side on Monday, I discovered something exciting.  On 45th btw. Lex+3rd, there is a Hing Won East.  It’s called Hop Won, and by looking at the takeout menu- you would never be able to tell the difference between the two places.  The even have the double sided ordering counter.  Right side is the steam table, left side is the real stuff!  With Menchanko Tei and Maharaja right next door, this is becoming a pretty formidable block.

My (not surprising to anybody who has eaten at Hing Won with me) lunch, after the jump…

Despite an enormous littany of choices, and the experience of being at a kind of new place- I still couldn’t bring myself to waver in my order.  Sauteed Udon with Pork.  It’s just too damn good, and the version they serve at Hop Won is practically identical to the one they serve at Hing Won (the pork is sliced a little differently, and the veggie choice varies).

Walking out, I saw a Szechuan pork dish, and a fried scallop with garlic and green chilis dish that made me ashamed that I didn’t order something new.  Maybe next time.

Hop Won, 139 E. 45th St. (btw. Lex+3rd), 212-661-4280

But what if you are in the opposite corner of Midtown?  Well, I found your place.  For those of you working in the Northeast corner of Midtown, there is East Ocean on 55th btw. Lex+3rd.  On the outside it looks like your average Midtown cheap Chinese place… but at lunchtime they put a steam-table that is not quite for everyone.  Let’s put it this way, if you’re looking for Chinese food, where you have to ask what each item is (and General Tso’s chicken is a rarity), than this is your new favorite place.

What they’ve got, and a +/- after the jump…

East Ocean is actually a pretty small place, making the selection at the steam-table more limited than Hing Won or the 38th St. Restaurant.   It actually took me a few visits of walking in and walking out before I finally decided to actually eat there, which for me, is pretty strange, but just demonstrates that the place is a crap shoot.  On some days, the food looks great, on others, not so much.  Each day they have different options, and the later you get there, the fewer items you have to chose from (and the less appetizing they look).

Here was the plate I got on trip #1.

This was one of the late days, so I pretty much got whatever was left- which was a pretty standard Chinese chicken dish, a much stranger ground pork dish (on the left) and my favorite part of the meal, a scoop of cooked bean sprouts (which I love).  3 items + rice, for $6.50 (and you get a free soda).  Not bad.

Here was the plate I got on Trip #2:

This time I went with the white rice (to be healthy of course!), and for the life of me I can’t remember what any of these things were.  Nothing stood out as spectacular, but since I got there earlier on this day, everything tasted a bit fresher then Day #1.  I did regret not getting the pork chops, which looked pretty awesome.

Finally, on the third time I returned, I decided to order off the menu- which seems to be the popular option for most of the non-Asian people eating at East Ocean.  Unlike the steam table, the menu is just like any other generic Manhattan take out place, and the noodle dishes are the most popular.  I went with the Chow Fun, which was pretty good. 

Like everything at East Ocean, it was not great, but far from terrible… it was the Mixed version, and there was a pretty good amount of Shrimp (which is always a good thing), and the pork was good too.

Most importantly, if you are an adventurous eater, it’s fun (especially if “adventure” to you is eating unidentifiable Chinese food from a steam table).  I know there are some Chinese food connoisseurs who will go and say “the food on the steam table isn’t that weird.  They have seasame chicken sometimes!”, and they may be right.  I admit, the selection is not nearly as strange or “authentic” as the 38th St. Restaurant… but I’ve got to say that it is for those people who always order chicken with broccoli, and think they’re eating amazing Chinese food.  If that’s you, you will most certainly be weirded out by the Steam Table at East Ocean.  Luckily they have all your favorites on the menu, so you can order something to eat, while you watch your fat, adventurous co-worker scarf down tofu in brown sauce, and some sort of mystery meat.

THE +

• Not your average Chinese steam table
• Very cheap.  2 items with rice is $5.95, 3 is $6.50, and everything comes with a free soda at lunchtime (including the food off the menu).
• One of the few interesting and cheap Chinese food options in this part of Midtown

THE -

• Like all cheap Chinese food, it’s really greasy
• Not for people who like their steam tables clearly labeled, and filled with Americanized Chinese food
• The quality of the food is not as good as Hing Won, and the selection is not as large as 38th St. Restaurant & Bakery
• It’s really small, so the tables can fill up during lunchtime

East Ocean, 159 E. 55th St. (btw. Lex+3rd), 212-588-0699

Anyway, regardless of its origin, Mongolian BBQ is here, and people love it.  I’m constantly asked “Where can I find some good Mongolian BBQ in Midtown?”  Which is a tough one for me to answer, because I don’t usually eat Mongolian BBQ.  And there are four words to explain why: Pay by the Pound.  Take me to an all you can eat Mongolian BBQ (like Fire & Ice in Boston), and I’m a madman.  You force me to weigh my food and there’s going to be trouble… but for the sake of you people, I headed to Food World- the freshest looking Mongolian BBQ I’ve seen in Midtown.

What I got, Mongolian BBQ Porn, and a +/- after the jump…

I’ve seen a few Mongolian BBQ places in Midtown, but Food World is a really good combination of size, and freshness.  Everything looks really clean and good, and if you are skeeved out by normal by the lb. buffets, you can take comfort in knowing that this food is going to be cooked, *after* you remove it from the public trays, making it a lot cleaner.  Mongolian BBQ is not a difficult concept to understand, but the instructions are summed up pretty well in this photo:

At almost $8 a lb., the rules of Mongolian BBQ are very similar to the rules of the by the lb. buffet.  Big Money Items.  You gotta do it.  Nothing on the buffet costs more than $8 a lb, so no matter what, you’re getting ripped off- but by loading up on the meat and seafood you are at least getting closer to that $8 a lb price point.  Normally I would be worried taking seafood off a buffet like this, but Food World’s shrimp and scallops actually look reasonably edible- especially compared to other Mongolian BBQ’s I’ve seen.  (They hadn’t been deveined though, which I know will be an issue for some folks.)

Starch is the killer, and Food World makes it real tough, offering multiple noodle choices which all look delicious.  It was too much for me to handle, and I caved- turning my stir fry into a chow fun sauteed udon style noodle dish.  I tried to make up for it by adding more beef, and less veggies but I knew I was screwing myself.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that noodles + water + oil soaked griddle = heavy.

Once you fill your bowl, you go over to the cooking station and select your sauce.  Most Mongolian BBQ’s will add the sauce for you, but Food World allows you to add your own sauce, and mix and match as you please.  They also have fresh ginger and garlic, which allows you to really get creative based on your own personal tastes.  It can be a little overwhelming trying to choose a sauce, and adding it yourself, but it is a great perk for those who always find that places like this add too much or too little sauce.

I went with the “Ginger Sauce”, and tossed in some extra fresh garlic for good measure.  They have about ten sauces in all- so to try all of them and report back would have been too much Mongolian BBQ, even for me.  I have my limits, people.  The Ginger Sauce and garlic combo was pretty awesome- but if you have a favorite, feel free to post it as a comment below.  

With the sauce applied, we were ready for cooking.  With sword-like giant sticks to move the food around, the guy behind the sheild-like griddle moved with the quickness and efficiency of a soldier in the Mongol army.  You like that?  Actually, they just looked like guys with giant chopsticks cooking Chinese food on a giant round griddle.  Nothing Mongolian about it.

After a few minutes of cooking, I head over to judgement day.  With the over/under set at one pound, I put all my money on the “Over”, and won pretty handily:

It’s too bad nobody was there to take my sucker bet.  The meal was delicious, but I couldn’t help but think that for $6, I could have had the Beef Chow Fun at Hing Won- and it would have tasted exactly the same, if not better.  Of course, I would have missed out on all the fun of picking out my own ingredients, plus the company of any co-workers who will only go to crappy & generic Midtown delis.

I can’t say Food World is the best Mongolian BBQ in Midtown, but it is the nicest one I’ve seen.  Have you been to a better one?  Do you have a favorite flavor combo?  Feel free to post it as a comment below…

THE + (What someone who likes this place will say)

• The ingredients all looked really fresh and good
• The food is cooked *after* you take it out of the public trays, making it much cleaner then normal by the lb buffet food
• The Food World Mongolian BBQ has scallops and big shrimp, both of which were delicious and as fresh as can be expected.  This makes it less of a rip off.
• Big selection
• I love coming up with my own food creations, so I love Mongolian BBQ

THE – (What someone who doesn’t like this place will say)

• I am a fat man, and should never pay for my lunch based on what it weighs
• It’s tough to get away from Mongolian BBQ for less than $9, making it a total rip-off!
• If you want Chinese stir fry, you can get it pre-made at a Chinese restaurant for much cheaper then $8 a lb.
• I would never eat seafood from a generic Midtown deli

Food World, 20 E. 46th St. (btw. 5th + Madison), 212-661-1110

More Mongolian BBQ photos on the Midtown Lunch Flickr Photo Page

Crappy Chinese food fans rejoice!  The space in the Rock Center Councourse formerly inhabited by Manchu Wok will be re-opening as… Manchu Wok.  Apparently it has new owners and will re-open in the next week (or two).  I’m not exactly sure how franchises work, but I’m holding out hope that the quality will improve for those rainy days when I don’t want to go outside and walk to the far superior Hing Won, one block away.

In much bigger news, Cinnabon will be opening a location in the Rock Center Councourse sometime in the near future.  This is terrible news for us fatties who do everything we can to avoid things like the amazing scent of freshly cooked cinnamon filled, glazed buns, that will no doubt permeate the entire food court area.  The Rock Center Councourse might just have to banned permanently from my list of Midtown Lunch’ing options, just to avoid the tantalizing smell.

If you have info about places in Midtown opening or closing, send it to zach@midtownlunch.com

I always thought the cheap Chinese place in a food court was untouchable.  Like a hot dog stand in front of the Museum of Natural History- some places don’t need to be good to make money, they just need to show up.  After all, who can resist orange chicken in a food court.

So much for that theory.  Manchu Wok, the terrible Chinese food place in the Rock Center Councourse, has closed.  I never met a cheap chinese food place I didn’t like… until I ate at Manchu Wok- so I’m not too upset.  But you can rest assured there a ton of lazy Chinese food addicts in 30 Rock who are finding it hard to get out of bed these days.  I guess they’ll have to walk a few blocks to Hing Won, Yips or Wo Hop/Ho Yip to fill their urge.

In a related note… this weekend I will be stepping up my praying for Panda Express to move into the now vacant space.  If anybody else would like to join in, feel free.

In fact, it is a personal goal of mine to eat at a Chinese buffet in every state in the country.  Here are the states I’ve tackled so far:

• California
• Connecticut
• Florida
• Louisiana
• Massachusetts
• New Mexico
• New York (Just recently… and the inspiration for this post.)
• Nevada (Obviously)
• Pennsylvania
• Texas (A great buffet just outside of Houston that had fried frogs legs.  Delicious!)
• Tennessee (Terrible.  My wife will never let me live that one down.)

It’s clearly a work in progress, but I take my work very seriously.  I really love Chinese Buffets.  And it is not just the fact that you get to stuff your face (something I enjoy doing very much).  It’s also the no waiting (you start eating right after you sit down), the variety (it’s the spice of life!) and of course, the competition.  That’s right…  the competition.  You vs. the Buffet.  The price is really just a dare.  A sign that says “All-U-Can-Eat for $14.50″, might as well just say “I dare you to eat more than $14.50 worth of food.  Signed - The Buffet.”

Basically, your goal from the moment you walk into the buffet should be “Win the Game”.  And the game is to eat so much food that the restaurant loses money.  You want to eat so much that when they see you come back the next time, they get scared.  You want them to worry that if you eat at their buffet too often, they might have to close it down.  But before you can learn how to beat your enemy, you must KNOW your enemy.

The three kinds of Chinese buffets, PLUS my tips to winning the game (and more buffet porn)- after the jump…

Working just outside of Boston for 8 years, I became intricately familiar with the all you can eat Chinese food buffet.  There are three kind of Chinese food buffets, and all were in driving distance from my job in Lynn, MA:

1.  Small Scale – The small scale Chinese buffet is exactly how it sounds- small.  Only one station, it usually has only about ten items, but ideally they do those ten items really well.  What you sacrifice in quantity, you gain in quality.  There was a great example of this in Swampscott, MA, about 5 minutes away from my work.  I don’t remember what it was called, but it cost $7.95 and was delicious.

2.  Medium or “Regular” Scale – Most Chinese buffets will fall under this size.  Anywhere from 2 to 4 stations, a regular all you can eat chinese buffet will have anywhere from 20-40 items across 2 to 3 stations (or one really long station).  All your standards should be covered, a few different kinds of rice, soup, noodles, a few chicken dishes, a few pork dishes a few seafood dishes, some dumplings, egg rolls.  Just a standard buffet.  A ten minute drive to the Mandarin Super Buffet in Salem, and we were golden.  Don’t let the name fool you… this place was not a super buffet.  They only had 2 stations, and nothing out of the ordinary.  And that brings us to the third example…

3.  The Super Buffet – The mother of all buffets.  Finding a true super buffet is an awesome feeling.  The Super Buffet has that wow factor.  Buffets are awesome in and of themselves, but if a buffet makes you drop your mouth when you walk in, it gets the title of Super Buffet.  A super buffet will have at least 4 stations (or a few super long ones), with 50 or more items.  When you see it, you’ll know it.  Sure, sometimes you’re sacrificing quality for quantity- but the sheer size and fun of it all makes it worth it.  There was one of these on Route 1 in Saugus, but I’m pretty sure it’s gone now (International Buffet King).

Massachusetts was a great place to work if you liked all you can eat Chinese buffets.  Manhattan, not so much.  There are tons of Indian buffets in Midtown, but only one Chinese buffet- the Mid Town Buffet on 7th Ave. btw. 39th & 40th.  It’s a regular size buffet, and only costs $7.50 at lunch time, making it fairly easy to beat.  But this is not always the case… so here are some tips for beating the all you can eat Chinese buffet.

1. Sit as close to the buffet as possible. Walking back and forth between the buffet takes up valuable time, so you want to be as close to the action as possible.  Plus, at buffets with big money items, they always run out of the best stuff (crab claws, etc.).  You will want to be as close as possible so that when the refills come, you can be front and center stocking your plate as quickly as possible.  They saw me for the professional buffet eater that I am when I walked in, and seated me in a corner as far as away from the buffet as possible.

To make matters worse, they put a guy on the outside chair of the table- totally blocking the aisle to get out.  These guys were good… but it wasn’t enough to stop me.

2. Never order a soda. The first thing they will do at any buffet is ask you if you want a drink.  Don’t even think about ordering a soda.  It costs them pennies and fills you up- making it much harder to win the game.  Sometimes it even costs extra, so they’re giving you the double whammy.  You can’t eat as much, and they make you pay for it.  The smart places know this, and will give you the soda for free.  Don’t be fooled.

3. Your first plate should be a feeler plate. Your first go around, don’t load up on any one particular item.  Take one bite of everything, that way you don’t waste any space on things that end up tasting bad.  On your second go around, load up on all your favorite things from the “taster” plate.  Can you see what’s wrong with this first plate:

6 shrimp!  2 dumplings!  3 pieces of sesame chicken!  Terrible.  And only 6 different items. (You should have at least 8-10)  A chinese buffet professional might be able to pick out the 5 or 6 good items on a buffet just from looking at them… but I suggest the feeler plate for everyone else.

4. Seafood is a make or break item, both a blessing and a curse. A big part of beating the game is making sure you get your fill of the “big money items”, and this is always going to be the seafood.  The problem is, if the buffet is too cheap, you have to be wary of the seafood.  If the deal seems to too good to be true, it probably is.  (If you are going to eat seafood at a crappy buffet, make sure it’s not on a Monday, chances are it’s leftover from the Friday weekend delivery).  If a buffet is more than $10 because it has crab claws, shrimp and mussels you MUST eat your share to win the game.  It’s the suckers who don’t eat the seafood that are paying for your seafood.

5. Beware the “American” food. Chicken Nuggets?  Mashed Potatoes?  French Fries?  Corn?  If you want American food, go to Hometown Buffet (or Sizzler… I used to love their buffet!).  Chinese buffet is for Chinese food.  The chicken nuggets are for kids and losers.  (The one exception I make is for onion rings.  I love onion rings, and allow myself to indulge in one or two… just to see how they taste.)

6. When you think you’ve eaten as much as you can handle, eat the crab. I know you are going to think I am crazy, but on numerous occasions I ended a huge buffet with a plate of crab, and ended up less full when I finished eating the crab than when I started.  I kid you not.  Crab has some sort of magical restorative properties.  I don’t know if it’s all the work breaking the shell that burns calories, or what… but I am telling you- eating crab at the end of a buffet makes you less full.  It’s some sort of strange buffet miracle… try it for yourself.

7. Don’t waste your time on the desserts. Chinese buffet desserts are terrible.  Occasionally there will be a soft serve sundae bar, or the random decent eclair- but for the most part those cakes and cookies are always terrible.  Stick to the fruit, which is a decent money item, and a great palate cleanser.  I’m also a big fan of the post Chinese Buffet Jello.  You can’t go wrong with Jello, and for some reason they have it at every Chinese buffet I’ve ever been to. (Although preferably, you don’t want it to be touching the peel and eat shrimp)

8.  And finally, DON’T EAT THE BREAD! It really should be the #1 rule.  Everyone knows it, but I’ve got to say it.  Never, under any circumstances should you ever, eat the bread at a Chinese Buffet.  It costs nothing, and fills you up.  In fact, if it wasn’t for pork fried rice, I’d probably say the same thing about rice.  Needless carbs.  Stay away!!!

If all this has made you hungry for a Chinese Buffet, I have only been able to find one in Midtown (it’s where all the pictures came from). The Mid Town Chinese Buffet on 7th Ave. btw. 40+41st is a regular size buffet, and nothing special.  It’s only $7.50, but I would still only recommend it if you truly love Chinese Buffets.  It’s the kind of place I will go to every six months, to remind myself why I only go there once every six months.

So there you have it…  the Midtown Lunch guide to eating at All You Can Eat Chinese Buffets.  It has taken me many many years of buffet eating to compile it…. so use it wisely & enjoy!!!

I got an email from a reader named Krista last week telling me to check out “the lower concourse of the building… on 53rd & 3rd, where Au Bon Pain is located… (they have an) ok sushi place with authentic green tea that I enjoy, and a brand new Chinese place that only charges $5-6 for chicken/beef/shrimp, noodles or veggies and choice of rice.”  Concourse?  That means food court right!?!?  Lower?  That means hidden right?!?!  Brand new Chinese place?!?!  That means I’m immediately interested, right?  I rushed over, and found a food court- as described, with one major omission…

(Pictures, +/- and more, after the jump…)

I love food courts… and this one was pretty standard.  Subway?  Check.  Nathan’s Hot Dogs?  Check.  Au Bon Pain?  Check.  Crappy Japanese food?  Check.  Guy handing out samples of crappy chinese food?  Check.  Guy in suit, playing the piano…. WHA????  Right in the middle of the food court, was a guy playing the piano in a suit…  pretty awesome.  You know- for that soothing feeling most people expect when they have 20 minutes to eat lunch and are forced to go to the crappy food court underneath their building.  (Who says you gotta spend a lot of money to eat lunch at a classy joint!)

Anyway, on to the food.  Fusion Grills was pretty much mediocre food court chinese food… They did have a roast duck hanging in the case (usually a sign of better than average Chinese food), but most of the food in the steam plate was pretty standard.  Chicken and broccoli, roast pork, orange chicken, etc.  The lo mein or “noodle option” was pretty mushy, and fell well short in comparison to what I consider to be the gold standard of cheap chinese food noodles- Panda Express.  The orange chicken was also pretty sub par.  Taste (as usual) was good, but the lack of what I would consider to be “real chicken meat” was a concern.  The roast pork was tasty (not too sweet) and they did have a separate station where they would sizzle up your choice of meat with noodles or rice and vegetables (like one of those generic Japanese places in most food courts).  If you are looking for freshness- that station is definitely the way to go.  (Don’t misunderstand this for a bad review… I discriminate against no cheap chinese food!  But if you are looking for something “great”, you are going to be disappointed…)

Like I said before, there’s also Subway, Nathan’s and ABP, if you’re into that kind of stuff.  There was also a Japanese place called Sushi-Tei, which is owned by the same people who own Menchanko-Tei (and various other Japanese places in Midtown)- but as much as I like their other places- in this one, the sushi didn’t look that good (or fresh).  But according to our tipster, they have great green tea.  Clearly the real winner was Gourmet 53, which had a long line out the door.  According to our tipster you can get a ton of food for not that much cash…  maybe I’ll try that place next time.  I do love classical piano…

THE +

• Um… there was a guy playing piano!
• If you are addicted to cheap, food court chinese food (like me) and you work in the building or across the street, it’s pretty convenient
• The roast pork was good, and the sizzling station looked pretty good… and they have some cheap other options on the menu that might be worthwhile.

THE -

• Um… there was a guy playing piano! 
• The actual food is pretty average… there are better places within walking distance

Fusion Grills, Food Court @ 875 3rd Ave. (btw. 52nd & 53rd)

There aren’t many food courts in Manhattan (you’ve gotta go to a mall in the suburbs for that), but there are a few.  And one, that seems like it should be amazing, is the Grand Central Terminal Food Court.  One walk through this place, and you’ll think you’ve died and gone to food court heaven.  No wasted space on generic fast food joints like McDonalds or BK, and they have all the requisite food options (Chinese, Sushi, Indian, Cajun, Caribbean, BBQ, Pizza, and more.) 

And yet, for a food court- with a ton of options- right in the middle of Midtown, it’s not nearly as crowded as you would think.  None of the places have lines, and we didn’t have too much trouble finding a place to sit.  To top it off, I get emails all the time recommending places to eat in Midtown.  Very few “good” (a relative term of course) or popular places have gone unrecommended.  And yet, nobody has ever recommended the food court, or singled out any of the choices in an email.

A superficial look at the options, more pictures, and a call to arms… after the jump.

Here’s a look at some of the more interesting options at the food court, with some initial thoughts (none of them from actually eating the food…)

•  
  • Feng Shui – The requisite Chinese option.  Doesn’t look great, but I’ve seen worse.  Ironically, it seems as if all the flies in the entire building have flocked to this corner of the food court (in much the same way the Manhattan flies seem to hover around Chinatown).  Maybe it is part of the “positive energy flow” of the restaurant set up…
  • Golden Krust Carribbean Bakery - I love Golden Krust.  They actually have a bunch of locations around Manhattan where they sell different kind of patties, and various curried meats.  The one in the terminal is a kiosk with a limited menu, but they have jerk chicken patties (which is enough for me).  Despite being in a kiosk, the patties are baked fresh on premises.
  • Dishes – A smaller version of the enormously popular soup, salad & sandwich place on 45th btw. Madison & 5th
  • Jaques-Imo’s To Geaux - A to-go version of the Cajun restaurant on the Upper West Side, that is a New York version of the famous Jacques-Imo’s in New Orleans.  Their specialty is fried chicken.  (Full review, coming this week)
  • Chirping Chicken – Rotisserie Chicken with sides.  Looked pretty good (aside from there being nobody there)
  • Two Boots – Another outpost of this “not your average” pizza place.
  • And the rest of the bunch… Cafe Spice for Indian, Hale & Hearty Soup, Mendy’s, Junior’s, Masa Sushi, Eata Pita, Brother Jimmy’s BBQ, and Zocalo.

Having eaten at Jacques Imo’s to Geaux, and Golden Krust (in the food court), I can see why people aren’t flocking to recommend these places.  If you’ve ever eaten at the real Jacques-Imo’s in New Orleans, it is easy to be disappointed by the po-boys and fried chicken at the New York version (full review coming later on this week)… and Golden Krust,  like many of the restaurants in the food court, was more expensive then it’s other locations in NYC ($3.50 for a jerk chicken patty.  I could be wrong, but I remember them being at least a buck cheaper at the location over by Madison Sq. Garden).

I understand the whole rent thing, but everything is a little more expensive then it should be in Grand Central Terminal.  But can that be the only reason it is not insanely popular?  Are all the places just terrible, or in the end does it just come down to price?  “Let the tourists coming in on trains pay the high prices… I know cheaper places above ground”. 

In the end, I feel like it can’t be just about price.  Midtown Lunches can get pretty expensive, and these still come in under $10.  So what is it?  Are all these places just terrible, or are there some jems in the Grand Central Terminal Food Court?  Help us out people.  If you’ve eaten at one of these places, comment below on what you thought.  Is one of your favorite places to eat lunch in the food court at Grand Central?  Or all they all just wasted money.  Let us know by commenting below…

In the weeks ahead I’ll try to dedicate some full reviews to the places worth mentioning.  I’m not ready to let this food court go.  It has got to at least be better than the one below Rockefeller Center!

Well, I’m happy to say I have finally found a price by the pound buffet that is not only a decent value- but is stocked with my favorite kind of food!  Ho Yip, a cheap chinese food place on 45th between btw. 5th & 6th that during lunch has an all chinese buffet by the pound (and the choices are tremendous!).  It’s $4.95 per pound- but here’s the real deal.  If you go after 2:15pm, the price drops to $3.75 a pound (the late lunch special).

Now, I know what you’re thinking.  “Late lunch” and “Price drop” at a buffet by the pound does not exactly instill confidence in the freshness of the food you’re getting.  But I was very surprised to learn that they restock the buffet just before 2:15 in preparation for the big crowds that come late looking for the deal.  Apparently they keep putting food out until they run out.  It really is a wonderful thing… if you like cheap and greasy Chinese food (and don’t mind waiting with a horde of other bargain hunters).

My plate, the rest of the menu, something for free(!) and the +/- after the jump…

At $3.75 a pound I am freed from that nagging voice inside me saying “Small scoops” “Big money items” and ”Stop piling on the rice”.  For once I could actually enjoy a buffet by the pound.  I started with the pork fried rice (big chunks of pork, looked really good), then quickly moved on to the beef chow fun (something you don’t see as a buffet option very often- but very welcome).  A Scallion pancake and **two** different kinds of dumplings followed (one pork, one chicken).  Very exciting. 

Peking pork chops!  Get out of town… and some roast pork of course.  Add to that a little Thailand Chicken (whatever the hell that means) and some squid with eggplant (yup- you heard me right).  Squid and eggplant, in one dish.  Double big money item.  Gotta do it (despite my usual rule of not eating seafood at places like this…).  Top it off with a little General Tso’s chicken, and successfully ignore the vegetables (string beans and chinese broccoli for those who care).  And here’s where we ended up:

As you can see it’s a jumbled mess… which is one of the problems with these places.  If you’re like me, and like trying everything- it’s tough to keep things separated, and in the end, it ends up being a (delicious) disaster.  Oh well… such is life.  1.47 lbs, total cost at 2:14 pm $7.28.  Two minutes later that price drops to an astounding $5.51!!!!

Now, here’s the downside.  Nothing was really great.  Most of the things I ate were either a little too sweet (the Thailand chicken… or maybe the General Tso’s.  Couldn’t really tell… everything blended together), or a little too salty (the eggplant and squid).  The dumplings and scallion pie were good (because they’re fried… and anything fried is good)- but everything was super greasy.  Of course that’s to be expected with most cheap Chinese food… but there is a saving grace.  A giant serve yourself FREE carafe of black tea.  Take advantage… it makes you feel a lot better after 1 1/2 pounds of greasy chinese food.

For those who are still against the buffet by the pound concept, they have a counter in the back with regular lunch options… and some of their specials were very authentic and looked surprisingly good.  Bitter Melon with Beef or Fish, Oxtail Stew with Potato, House pork chops or Chayote (a type of squash) with sliced pork.  The best part is, if you have never had any of these more traditional dishes, but have always wanted to try them- they’re in a steam plate, so you can see them before you order.

THE +

• Really great selection with some items you don’t normally find at buffets like this.

• If you prefer variety over quality, this is your place.

• After 2:15pm the $3.75 per lb price makes it a really great deal

• More traditional dishes in the back.  Specials change every day.

• At lunch time there are a lot of people so the food stays reasonably fresh (especially compared to the deli buffet by the lb bars.)

THE -

• Despite the price, it’s still buffet by the lb., so there’s always a possibility of losing control and ending up with $17 worth of food.  (A constant source of fear for me)
• Super greasy.  Super salty.  Super Sweet.
• If you prefer quality over variety, there are better places for cheap Chinese food.
• The price that makes it worth it doesn’t start until 2:15pm, I can’t wait that long to eat lunch.  (Plus it gets super crowded at 2:15pm so be prepared to wait)
• Not enough seating.  Fills up very quick at all lunch times.  Be prepared to share a table with a stranger, or take your food to go.

Now if only this place was all you can eat… it would be heaven.

Ho Yip, 7 W. 45th St. (btw. 5+6th), 212-719-1788