Midtown Lunch

Despite the terrible name, I’ve become a little hooked on Foodie (44th btw 2nd+3rd). Everything close to my job has gotten a bit stale for me, so when Boi became Foodie earlier this month it allowed me to enjoy the quick lunch again. I have been especially looking forward to their dumplings, which weren’t available until last Friday. And not only do they have dumplings, they have dumpling soup! I know it’s just dumplings in broth, but it’s more than that to me-it’s the first time I’ve gotten respectable dumplings for lunch in Midtown in a long time.

Their soup comes in two sizes: small, 5 pieces, $4.36; or large, 9 pieces, $7.30. Dumplings can be either the pork or chicken variety, and the broth is shrimp-based. Between the cold and my hunger, I went with the large. The dumplings have a nice thick, hearty skin-one could say doughy, but not in a bad way-that tries its hardest to stand up to the hot broth. A few of mine didn’t make it and one squeeze with the chopsticks made them fall apart. Didn’t matter to me, I enjoyed my pork dumplings immensely even when they’d been dunked. The meat filling is pretty well-seasoned, and on par with some of the better dumpling places in the city. They’re not stingy with the filling either- the nine dumplings were ample enough food to keep me going through the afternoon. I didn’t really care for the cilantro bits floating around in my broth, but it did add a different flavor contrast. Also, said broth is one of the hottest I’ve had in a while, a container of this will definitely stay warm on the walk back to the office.

Foodie, 246 E. 44th Street (btw 2nd+3rd), 212-681-6541