Eggs and shrimp cooked together over a bed of steamy white rice is total comfort food for me. Though some places don’t include the carrots and peas, I found the addition of them in Hop Won’s version to be pretty great- which is surprising since I’m not a big fan of peas. But I’ll eat them when they’re cooked inside an omelette with surprisingly fresh tasting (with a slight snap) shrimp. I wonder if they’re open for breakfast…

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

At Hop Won you get a decent amount of everything for just $5.50. At the very bottom you have the typical wonton noodles. Surprisingly they still had some snap to them even though they’ve been sitting in the broth. There was a lot of different veggies on the top (greens, carrots, cucumber and bean sprouts) that gave some nice texture to the lunch. As for the wontons (you get 6), they were a little mushy, but perfect in size and tasted alright. The balls of pork inside the wonton skin had the right amount of meat but were a little tough and dry. As for the broth it was dark and had a hint of beefiness to it.

Then the following day, to make things more interesting, I thought it might be nice to try the wonton noodle soup from Oriental Noodle Shop (45th btw Lex+3rd) as well to see which restaurant makes a better wonton noodle soup (since both restaurants are so close to one another, I had to find out!)

For $7.35, the tub of wonton noodle soup from Oriental Noodle Shop was just terrible. In the container there were 11 wontons but they were half the size of Hop Won’s, very mushy, and tasted artificial. While the wonton skin at Hop Won held together, the wonton skin from Oriental Noodle Shop had pretty much broken up into pieces leaving many naked pork balls floating in the container. Everything else was pretty bad as well. The noodles had lost all their snappiness, the broth was light and bland and had only a few pieces of greens on top. Though the meal did come with a fortune cookie.

A good wonton needs to have a slight snap from the shrimp and good pork flavor from the meatball. The skin can’t be too thick or too thin. Obviously I didn’t find the wontons I was looking for at Hop Won (I may just stick with their broccoli and chicken and roast pork over rice) or Oriental Kitchen (where I like their chicken bun). I’m not even sure I can find good wontons near where I work (do I have to trek all the way to Main Noodle House for some killer wontons?) Do any fellow Lunch’er like wontons? If so where do you get them from?

Hop Won, 139 E. 45th St. (btw. Lex+3rd), 212-661-4280
Oriental Noodle Shop, 135 E 45th St btw. 3rd & Lex (212) 697-2353

To decide if Hop Won could become my go-to Chinese spot (I’m quite picky with my Chinese food), I tried few different dishes and luckily for me Hop Won delivered. Check out what I ate after the jump.

Last time I went to Oriental Noodle Shop, I got the Singapore rice noodles and found it just okay. So when I saw the same dish on Hop Won’s menu, I had to get it.

Hop Won’s version ($7) was much better. It had just the right amount of curry flavors, big pieces of scrambled eggs and most important of all there wasn’t a big pool of oil at the bottom of the container.

On my 2nd trip to Hop Won, I was hoping to get something from the other line where you point what items you wanted but they were already cleaning up by 2:30pm. Instead I got one of the specials that was printed on a piece of paper that was taped to the wall, Chinese chives, bean sprouts with chicken over rice ($6.50). This dish would be a good choice if you weren’t feeling so good because it wasn’t heavy with oil or sauces.

I was determined to try something from the other line so on my 3rd trip I went to lunch around 1:30pm. Couldn’t help but notice that there weren’t many green options. I saw a lot of pork and beef and chicken and fried dishes. But that was okay since they had chicken and broccoli, which may just be my favorite item to get at cheap Chinese places. I’ve have had this dish from many places and they tend to over cook the broccoli- but not at Hop Won.  The pieces of broccoli were cooked just right so that they still had a nice crunch, and the whole thing was mighty tasty.

I was curious about the fried round things so I got them as well. They’re actually battered pieces of chicken, fried and topped with sweet and sour sauce. (How could that be bad!?) With the chicken and broccoli and rice this came out to be $7.

On my 4th trip (I mentioned I could eat Chinese food every day, right?) I made it there around 2pm just when they started to clean up. Most of the things were already gone so I ended getting roast pork and the fried chicken with sweet and sour sauce over chow mein ($8). Since they were cleaning up they gave me extra roast pork and an extra piece of the fried chicken (win!)

The roast pork was pretty damn good, and not only did some of the pieces have a nice char, the overall color on Hop Won’s roast pork wasn’t like the scary looking red dye you see at so many other Cheap Chinese food places.

Overall I am quite happy with Hop Won and am pretty excited to try some of the other stuff on the menu. The service was quick and the people were friendly. Now if only they had my favorite pork belly with pickled veggie dish then I’d never have to long for Fuji Bakery again.

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

My dad’s in town today from Miami, working out of a building on Lex btw. 46+47th. I gave him a choice of lunch spots I could meet him at within a few blocks from the building and naturally he chose Hop Won (on 45th btw. Lex+3rd). I recommended my two favorites, roast pig over rice and sauteed udon noodles with pork- to which he exclaimed “those are my favorites too!” Isn’t DNA a wonderful thing?

The sauteed udon was great, as always, but sadly the roast pig over rice wasn’t as life changing as when I had it at sister restaurant Hing Won (on 48th btw. 5+6th), and the portion wasn’t as big either. I suppose it’s to be expected that once the dish became popular, they’d cut back on the portion (or maybe it’s just inconsistent.) The cracklin’ was still out of control good though, and it was most definitely worth the $6. What did my dad think? He loved both dishes (and is probably recommending them to anyone who will listen, as we speak.)

Related:
Roast Pig Over Rice is Available at Kar Won and Hop Won
Hing Won Has a Twin Sister, Serving Best Cheap Chinese Food to Midtown East

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

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