EPIC GUIDE TO ASIAN FOOD IN THE LOWER EASTSIDE NYC | Fung Bros

Smoked duck ramen over here. Oh my goodness. What's going on everybody? Welcome to another very special Fun Bros Food Crawl. As you may or may not know, second generation Americans all across America and especially in New York City are getting known for opening food and beverage spots. Everything from restaurants to cafes to dessert spots to bars. First spot up is called Yokoya which specializes in Yokohama style ramen. Let's go. Alright, first appetizer we got is Takoyaki. It's like a dough ball and then there's octopus inside. There's a bonito flake on the top and it's dried fish. There's something about it when it's fresh, it's warm, it's kind of fluffy inside. You have a little bit of that chewiness from the octopus. Here's the bao and it's a fried shrimp bao and then it's a pork bao. Fried shrimp one, this is the pork one. Aesthetically this is really nice. That almost has the complexion of Peking duck. Yeah! This pork belly is a lot more grilled and crispier than the original one which is a lot softer. So we specialize in a Yokohama style ramen which is Ike style, very classic. It's called Soyu Ramen and it's seasoned with soy. I like the broth, it is a very light tonkatsu. Tastes like a creamy wonton broth. This is actually one of my favorite bowls that I've had in New York. Actually, ramen actually came from China to Japan through Yokohama. So the Yokohama style ramen, theoretically the most Chinese and the most classic. This is our spicy ramen which is jikoku ramen and it means hell. This ramen is pretty much called go to hell because it looks like hell. You know what I like? They give you plenty of spinach, they give you plenty of those wood ears. A little bit of that char siu. This is jukkemen which is a dipping style ramen. The noodle comes cold and then thicker than other regular noodles and then the soup comes hot. Jukkemen broth is often a little bit more thick so it can stick to the noodles. Sometimes the noodles can come warm, sometimes they can come chilled. Here you have them cold. Sometimes when the noodles are sitting in the broth too long, they soak it up. Even over 10-15 minutes they can get soggy. But here you never have to worry about that because you are constantly dipping the noodles. Totally see this being good for the summertime. Shout out to Yokoyao Ramen out on Allen Street in the Lower East Side. On to the next spot. Our second spot is An Choi. It is owned by Chuan. Yo guys welcome. This is An Choi. Established in 2009. This is the Lower East Side where we did Vietnamese food OG. Basically there's an extreme. There's like super high-end fusion spots like Indochine. And then there's the Hong Wong in Chinatown which is like mostly run by Chinese. But nothing in between. I want to bridge the gap. Yo man this spot is dope. You definitely got to check it out. Let's head inside. This right here is Bun Cha Ka Va Long which is based in Hanoi. Turmeric marinated catfish. Vermicelli noodles. You got dill on top of that with scallions. Some herbs like basil and mint. Black sesame crackers and then pickled red onions. Some buan. Super fresh. Good flavors. Good taste. I remember when I saw the dill. I didn't know they had dill in Asia. Yeah right? Being a second gen guy repping your culture, what gave you the confidence to do that? We're a generation where we're trying to merge our identity of being American and being let's say Vietnamese or Chinese or whatnot. What we bring to the table is a new perspective. So this right here is the pork and shrimp summer roll. We call that Ngoi Co with a side of the peanut hoisin sauce as a traditional dipping sauce. It's a good ratio. Not too much noodles. This right here is our take on the Vietnamese classics. So right here we have the beef pho, which is the most popular Vietnamese dish. The most common dish that Americans know about. And then also our original sandwich is the bánh mì gà tí. Which is with head cheese, pork belly, pâté, aioli, peppers, and then pickled carrots and daikon. We serve it as a combo so that means you can choose your sandwich and your soup. So you kind of did it like the American style. You have a soup and sandwich. Exactly. This is like a panera bread. No, I'm just kidding. I think Vietnamese, out of all the Asian cuisines, is the only one that's got the soup, salad, and sandwich combo. Because no one else got the sandwich. We took the colonization and we made something great out of it. Hey, you flipped it. We flipped it. Oh, I'm ready. See that bread? How squishy it is. Oh man. Look at the quality of that beef. It's delicious and Vietnamese, I've been told, is non-hoa. Yo, this combo right here, everything, everything in An Choi is non-hoa. If you guys are trying any Asian food in New York, definitely check out An Choi. OG spot. On to the next spot. Okay, now we are outside of our first, not just restaurant, but also bar. Shout out to Set L-E-S, in the L-E-S, Lower East Side. Friends with Mikey, friends with Ray Sprouty. Sprouty, here's his IG right here. Yo, we actually, I mostly did this video for Sprouty. And then Sprouty is not here. He can't make it today. Set L-E-S is a really cool spot. I've walked past here during the World Cup. It was super packed. It's a great place to watch sports. It's got some cool food. Alright guys, we're here at Set. This is a popular bar in the L-E-S right now. They have some, they're bringing out the dishes for us. We have the char broiled oysters with garlic butter. They are hot and speezy right now. David is burning his fingers. Oh my gosh. How's it taste like butter garlic twists, but on oysters? Garlic knots, oysters, wow. We've got Vietnamese buttered steak cube skewers. Vietnamese butter, what's that even mean? You see, they are dripping with juice. For bar food, it's super good. Two sunny side eggs, Vietnamese skirt steak, and garlic tater tots. You know what I like about what they do here at Set L-E-S? It's very American, but also they put the Asian fusion in there. It works great because the base is American, but I would say it's less than 50% Asian. I'd say maybe just the marinade's Asian, or just a little bit of the sauce is Asian. Last but not least, here at Set L-E-S, we have cheeseburger spring rolls. I taste the Asian-ness, I taste the spice. It's more like a cheeseburger casserole in my opinion. It's almost like a jalapeno beef ball stuffed into an egg roll. Alright guys, if you get a chance, come by Set L-E-S for a nice drink and some good food, but on to our next spot. Alright David, we are outside of our next spot, which is very, very popular, called The Boil. It's a Vietnamese Cajun crawfish spot. This is one of the very few in Manhattan, and in my opinion, the best. Yo, everybody, we're here at The Boil. It is jam-packed. We're here with partners, Mikey and Donald. Yo, thank you so much for having us here, man. Yo, what does it mean to do the Vietnamese Cajun crawfish style in Manhattan? You know, we're Vietnamese, we got that blood in us. I mean, we're the first ones to do it in Manhattan. We took the risk, you know, and here we are five years later. Guys, we are here in the back of The Boil, and we are about to be tossing our own seafood in the sauce. Yo, I always wanted to do this. So dry seasoning in there first, David. So what, what do I do? Shake it up. Toss it, dude. Like this. Okay, oh, hey, oh, oh, okay, okay. David, finesse, finesse, David. Don't mess it up. Yo, man, don't put no pressure on me, man. Oh, hey, hey. Step number two. That's butter. That looks like cream of corn. So it got with the dry seasoning, and now we added the butter to make it saucy. Hey, man, there you go. That's it, man. Ginny, would you like to say hi to the camera? Hi, nice to meet you, you too. This is all the specials. All the specials, all right. Real quick, Ginny is going to sit in for David and going to show us how to break down how to eat the crawfish. Pick up the crawfish, so you just go back and forth, and then you'll feel it kind of separate. Got it. So you'll want to bite down and suck out the juice. So almost like a shrimp, I start from the bottom, and I peel around it. Got it. And you just pull. Just like that. And then you have to dip it in the sauce. Back into the sauce. I feel like it's easiest when you just kind of like fold it in the middle and snap it. Clean break. Yeah, the clean break. Aside from the seafood that they have, the amazing clams, they have this fried soft-shell crab. Fried soft-shell crab, one of my favorite things to eat in the entire world. These look incredible. Yo, double dragons. Choo, choo, choo. I thought you were going to connect the crabs, bro. Oh, man, is that what they do? No, they got the little thing on the chest. Choo, choo, choo. There's nothing like it. You get all the crab taste. You get the shell taste, the inside, the brain, everything. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. David, you got to take a look at the size of these clams. These are the ones that they do for the music. Huge river clams. Here we got these sliders. Fish sliders. They give you the whole fish here in this sale, yo. Basically, Cajun seafood boils are just always fun. They're always tasty. You get your money's worth. This is actually one of my favorite restaurants in the whole world. And I wish we could stay here, but we got to keep it moving. Okay, our next spot is called Shinka Ramen here in Chinatown. This is a brand new spot, and they definitely do not serve traditional ramen here. I think we're going to be doing something with bone marrow, some duck ramen. Let's check it out. Smoked duck ramen over here. Oh, my goodness. Mm, the smell of smoke. Yo, this does not look like any other ramen out there, man. I can't even see the noodles underneath right now. Fresh apple with smoke with some organic baby carrots. We got some fresh lotus fruit over here and some freshly smoked duck. Yokoya is, like, so classical, and this is so new school. Whoa, the broth absolutely has a very deep, rich smoke flavor from the duck. Rio, this is not traditional style. This is Shinka style. The word Shinka means evolution, so we take traditional recipes and we evolve them. Evolutionized ramen. Beef bone marrow. Wow. We also have wagyu briskets, some green and garlic chips, and green chives, and some scallions, and some freshly cut daikon. The thing that visually stands out immediately is this big-ass femur. This is bone marrow. Also, the bone marrow is from the cow, the wagyu cow. Right now, you can see the bone marrow kind of melting into the ramen so that the ramen's getting very, like, gelatinous. From right now, it smells almost like a Korean salon top. Okay, very rich. That is like beef tonkatsu almost. That's what it tastes like. That's good, bro. Yo. It's very rich. What I usually do is I take the whole bone marrow out, all the cartilage, and kind of mix it with the broth. It makes it a little richer. I personally take a little bit of the shichimi right there. It gives a little extra flavor to it, a little kick. Ryan Hui is in the building. What's up, man? How are you? What have you been up to, man? Tell the people. Right now, guys, I've been working at a social media company called Fullscreen Media. David and Andrew helped me out so much when I was working with them. Honestly, guys, I appreciate everything you did for me, and I'm still doing that right now. I want you to try the bone marrow ramen, man. It's not bad. I mean, the noodle's definitely, like, tender, and honestly, can't say anything else more about it. Ryan, a few words. You got the bone marrow tangled up in the web of noodles and just delicious. All right, man, thanks for having us. Of course, thanks for coming. Shinka Ramen, Chinatown. All right, everybody, so for our second-to-last spot on this food crawl, we have made it up to Greenwich Village, which is right above the Soho District. We never come to this neighborhood, but I definitely will check it out for night and day. This is a new American spot opened by our friend Chris, who is a Chinatown native. Let's check it out. We are here with Chris. Yo, Chris, thanks so much for having us. It's another challenge for me, because I always wanted to do, you know, bring a little Chinatown flair to the West Village. You said the food is new American. So we actually want the food to reflect from what's in the heart and the mind of the chef. If you guys want to see crazy rich Asian aesthetics, come to Nightingale in the West Village. And if you want to see crazy lit Asians, go follow them on Instagram. Nightingale, let's go eat some food. This is actually the Nightingale nest. It's kind of our signature dish. So it's a little Asian inspired, but you know, the taro nest you get at banquets. Okay. Put a little tuna tartare, some microgreens, a little bit of bread, some aioli. You said microgreens, bro. But you said you replaced the taro with more Western ingredients, right? Potatoes. Potatoes, right? So this is a potato nest. Yeah, for sure. I love it how it's still holding together, you know? Like even though I cracked it. Dude, that's so refreshing. I like it because it has like that refreshing green tuna flavor. Chef Tony, man. What up? Yo. Right now, squash blossoms are like beautiful, perfectly in season. So I make a champagne batter, smoked ricotta stuffed. So it kind of accentuates the lightness of the actual dish. Then we have a Spanish saffron aioli, a little romesco, which is like a Spanish kind of condiment throwing piquillo peppers, sort of lemons and garlic. Elderflower honey, a little basil powder, a little love, a little finesse, a little sexy, you know? Damn, bro. Yo, I've never even seen anything like this before. My chef right there. The first time squash blossoms. I don't know if I have the vocab to even describe what I just ate. An essence of squash, but definitely creamier, more condensed. A little bit of like sugar on top. Almost like some sort of, was that crystallization? Yeah. Yeah, that was really good. It's a big boy. So we have a half a pound patla frita beef patty. It's a brioche bun. Then I made an aioli with violet mustard. So the mustard's made from the leftover grapes from red wine. It has this very kind of like umami, super awesome taste. And then we have a cabbage relish, two giant pieces of foie gras, double smoked bacon under that, a little pickle. This burger looks so perfect. Oh. That's the first bacon burger where I really taste that bacon. It's like ham. It's like a hamburger. A ham on hamburger. And there's just enough acidity from the violet aioli to kind of cut through. Whether you're watching and you're a crazy rich Asian, or you're just crazy middle class, come tonight again. Crazy middle class. Crazy poor can't come here. It's not that expensive. It's pretty affordable. It's affordable. All right, but to close up the video, we got to get dessert, and we got to go back to the LES. It's one of our favorite and most Hong Kong-inspired dessert spots, New Territories. Satin. We're having dessert right now at a spot called New Territories. So this is a Hong Kong-inspired dessert spot. Man, it's got some really cool things going on. Let's go check it out. So this is the Unicorn Parade. It's our most popular milkshake. It's made with vanilla bean ice cream mixed with fruity pebble topped with assorted marshmallows. There's a lot going on in this milkshake, but I think I got to just drink it like a regular milkshake. Pocky stick marshmallow right here. The milkshakes here are super good, though. Oh, my gosh. Shout out to George and Peter. This place is owned by second-generation Asian-Americans. This is our second popular bubble waffle made with honeycomb ice cream, caramel ice cream with a vanilla base and topped with rose petals. I would say sometime around 2016, it became totally socially acceptable in America to eat flowers. Yes. They're not playing, bro. Like a bee would land on this right now. A lot of the egg waffle is very dry on the inside, but these are very fluffy. Yo, this honeycomb ice cream is lit. These are their classic flavors, but now we got some seasonal flavors right here. You got guava on top, and you got cantaloupe on the bottom. My goodness. Let's try the cantaloupe. Mmm. Yes! Good! It is rare to find a place that looks amazing and tastes amazing, and New Territories does that. All right, you guys. Thank you so much for watching that food call through the Lower East Side. Me and Andrew had the fortunate opportunity to live there for a couple years now. It's just one of my favorite neighborhoods in the entire world, and I hope you guys can see why, and I wish everybody the most success, and I hope that they inspire more people locally in the L.E.S. as well as around the globe to do their thing. Right here. That's the shot. More like Prince Harry. You should come out with me and meet my mom. Yo, shout-out to Henry Golding.