Midtown Lunch

Through a door, passed a jewelry counter, down the stairs, and to the right of the grocery store is Tasty Place- serving cheap Chinese food. If you require a white table cloth to accompany your dining experience, this is probably not the place for you. I tried two  dishes to feel the place out. I had no idea what to expect from the quality of the food here,  but I was pleasantly surprised.

The wide noodle, bean sprout, sweetish, soy sauced dish called Chow Fun is a hard one to make completely terrible, but is also not usually the dish that lingers in my mind and makes me think “Ooo, remember that time we had that?” But over here at Tasty Place, the Beef Chow Fun comes close to being memorable. The noodles do that melt in your mouth thing that the average Chinese joint doesn’t often get right. Chow fun has  a tendency to be greasy, but here they manage to make it full of flavor without the greasiness. On the menu this dish is listed as Beef Stir Fried Ho Fun, ho fun being the name of the wide noodles. $5 gets you a whole styrofoam container. As a personal note, I find chow fun to be excellent hang- over food… is anyone with me on that?

I also went a dish that consisted of a few Chinese standard components- Roast Duck & Pork with Green Vegetables and rice. ($5.50) While the vegetables and duck good in a regular sort of way, the pork was rather exceptional.  The thick slices were a touch sweet and a tad salty, with no fat or tough pieces- in other words, perfection. I would probably want to see if this is the kind of pork that Tasty Place uses  in their Pork Ho Fun, because that, my friends, would be a memorable lunch.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• The idea of a lunch time adventure excites me!
• That pork is mouth watering.
• The menu is long(there are even some Szechuan options) and super cheap.

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

• There is no way I am going down those stairs to eat lunch.

Tasty Place, 142 N. 11th St., Basement (btw. Race + Arch St.), 215-592-8990