Midtown Lunch

There’s one thing you’re probably not going to find at one of the salad chains: Lettuce tossed with a dressing tasting strongly of fish sauce.

That’s what I like about Mooncake Foods (Multiple Locations) – that you can order something like a salad, and be surprised at the flavors you get, and likely for less than at a chain place.

It’s been hot out lately, and thus, I’ve had to rethink what I eat for lunch as slamming a giant burger or meaty sandwich doesn’t sound too awesome when it’s 90 degrees. Thus, the Asian salad comes into play as you can often get filled up, and for less than $10. 

Mooncake has a huge list of salads, all for $10 or less including one with seared tuna or another with salmon. Some are on a base of just lettuce with some other vegetables alongside, but a couple also give you a pile of rice noodles on top of some lettuce.

I went with the lemongrass shrimp and rice noodle salad ($9.50) which contained five jumbo shrimp, rice noodles, lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, Thai basil, jalapeno and shredded carrot.This was a hearty salad.

The shrimp were the best part of the plate – cooked and seasoned nicely, although I didn’t detect a lot of lemongrass flavor. The second best part was at the bottom when I discovered the lettuce had been slicked with a vinegairette that prominently featured that fish sauce. I would highly recommend mixing the noodles and lettuce together before eating as you’ll distribute the flavor better. It was also nice to get a bite of the Thai basil every once in a while for variety.

Mooncake Foods, 111 John St. (entrance on Pearl), (212) 233-8808; 28 Watts St. (btw. Thompson & 6th Ave.), (212) 219-8888