EATING New York Chinatown! CLAYPOT RICE & BEST Fried Dumplings!

This is so pretty, morning drive through the country when I used to live here and I would drive to the city each morning, like I could feel my blood pressure rising as I'm getting closer to New York and the traffic started getting crazier and more aggressive. That's why I moved here. I felt like I had like 20 years of just like New York City stress slowly building up and now look at this. Look, look. Oh, sorry. Sorry about that. This is why I'm surrounded by every single day. It's so nice. That's worth a couple of ghosts, you know? Today I'm heading into Manhattan's Chinatown. If you don't know, New York City has like over a dozen Chinatowns at this point. Now I haven't been to the one in Manhattan in a long, long time. So today we're gonna go, see if we can find something good to eat. Now the only bad thing about living so far away from the city is that, if you forget your wallet, you have to drive all the way back. Another drawback of living and driving in the country is you kind of have unexpected visitors sometimes go into your car. I think it's a cicada or a giant fly. It's about to kill me. One of the two. I'm gonna just pull over and, uh, let me just go ahead and get me a stick. Hey buddy, why don't you, uh, get out of my car. Yeah, there you go. That'll learn him. What's he think, this is an insect Uber? Right now I'm driving on the West Side Highway and this is so scenic. When I used to live in New York, and whenever I would drive on this highway, we're on the East Side, the FDR. I would always turn on Billy Joe's, uh, New York State of Mind, and it would actually make me feel good about, about being in this city. Just got to Chinatown. It's definitely a lot less people than it used to be around this time. That was a big problem. I gotta find a bathroom. Where do you find a bathroom in this time of pandemic? Oh, also that, that's where we're going to go first. First bite of food today. It's rice noodles. It's kind of tricky to find a place to eat because these places you really can't eat inside the stores and I have to find a little corner or somewhere that I can be kind of away from people. By the way, get your Strictly Dumpling Masks down below. This is a very traditional Chinese breakfast. Wow, I'm impressed. Look how thin the rice noodles are. This is almost see-through. Rolled up, beautiful. Fish balls. Looks great. Filled with peanut sauce and chili sauce. These noodles are definitely ready for the summer. All thin and sexy and really not covering up much. Oh, that is so good. It's a new place. And oh my goodness, they make amazing, amazing rice noodles. Fish balls, nice and bouncy. But the story really are these magical sheets of tenderness right here. These things are so thin. It seems like they were on Jenny Craig for the last five years. Not only are they thin, fantastic mouthfeel and the sauce they put on this. Perfect. These are really the Halle Berry of steamed rice noodles. This is definitely one of the best rice noodles you can find in New York City. 100%. These things taste like a healthy long-term relationship. You could eat this every day for years and you'll never get sick of it. Make sure you go get this next time you're in Manhattan. Stomach filled but still haven't solved this. I need to go to the bathroom issue. If you've ever been to the Lower East Side or been to Chinatown Manhattan, bathrooms are already really, really scarce and rare. Now, add pandemic to all that. And so many places are closed where they won't let you come in. It's even more rare now. I do have an idea. Just kidding. Not this. I'm going to go ahead and have my dessert a little early. Earl Grey pudding in a sparkling water got me a bathroom. This wasn't my original plan. I was actually going to find my dad's store. I think it's around here somewhere and I was going to try to use their bathroom. Problem with that would have been the people that work there, they don't know who I am. So it's be a random guy going in saying, yeah, this is my dad's store. I need to use your bathroom. Might not have turned out well. That was a worthy exchange. Really good. Two layers. The bottom layer is more like a panna cotta. Really not bad. The top is like chocolatey and whippy. Do not regret this decision. It's pretty crappy. I'm sitting here and there's like these little partitions on either side of me. So even though I'm kind of close to the table next to me, I'm separated. If there's still some of you who don't believe that food gods exist. Just look at this. I'm sitting here. I'm about to eat my amazing rice and right across from me. I didn't know that existed. Let's go eat there after this. I don't know how your mind works, but for me, before I eat my food, I'm already thinking about my next food. All right. I don't know what happened here. I was so excited for him to open up the clay rice pot. I was sitting right on top staring at me as if like mocking me. Three pieces of broccoli. This was supposed to be a happy day for me. Like I don't need to see my enemies on my happy days. You don't even deserve the tip of my chopstick. Here have the end. I'm going to use the end of my chopsticks to remove you. Get out of here. Nobody wants you. There we go. On top, lap cheong, cured pork. Look at that fatty piece right there too. Oh yeah. This thing is just sweltering in the heat. This place, Noodle Village, is probably one of the best places to get balzac fun clay pot rice in New York City. After the old clay pot rice store closed down. And then, of course, you have to add the soy sauce. Drizzle that on. Take your metal spoon that good clay pot rice places will always give you. And just scoop from the side. See all that golden crust? That is the best part of this whole thing. That flaky golden rice crust. Let's give it a nice mix. Look at that rice. Covered in the sweet soy sauce. Little bits of golden crust. And of course, amazingly delicious lap cheong and cured pork. This is one of those dishes where, of the rice, as soon as you open the lid, the aroma just knocks you back. Really, the only way to eat this is with the spoon. I don't know if you could hear the subtle crunch. If not, let me show you again. This is one of my all-time favorite dishes in the world. It's got everything. You want looks? I mean, look at it. Tell me that's not beautiful. Tell me that's not going to win any rice pageant. You got texture. Juicy, delicious pieces of pork. Soft rice. Crunchy rice. You got flavor. The sweet umami of the soy sauce. That great, sweet, smoky flavor of the sausage. And let's not forget the wonderful aroma. Seriously, this could be everybody's perfect food somme. Well, maybe not for those of you who don't eat meat. But, hey, you can have my broccoli. What's your place called? Wok Wok? My name is David. Oh, sorry. I'm 66 years old. You're 66? You still working every day? Seven days a week. Seven days a week? What's really good over there? I'm a Malaysian chef. You're a Malaysian chef? Yeah. Thanks, David. You're welcome, brother. Oh, thank you, thank you. The mayonnaise is too nice. Oh, this is great. Thanks so much, my friend. This is really good. Gotta add the hot oil. You know how happy Gilmore has his happy plates? I got my happy dishes. Put some hot oil on there. Instantly transported. Let's get a cheese tart. Chocolate and strawberry filling. Which one is the best one, you think? That would be the original. You think the original is the best? Yeah. That's our top selling. The matcha. The matcha and buffet are about the same. Yeah. And then the third one is the chocolate. That's interesting, though. That looks like a multicolored Mickey Mouse. These are fragile. Really should put fragile stickers on top of these. Oh, these are good. Wow. Yeah, for sure. The regular one is the best. This is the prettiest one. Ube is good. Matcha is good. Those are some cheesy gooey tarts. They remind me of the cheese tarts from Keki. Maybe same concept, but the matcha and the ube is a bit fruitier. Like you said, though. Original. That's the best one. Cheese tart, good. New addiction. Maybe not so good. Oh, this is pretty cool. They blocked off the entire Doryer Street. So this is all just going to be open for restaurants only. That's really neat. This is one of the oldest streets in Chinatown. And this is the oldest dim sum restaurant in New York City. Nam Wah. I used to spend every single Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in Chinatown. Because that's when the Fujianese people usually have their weddings. And in a previous life, when I was working for the non-profit, I used to film weddings to make a living. So it was like 200 bucks a pop. And you would go to these massive banquet halls, like Jing Feng and Shilin Jing Ge, which is all around like this area here. And they would have weddings on those nights because those were the nights that restaurants were the least busy. So then friends and relatives have an easier time taking time off and going to attend the wedding. So yeah, for a better part of 10 years, my Sunday, Monday, Tuesday nights, I'll spend around here. Now I'm going to take you guys to one of my favorite dumpling shops in New York City. I call it Phoenix Dumpling. That's not their name. But I call it that because they were closed down for years. And they just opened back up, I think about a year ago. Steak culture, this is new. Polo Bao, Pineapple Buns. We'll come back. This is the most badass HSBC maybe ever. It's like crazy crypt looking building right over here on the corner. Another tip for you guys. If you're in the market for a good engagement ring, like a very good quality, but affordable diamond. I don't know why you're not coming to Chinatown. Best deals on diamonds, I promise you. I mean, you might not get a certificate saying that it's an actual diamond, but don't let that stop you. I'm just kidding. Seriously, it's really good deal on diamonds here. I've helped like three friends get their engagement rings in Chinatown. I'm a good negotiator. If you want to be one as well, only three words you need to remember. 太 贵 辣 Before we go to the dumpling place, let me show you guys this place right here. It's really, really good. 暖心饭团 Heartwarming Rice Ball. Oh, this place is so, so good. 你好 I'm going for the special rice roll. This looks like a pretty private place I can eat. I got a table. Don't let the size fool you. I feel like it's about a pound of food right here. I mean, it is stuffed and tightly round. This thing will not be able to take a joke. Seaweed wrapped around rice, wrapped around lettuce, wrapped around pork floss. And I think there's some preserved vegetables in here too. Oh, they put a lot of mayonnaise in here. I'm not sure I love all the mayonnaise they put. Before you eat this, you got to have kind of like a mental preparation for it because this thing will sit in your stomach for a while. It's like the squatter of the food world. I mean, it will get up in there and it is not leaving till it is ready. But if you want a delicious filling meal for three bucks, you can't go wrong with this. Crispy pickled vegetables, that savory pork floss. If you've never had pork floss before, just imagine floss. A ton of it. That's made out of pork. That combined with a great aroma from the seaweed and the rice. This sticky rice, it's got a hint of sweetness, great mouthfeel and... Yeah, I smell urine. We got to go. That happens in New York. Once you smell that, you move on. This right here. This is it. King dumpling. One of the few places left in New York City where you can still get four dumplings for about a buck. Probably my favorite fried dumpling in all of New York City. Pork and tons of chive. The skin fried perfectly golden. This is one of those dumplings that it's been sitting there. It's not even like the completely fresh ones and it's still so good. I call it Phoenix because this place used to be called Fortune Dumpling. It was a place I would always go to before I started my wedding job. Every time I go, I'd be lying out the door. And they used to sell these for five dumplings for a dollar. Now it's like four for a buck fifty, but you can get like ten for three dollars. So still about 25, 30 cents per dumpling. You're not going to find that pretty much anywhere unless you go to Asia. If you go to like a hip dumpling place, you're going to be paying a dollar a dumpling. If you go to Din Tai Fung, you're paying like two dollars a dumpling. Here, New York City. In that little shop. Old school. Better than any fancy schmancy dumpling place. You can still get some of the best dumplings at a real bargain. If you bite it and go like this, it's like a waterfall. They're so juicy. Another food tip for you guys. You know how like everyone just go to the grocery stores and buy these frozen dumplings for... I mean, they're not expensive, but they're not going to be as good as these. You can actually go into these dumpling shops. I used to go to this place. I think they were selling like 70 dumplings for like ten dollars. I don't know how much it is now, but you can get frozen handmade dumplings. At any dumpling shop in New York City, and I highly recommend you do that. This is the reason why whenever I review a place like Din Tai Fung or something similar, and I am paying like a buck fifty, two dollars per dumpling. This is why I'm upset, okay? About 25, 30 cents a dumpling. Some of the best you'll ever have. We are now directly underneath the Manhattan Bridge. There's a specific place I'm looking for. It's a brand new place. Supposed to be all northern Chinese food. My hometown food. Oh, man. It's closed. Oh, it was just a temporary thing. You guys wonder about that statue in the middle of Chinatown? That's the statue of Lin Zexu. He was an official during the Qing Dynasty and an important figure during the Opium Wars. He was one of the only Chinese officials that kind of stood against the opium being brought in by the English, by the British, into China. And he destroyed so much of the opium that was in China right before the start of the Opium Wars. I actually remember all that stuff from my Chinese history. See? Not just used for eating food. All right. Since we can't get the northern Chinese food, let's go get some comfort food. When in New York Chinatown, if you don't know what to eat, you can always default to a nice, juicy piece of pork chop over rice. This is a good place. There used to be a really good place called Pork Chop King. I wonder what happened to them. Oh, yeah. Taiwanese comfort food. Fried, massive piece of fried pork chop. Pickled vegetables. And little bits of minced meat on the bottom. Chinatown classic. Going back decades. Back when I came to Chinatown for the first time ever, this is what I had. There are several pork chop houses around Chinatown. They all serve pork chop and fried chicken leg. Honestly, I can't tell you which one is the best because I haven't really had this dish in forever. I can tell you, this one is pretty good. See this part right here? Start with the fat. You know that's gonna be juicy. That is a good bite. If I could think of one classic Manhattan Chinatown comfort food, this might be it. Also, for a good price, this thing was like six bucks. It was massive bowl of rice and a giant pork chop. Alright, I'm gonna finish up, grab some dessert, and I think I'm ready to get out of here. Let's go check out David's shop. He's got chendol. Hey, where's David? David went out for delivery. Oh, he did? Okay. Yeah. Do you want to sit outside? Do you have a table outside? Yeah. Okay, I'll sit outside and eat a halo-halo. Okay. So you can tell I'm a little hot, so. Mmm. Oh, that's great. Oh, I've been needing something icy. Lychee, heart of palm. Mmm. This is very much needed. Coming back to New York, I forgot how humid these summers are here. I don't think I've ever had corn in my halo-halo before. It's snappy. This is mango sticky rice. Mango sticky rice. I haven't had this since Thailand. I love mango over sticky rice. These are really nice mangoes. Mmm. Take care, man. Thank you. Okay. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Thank you. So nice. From what I've tried so far, all the food's good. I'll be back for some laksa, but I'm kind of in a rush because I didn't realize my meter's about to expire. In New York, once your meter expires, it's like the meter demons just alert the people right away. You're going to get targeted, so got to rush back. Well, I'm officially back in New York. Oh, first parking ticket. Good to be back. This is crazy. So I got home, and there's a box sitting on my lawn that's, I guess they blew from somewhere on my property, and I went to pick it up. You see how I kind of picked it up? But apparently, like, hornets took over. There was like a hornet nest in there, and then they started flying up. I ran for the car so fast. Country living, my friends. This is what it's like. You got perks like fresh air and stars, and then you got hornet nests, so I don't know what to do. I'm just going to let them just take over, not go over there, ever. And as much as I enjoyed the city today, all the food, it's good to be home. Thanks for watching. See you later.