Midtown Lunch

I’ve been missing the somewhat authentic Chinese food found at Goodies and not too excited to try out its replacement, Asian Wok, located in the same spot in the little mall at Fulton St. & Gold. A glance at the menu showed one of the cheaper lunch combos I’ve seen at $6.95 for an entree and rice, along with your choice of soup or egg roll. And the quality turned out to be better than what I’ve gotten at other Chinese places downtown.

There are about 20 entrees to choose from, many of which are the usual suspects (General Tso’s, sesame meat, chicken with vegetables). I went with the shrimp with garlic sauce and a side of hot and sour soup.

There were four or five large shrimp in here along with some vegetables that were actually fresh and a garlic sauce that not only wasn’t as gloppy as I feared, but actually had some heat to it. Not bad for $7!

You know what else wasn’t half bad? The hot and sour soup. It had some unidentifiable vegetable pieces in there, along with strips of tofu. Maybe my standards are low, but it was better than the usual default of Chinese takeout soup that tastes vaguely of chicken.

I’m still getting over the loss of Goodies, but if the craving for cheap Americanized Chinese food hits, I can count on Asian Wok to fill me up.

Asian Wok (formerly Goodies), 88 Fulton St. (at Gold), (212) 766-0821