Midtown Lunch

There is no scientific evidence that eating fried foods in soup will make you feel better but I’m just going to pretend this is true. Also, I know doing a post on soup when it’s 70 degrees outside isn’t exactly logical either but I’ve been under the weather and thought it would be an opportune time to sneak one more hot food post in before that starts to sound disgusting. With my head in a fog I was thinking of possible places to get soup and for some reason Cafe Hanover came to mind since I knew they had a section devoted to udon and soba. And nothing cures you better than noodles, salty broth and fried protein!

It was my first time in this particular eatery and it’s a little overwhelming. I mean, under normal circumstances I would have had a terrible time choosing among the Korean fried chicken, the buffet and the endless Korean food choices so I was thankful that my medicine head was making the decision for me.

I went back to the udon counter and ordered the fried chicken soup ($6.75), spicy, that I had decided upon under the recommendation of lunch’er Goodness. In about a minute I had my giant styrofoam bucket of noodle soup in hand.

There was a lot of fried chicken in here – maybe 10 pieces of varying sizes – and the first few pieces were the best since they weren’t as soggy. After a soak in the soy sauce-laced broth it kind of tasted like a version of Korean fried chicken…combined with noodle soup. There were few surprises here: tofu, mushrooms, a few pieces of broccoli, and a bunch of noodles at the bottom. I would imagine this soup would also be successful with soba noodles.

This definitely filled me up and I felt like it was a bargain too. Next time it’s straight to the fried chicken counter!

Cafe Hanover, 5 Hanover Sq. (at Pearl), (212) 809-6808