Midtown Lunch

Last week, I had a really disturbing Chinatown dining experience.  Though several commenters called me out on being a wuss, I was semi-traumatized, I have issues with hair… They say that when you fall off the horse, you should get right back on. So with that in mind, I marched myself back to Chinatown to have another meal.

Chinatown Restaurant, on the corner of 10th and Arch,  is one that I would never ever have gone into, it looks completely generic. But  a trusted friend advised me that there were some dishes of interest, so I figured I had nothing to lose. As long as nothing was hairy.

Two menus are available at Chinatown restaurant, one with American-Chinese staples and the other with more authentic fare. Ask for both.

On the Chinese menu, I ordered the peanut butter noodles first, “Oh, you like real Chinese!” our waitress said,  apparently this order made her happy with me. I was kind of into this simple dish as an appetizer, the noodles were nicely chewy and the peanut butter sauce must have been thinned out by vinegar. Hot sauce on the table came in handy. By the way, this cost about $2.

Lo and behold, this random restaurant can be added to the list of spots serving soup dumplings. Their version is different from any I have had. The skin was thick and white, rather than floppy and almost translucent, which made me hesitant at first. But the flavor was impressive, the meat and slurpfull of soup inside were both really porky.

For $5.50, I ordered the pork spareribs over rice. I was pleased to find fried pieces of pork and taro paired with slightly sweet sauce. It was refreshing that the sauce was not covering up and hiding the meat. There was a lot of pork for the price, that makes me happy.  Finally, a perfect meal and not a hair in sight.

The + (What someone who likes this place would say)

• Cheap, delicious authentic Chinese food
• Sauces that enhance, not hide
• Soup dumplings!

The – (What someone who doesn’t like this place would say)

• I don’t know what to order!

Chinese Restaurant, corner of 10th and Arch, 215 925 8688