Midtown Lunch

Having eaten everything else on the short menu of Taiwanese dumplings and Chinese spaghetti at A-Pou’s Taste cart on Liberty (at Broadway), I decided on a rainy day that it was time to try their soups. There’s hot and sour and corn chowder on offer for the low, low price of $2 for a small and $3 for a large. Even if the soup ended up not being amazing, I figured at least I wouldn’t be spending a lot of money to find that out.

The first trip I got a large hot and sour soup which came in one of those deli containers and was filled to the brim. The broth was on the thicker side and there was a bunch of tofu strips, tofu skin, carrot, mushrooms and something white and crunchy in there. It did indeed have a spicy, peppery kick to it so if you’re not into the hot stuff, you may want to go for the corn chowder.

The next day I went back for the chowder. When I saw the contents of the container I was a little afraid to taste it. It looked extremely thick (and was – it was like a corn pudding) and not the most appetizing, but like many things I end up eating for this site, looks aren’t everything and I ended up liking it better than the hot and sour. While it’s completely vegetarian it almost had a meaty flavor to it, and I don’t even want to know how much cream or other fatty substance was in there to make it so creamy.

While I would still recommend the awesome dumplings and crack-like Chinese spaghetti that A-Pou’s sells, if you work nearby and want some cheap soup this is a good place to get it.

A-Pou’s Taste cart, Liberty St. at Broadway