Midtown Lunch

Last time when I was at Oriental Noodle Shop waiting for my order of wonton noodle soup (which turned out to be quite horrible), I noticed a sign by the door displaying their lunch specials. At the very bottom of the board it said “oxtail with rice or noodles for $8.95.” After eating their wonton noodle soup I really had low low low expectations but I can’t say no to oxtail!

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A couple of nights ago, I was treated to a homemade wonton dinner that my friend did. She invited few people over and served a couple of variations on wontons (pork and fish). Lucky for us, she did most of the work so all I had to do was arrive, sit down and eat. Ever since then, I’ve been dreaming about good wontons. I know the stuff they serve in restaurants will rarely be as good as the ones my friend made. So I wasn’t hoping for much when I got a wonton noodle soup at Hop Won (45th btw Lex+3rd).

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Ever since Chris H. wrote about Main Noodle House in July I’ve been meaning to check it out. So when the hankering for mapo tofu hit the other day I figured I’d head over, but before I did I decided to check Chris’ post to see if any commenters had other suggestions- and I’m glad I did. Read more »

I can’t remember what Hunan Manor (on Lex btw. 39+40th) but the other day I noticed a Grand Opening sign hanging in their window. Turns out, the place replaced Red Curry Thai back in September, and according to Eating in Translation is a sister restaurant to Hunan House in Flushing. Aw yeah, Midtown East finally gets a taste of Flushing!

I’m not very familiar with Hunan cuisine so I was pretty excited to try it. They made choosing my first lunch item easy by placing double cooked pork as the first lunch special item on the menu (ever since my poor experience at Joe’s Shanghai, I’ve been on a mission to find good double cooked pork). So how did the Hunan Manor version do?

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As soon as I clicked on the Grub Street link about the newly opened Cafe China and spotted the wonton floating in spicy goodness, I knew I had to check the place out. Located on East 37th street (btw. Mad+5th) just a few blocks from Szechuan Gourmet and Lan Sheng, my go-to midtown Sichuan spot, Cafe China is entering a distinguished field, but in my book there’s always room in my heart for more good Chinese food. Read more »

I’ve had Shih Lee on my radar for a while now but can never seem to make it over to their pretty far out of bounds location on 45th btw 1+2nd.   But finally the other day I had to run some errands around 2nd Ave and decided to use it as an excuse to finally hit up this fast food Chinese steam table place. We know that their noodle soups are pretty damn good but I was more curious about their lunch combos.

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With lobster rolls all the rage these days, it shouldn’t surprise anybody to see Chinese food restaurants get it on the action. Oriental Noodle Shop (45th btw 3rd+Lex) is now offering a WHOLE lobster plus pork fried rice (not sure what the “any style” means) for just $13.95. It is still over the Midtown Lunch price limit but considering you get a whole lobster for few bucks less than the super popular lobster rolls, why not?! Admittedly I am a equal parts terrified and intrigued by this lobster deal. Has anybody tried it?

Amazingly we’ve never written about the food at Main Noodle House, located on 6th Ave (between 37th & 38th St.). We have no excuse for this – clearly they’re doing something right, as they do brisk business with both the tourist and business crowd, and even earned endorsement from Salon.com and Gilt Taste’s food luminary, Francis Lam via Twitter. Such feedback is entirely justified by their cheap lunch combo specials and humongous portions.

It’s a fairly small, cramped space, and during the weekday lunch rush, you’re definitely looking at a 20-30 minute wait for a table. Customers waiting for take-out orders and for a dine-in table are mashed into a corner near the counter and front entrance, where they must dodge waitresses hurtling by, and customers entering and exiting the restaurant. But a little discomfort and a wait is more than worth the lunch deals here.
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The other day while sitting in the office typing away, I had a sudden craving for Chinese food. Now I just recently started a new job so I’m not too familiar with the area but I did know that Hop Won was just a few blocks away (on 45th btw. Lex+3rd). And since Hop Won is the sister restaurant of Hing Won (which I’ve been to and liked a lot), I knew I could get a quality lunch.  Though once I got there I couldn’t help but be drawn into Oriental Noodle Shop (yes the one with the guy eating a bowl of noodles while wearing a straw hat).

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Recently I had a hankering for some jjajangmyeon- noodles with a brown sauce made from fermented soybean paste. The Chinese version uses ground pork and is less saucey than the Korean counterpart, but both versions are quite excellent. Hyo Dong Gak a Chinese/Korean restaurant (on35th btw. 5+6th) has been the ML jjajangmyeon go to for awhile now, but while looking at the lunch specials (just to see if there was anything tasty looking) I spotted double cooked pork!

Ever since my mediocre experience at Joe’s Shanghai I’ve been on a mission to try all the double cooked pork dishes I can find in Midtown (going to save Szechuan Gourmet for last since it’s probably the best). Will this version come with pickled daikon? Maybe the spiciness is from kimchi? (It is a Korean/Chinese restaurant after all.) But mostly… will this be any good?

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