Midtown Lunch

New menu items keep popping up at A-Pou’s Taste cart and some of them are so different that I feel the need to try them. When I walked by the other day, there was a sign for a new dish called “brown meat sauce over rice” next to the ones for pork chop over rice and shrimp fried rice. What I was picturing in my head and what I got were pretty different, but the dish wasn’t like anything I’d eaten before. 

I was picturing more of a sauce with small bits of meat like what you’d get with pork chop over rice at Wah Mei Pork Chop Fast Food or at the Bian Dang truck. Instead, I got large chunks of fatty stewed meat, almost oxtail-like in appearance, consistency and flavor. It could have been oxtail or beef – I couldn’t quite figure it out – tasting of warm flavors, with the sauce coating the rice below. I would say grab some of the thick soy sauce and hot sauce to help things along because although the meat has good flavor it’s a little dry on its own.

On the side is some cooked lettuce and carrot that were bland. Again, maybe some soy sauce would perk this up, or just mix it together with the meat and rice for more flavor.

Would I order the brown meat sauce over rice again? Probably not. I’m glad I tried the dish because it was a unique offering from a cart, especially in the Financial District.

A-Pou’s Taste Cart, William St. btw. Maiden Lane & John St.