Here are the contenders.

Main Noodle House’s Roast Pork Wonton Noodle Soup

Hing Won’s Roast Pork Wonton Noodle Soup

Here’s the ingredient by ingredient breakdown:

Roast Pork: I think you might get a bit more with Hing Won, but it wasn’t nearly as flavorful as Main Noodle House. Perhaps this is a function of not separting the goods from the broth? The pork was also just generally saltier and fattier–each piece I ate had some fat on it. Tasted more like a picnic shoulder than the sweet roast pork I’m used to. Winner: Main Noodle House

Wontons: In my Hing Won soup I counted 4 to Main Noodle House’s 5. HW’s also had thin wrappers, but they had a sort of fishy taste–tasted sort of like shumai to me but I didn’t see any shrimp bits. Winner: Main Noodle House

Vegetables: HW offered a couple pieces of bok choy and some shreads of cabbage and carrots. MNH had several pieces of bok choy and bean sprouts. Winner: Tie

Noodles: Hing Won’s noodle’s thinner than Main Noodle House and had a little bit less of a funky egg aftertaste. Winner: Hing Won.

Price: HW: $7.25 with tax. MNH: $8.00. Winner: Hing Won

Broth: HW’s broth tasted saltier. The broth wasn’t packed separately like at Main Noodle House so the noodles absorbed it almost immediately. Winner: Main Noodle House

At the end of the day, even though it’s 75 cents more expensive, I’m going to have to give the win to Main Noodle House.

Main Noodle House, 1011 6th Ave (btw. 37+38th). 212-869-0888
Hing Won, 48 W 48th St btw 5+6th, 212-719-1451

Easy! Order three types of meat (which is not listed on the menu) for $8. I got roast pig, roast pork and roast chicken over rice. Yeah a little bit meat overload but good thing the dish came with some sauteed cabbage with dried shrimp and clear noodles. After taking a bite of the roast pig I can see why Zach would love this. Perfectly roasted with the skin still crispy (I have tried many places where the skin has gone completely stale and chewy). The roast pork and chicken were good as well, not dry at all. The plus side to getting the chicken was that it came with a scoop of the ginger scallion oil. Went great with the roast pig. Though the down side to getting three types of meat was that you get less of each. But sometimes I do prefer a little more variety and for $8 this rice dish really filled me up.

Hing Won, 48 W 48th St btw 5+6th, 212-719-1451

I noticed Hing Won had a Grade Pending sign up in their window dated Thursday. I assumed that even though Hing Won was back open, this couldn’t be very good news. A visit to the DOH site reveals that Hing Won scored an astronomical 70 on an inspection last Monday (is that a record?). But don’t let that discourage you… just two days later, their re-inspection got a measly 11! That would put them in the A range. What a comeback story!

Regardless, we don’t think most of Hing Won’s customers care too much about the grade in the window (we sure don’t!)

Great news for those pig lovers who work too far North or East to take advantage of the new “roast pig over rice” from Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th) that I raved about yesterday. Both Kar Won (on 60th btw. Park+Lex) and Hop Won (on 45th btw. Lex+3rd), which are owned by the same company as Hing Won, are also serving the roast pig over rice for $6.

Thanks to Lunch’er “Dylan” for passing along the tip in the comments. He hit up Kar Won for the special and had this to say:

“My container looked almost identical to Zach’s, but it came with a heaping portion of garlicky sauteed bok choy/cabbage. While the belly was great, and the skin crispy, there were a few pieces that had a bit too much inedible bone or cartilage. That said, still awesome.”

But is the pork all I made it out to be?  Some say no.

From Lunch’er “Bank Bank”:

“My coworker got this today after I e-mailed this post around. He said that the portion was much smaller than pictured here and the experience fell short of what Zach described. Is it possible Hing Won knew it was Zach when they prepared his portion?”

Actually it’s not just possible, it’s probable. A few of the people at Hing Won know what I look like ever since I named them one of my 10 favorite lunches for that NYT article. In fact they even offered me my crispy pork belly sandwich for free on one visit (I declined of course.) I can’t say for sure if they jerry-rigged my pork, or even made me when I ordered (nobody said anything), but considering how much meat there was, and how good it tasted, the thought did cross my mind.

And if that is the case, they should be shamed- just like we threatened to do with Certe. If you order the roast pig over rice from Hing Won, and don’t get something that resembles the dish I got- snap a picture and email it in. I want to make sure that everybody gets the same portion they gave me.

I’ve written this before, but it is worth repeating: “Let this to be a lesson to all Midtown Lunch spots. Now that my photo is out there, if you give me special treatment, or give me a larger portion, or put more care than normal in preparing what you serve to me- the readers of this site will be able to tell. And when that happens, they will do what they can to shame you into making the same good food for every single customer! And they’ll do it with my full support.”

They did run out of pig yesterday, according to Lunch’er “Tom” (who actually tried the dish before and was unimpressed) so I could imagine a situation where they decided to ration out smaller portions as the day went on. Of course that wouldn’t account for taste.

I actually had the same inedible pieces of bone/cartilage in a lot of the pieces I got, just like Luncher “Dylan” described above. I totally forgot to mention it in my excitement. I hope I didn’t build this one up too much. Nothing kills the enjoyment of lunch more than high expectations. (I really did enjoy it.)

Related:
Hing Won’s New “Roast Pig Over Rice” Might Be the Best Pork Dish in Midtown
Hing Won Has a Twin Sister, Serving Best Cheap Chinese Food to Midtown East

I’ve always been a huge fan of the roast pork over rice at Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th.) Beautiful strips of Chinatown style red roast pork, laid over rice and bok choy, and topped with their sweet soy sauce, it’s probably one of the most popular dishes served from the right hand side of the counter. (Hing Won has two sides, the left is a steam table of Americanized Chinese food, the right, a bilingual menu of Chinatown style specialities that are made to order.)

But last Friday I noticed a new sign hanging on their already jam packed wall of signs.  I don’t know what it said in Chinese, but the English surely got my attention:  “Roast Pig over Rice”.  Wha!?!  Isn’t it funny how changing one word from pork to pig can have such a big impact.  Some would probably consider pork and pig the same thing, but those familiar with pork in all its forms know the subtle menu nuances.  Deep down in my heart (which is already dangerously clogged with pork fat, I’m sure) I innately knew this was something completely different than the standard roast pork over rice. (And I was hoping it would involve something crispy.)

Despite my hopes and dreams for the dish, I didn’t actually know what the distinction between pork and pig was going to be, but there was only one way to find out.

Oh my.  Better than even my wildest imagination.  Two giant strips of thickly sliced, perfectly cooked, pork belly- each bite containing exactly what you are looking for in the perfect piece of pork.  3/7 meat + 3/7 fat + 1/7 crispy cracklin on the edge.  And my god was it good. Every bite had the perfect 1 to 1 ratio of meat to fat, and that little crunchy bit on the end just takes the whole thing exactly where you are hoping it will go. For $6 you would expect the fat to be the not so good, chewy pieces that you inevitably get at most cheap Americanized Chinese food places.  But this pork fat was the melt in your mouth, oh my god I’ve died and gone to heaven kind of pork fat.

Don’t get me wrong, occasionally you’ll get a not so good piece- and we’re not talking Momofuku pork bun quality pork fat- but for $6 this dish may be replacing the Szechuan Gourmet twice cooked pork belly with chili leeks as my new favorite Chinese pork dish in Midtown.  And considering that pork is my favorite meat, and Chinese food is my favorite cuisine, you could extrapolate that is my new favorite lunch in Midtown period.

The whole thing gets served over rice and cabbage, topped with the same sauce they put over the other roasted meats offered at Hing Won (chicken, duck, roast pork).  If you are a little concerned that it’s too much pork fat to consume in one sitting, they also serve it in sandwich form- at the new “Banh Mi Counter” in the very front of Hing Won.

If you order their “crispy pork belly” banh mi, they end up using the same meat that goes into the roast pig over rice dish.  You’re getting far less meat for more money (the sandwich is $6.45), and the crispy bits on the end end up going soggy under all that bread with carrots and daikon… but the sweet hoisin, the veggies, and the fatty meat combine to make a pretty delicious sandwich.  Clearly it’s not a traditional banh mi, and the bread is merely adequate, but if you want to try their new roast pig in a less in-your-face format, this is the way to go.

I’ll probably stick with the instant heart attack over rice.  (The delicious heavenly heart attack.)

THE + (What somebody who likes this place might say?)

• I love pork, but I’m a complete cheapskate
• It’s a ton of meat for $6
• Every bite has the perfect mix of meat, fat and crunch
• On most of the slices, the pork fat was melt in your mouth delicious
• And for those who don’t want sooo much pork (and fat) it comes in a less offensive sandwich form!

THE – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place might say)

• I like to know the source of my pork belly, and don’t mind paying more money for it
• I love pork, but the quality from bite to bite is inconsistent.  Some bites were great, some- not so much.
• I can’t stand pork fat (even the kind that melts in your mouth)
• I’m a crazy person who Zach would probably never be friends with…

Hing Won, 48 W 48th St, New York 10036, 212-719-1451

Read all Midtown Lunch posts about Hing Won

Just when you thought the whole banh mi craze couldn’t get any crazier, Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th) has added banh mi to their menu.  Yes, my favorite fast food Chinese place, known for their Chinatown style meats, soups, and noodle dishes is now serving Vietnamese sandwiches.  W…T…F?  My gut instinct is to laugh this one off and- in what should be a surprise to no one- it’s not a completely “authentic” banh mi, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good.

Check out what they’re serving, after the jump…

Basically if the thought of eating Hing Won’s delicious roast meats in sandwich form appeals to you, you should be excited about this news.  The sandwiches cost $6 ($6.45 for the duck) and are served on french bread, topped with “pickled carrots and daikon, cucumber, jalapeno, and cilantro”.  Sadly there’s no pate, and the meat options are strictly Chinese (roast pork, roast duck, two kinds of chicken, and “crispy Chinese pork belly”) but it’s a pretty good effort considering it’s coming from a Chinese restaurant.  They also have a vegetarian version with portobello mushrooms.

I didn’t actually try a full sandwich (I had already eaten), but they did have little samples.  I tried the crispy Chinese pork belly, which wasn’t very crispy- but still tasty.  The bread isn’t the greatest of all time either, but overall I’m definitely interested in returning to try a sandwich.  I love Hing Won’s roast pork… what could be bad about eating it in sandwich form?  Initial impression from the free sample: not as Vietnamese as Boi Sandwich (on 3rd btw. 44+45th), or as tasty as Baoguette (on Lex btw. 25+26th)- but might end up being my favorite new sandwich option near Rockefeller Center.  Early adopters, let us know how the full sandwiches are.

Related:
It all started with Hing Won… one year ago this week
Original Hing Won Post (6/8/06)

Last week, before I hit up the OTB I slipped into Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th) for a bowl of their “famous” shredded pork and Chinese pickle noodle soup.  I’m a huge fan of Hing Won, and have been there a ton of times (it was the very first post on Midtown Lunch almost 3 years ago), but this was actually the first time I had tried the soup that the New York Times highly praised years and years ago (the article still hangs in the window.)  When I recommended it to yesterday’s profiled luncher, Lunch’er Dan L. had this to say in the comments:

Hing Won’s pickle noodle soup is overrated. It’s good, but almost everything at Hing Won is pretty good, and the pickle noodle soup doesn’t really stand out to me.

Thoughts? The soup was good, but didn’t strike me as so much better than the one or two others I have tried (although admittedly I haven’t tried many of the other soups… I find it very difficult to order anything but the roast pork over rice, or the sauteed udon with pork.) Any Hing Won experts out there want to weigh in? Are there better soups (or dishes) to be had? Is it time for Hing Won to take down that outdated article and let a new soup reign supreme? Post your thoughts in the comments…

This is probably as good a day as any to go to the readers’ choice for “Best Fast Food Chinese” two years running. How could I not, right?  According to commenter Yvo, you’re supposed to eat vegetarian on Chinese New Years Day as some sort of cleanse (???), but I didn’t get the memo before leaving for lunch.  I almost always order the same thing at Hing Won (sauteed udon with pork) but today I mixed it up!  House Special Lo Mein, with shrimp, chicken, and ground pork (substitute in roast pork, please.)  Uh… yeah.  Pretty much the exact same dish as the sauteed udon, just with a different kind of noodle.  Oh well.  I couldn’t help it! (As it was, it took a lot of will power not to do their newish by the lb. buffet… which always looks good, but then kills me when I weigh my lunch.)

Lucky for me, I had my wife along with me- who is always much better at mixing it up.  Her lunch (which I ate a third of) is after the jump…

Noodle Soup w/ Shredded pork and winter cabbage.  Awesome… and super spicy.  A good day for it too… Happy Chinese New Year everybody!

Hing Won, 48 W. 48th St. (btw. 5+6th Ave.), 212-719-1451

I hit up the new by the lb. buffet at Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th) for the first time on Friday, and here’s the damage.  It was a little over $6.  Not too bad, but not great either- and I think Sun Yip/Ho Yip on 45th btw. 5+6th is probably better (plus they have the price drop at 2:15, which can’t be beat.)  I think I’ll probably stick with the right side of the counter when I go to Hing Won, and order things off of their more authentic menu.

I did, however, break one of my cardinal rules of by-the-lb. buffet eating.  Can you spot it? What’s wrong with this picture? (If you want to cheat, you can look at my rules for by the lb. buffet eating.)