What $100 In NYC's Chinatown Gets You!

We are in New York City's Chinatown, one of the best and most affordable places to eat in all of New York City. Today, we're going to hit the five most famous spots in all of Chinatown under $100. First off, we have the legendary Hua Fung. This is one of the most iconic spots in all of Chinatown. If you look up where to eat in Chinatown, this is probably gonna be the first spot on almost every single list. They're famous for their viral roast pork over rice. You get a massive pile of hand-chopped roast pork over rice for $7.50. So not only is this one of the best spots in Chinatown, it is one of the most affordable spots in Chinatown. And I promise you, any time you come to Hua Fung, there will be a line. So get ready to wait, but it does move fast and it's cash only, so be aware. Oh, it smells like heaven here. Oh my God. Pork and one large roast duck, please. I'm so stoked to eat this. Cracking into the fresh Benjamin. You hate to see it go, but we got some good food on the way. Okay. I was so impressed at the rate in which they churn out roast pork over rice. These dudes were so dialed and they look sick with their uniforms on, just tossing meat onto the chopping block, chopping it up, putting it over rice and just pouring sauce all over. When roast pork has this kind of red color, you know it's just gonna be extra delicious. I don't think you'll find a better deal in your city than Hua Fung. Oh yes. Cheers. Oh God. Oh my God. That is actually phenomenal. The roast pork is crispy on the outside, has some nice fat and juice coming from the inside. Their sweet sauce they pour on top is phenomenal. The cabbage gives you a nice crunch. Wow. And if you eat this in the winter, it will just warm your soul. Hua Fung is special. Hua Fung is the first stop you need to go when you enter Chinatown, New York City. Next stop, we got Mei Lei Hua for their famous pineapple roast pork bun. This is a family run spot, third generation started by the grandparents, passed on to the parents, now passed on to the son that runs the shop. You would have no idea when you walk into this tiny little shop that they have a huge team in the back just going to work. The place is just flowing with roast pork buns. They got a baker squad that's taking their fresh dough that's homemade every day in the back, filling it up with so much roast pork, popping it in the oven, and then running by, reloading the front so they just fly out buns. This is insane. This entire pineapple roast pork bun is $2.60. Let's pop it open. They've been using the same exact recipes for the past 50 years. The roast pork is their grandma's roast pork marinade. Their dough is their grandparents' recipe that they brought from China. Everything handmade every day, fresh in the morning. Chinatown does it again. It is delicious. You got a little crisp on the outside of this. The inside is so steamy and soft, and the grandma's roast pork recipe is delicious. I wanna go give her a kiss on the cheek. It's like this sweet glaze, and it's so heartwarming. It's crazy because I thought you couldn't find a better deal than Hua Feng's $7.50 roast pork over rice, and then we walk in to Mele Hua, and you get their $2.50 pineapple roast pork bun, which somehow might be a better deal. Chinatown is just filled with the best value in the entire city. All right, next spot, we got North Dumplings, run by one of the sweetest women I've ever met. She's so cute. She's from China. It's a family recipe. She's been making dumplings for over 30 years. She said that in her lifetime, she's made over one million dumplings, and at one point, she took her dough and was doing no-look dumpling rolling with two hands. One of the most impressive things I've ever seen. We got 10 homemade pork dumplings for $4. Hit a little spicy sauce. Hit a little soy sauce. Wow. Just what I thought. You have a really nice crunch on the bottom, but then the sides still have a little doughiness to it, and she rolls it so thin that it's not too chewy, and the meat filling's delicious. The sauces are phenomenal, too. There are very few places and restaurants in New York City where you can walk in and you can find the owner who came from another country, who learned to cook from their mom, and is still hand-making everything back in the kitchen every day. Very few places in New York City have that authenticity that Chinatown offers, and it's so cool. You are literally getting homemade Chinese food from the source, from people who came from China, who learned from their parents, who are bringing the same exact recipes, and you can get a chance to try it without having to travel across the world. It's literally a melting pot within New York City. Four bucks for 10 dumplings. I keep saying that we're not going to find a better deal, and then each spot, we somehow find a better deal. Next spot, we got Shu Jiao Fu Zhou. Don't quote me on the pronunciation there. It's a pretty long Chinese word that's pretty complicated. They are known for their homemade peanut butter noodles. This entire plate of noodles is $3.50. We can't keep getting away with this Chinatown. Oh, yeah. Cheers. Wow, okay. And this taste is extremely peanut buttery. If you love peanut butter, you're gonna absolutely love these noodles. If you're not a peanut butter fan, these are not for you. I personally am a huge peanut butter fan, so these are great. Pretty much any Chinatown restaurant you go to, they'll have some sort of variation of a homemade sauce on the side. We got some homemade chili oil. You want to be careful here, because you have no idea how spicy these sauces are, and if you go ham, you might regret it for the rest of the day, and your mouth might just be on fire. Take a little bit. I'm kind of soft when it comes to spice, I'm gonna be honest. I'm starting off light, but it's just the smart thing to do. You never dive full into spice. Not as bad as I thought, but honestly, way better with the spice. If you're coming here, definitely add a little chili oil on top, mix it in. It kind of adds a whole new dimension. A little chili crunch in there, too. It levels it up. It's just a massive plate of noodles. Almost a full meal for $3.50. This is enough for two people, absolutely. Chinatown is efficient. They're not messing around here. Another spot, I think three out of the four places we've been have been all cash. So coming to Chinatown, New York City, bring cash. Last up, we have Great Noodle Town, New York. Now this is my personal favorite Chinese spot in all of Chinatown. I know the name is Great Noodle Town, New York, but they're actually known for their roast meats, their roast pork and their roast duck, and they do so many delicious things. So don't get fooled by the name. This is the final stop of the list, and we're about to dig in. We got their famous roast duck over rice. This entire platter is $8.50, and great timing, boom, our wonton noodle soup, $17 for all of this food. Let's just take a moment to appreciate the glistening duck skin here. Here we go. I'm shocked. For $8.50, this duck quality is so good. Look at the layer of fat you got in between the crispy skin and then the rest of the meat. You can't have some good Cantonese cuisine without a side of cabbage. That's just classic. All right, next up, we got their wonton soup, $8.50, but this bowl is massive. Filled with noodles and like five homemade shrimp wontons. I just know I'm gonna burn my face off when I take a bite into this. Just sitting in this piping hot soup. Let's cool this one down a little bit. Wow. I love how thin the wonton itself is, and then they fill it up with so much shrimp. The broth is so rich. That is phenomenal wonton soup. Also, can't forget about the noodles in here. This is some of the better wonton soup in all of Chinatown. Oh, wow. Holy ----. It's kind of like an angel hair pasta, and they do the al dente, so it has a little like texture and crunch to it. Probably goes so nice with the actual wontons. Huge winner. That concludes our Chinatown food crawl of the five best spots to eat at. The craziest part is we spent $55 at five spots, and I have two bags of leftovers. It just goes to show that Chinatown is one of the most affordable and best places to eat in all of New York City. There's so much amazing history and family cuisines here. Pretty much every place we walked into is a family-run shop bringing their recipes over from China to New York and hand-making everything in store. There's your Chinatown crawl, and if you're still watching and you made it to the end of the video, I love you extra, so I'm gonna give you a special discount code. Use code JDR and you get 15% off your next hat order for the next 48 hours. So act quick. You got two days to purchase, and thanks for watching. Where should we hit up next? I love you guys. We come from France. Oh, from France? Yeah, and we saw your video on Instagram. No way. And we're here because of you, so it's so fun to see you here. That is so funny. Oh, you're on IG all the time. Oh, I appreciate that. Thank you, bro. Great meeting you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Yeah, enjoy. Enjoy. If you haven't been, also, walk up and meet me, too. Really? Where is that? It's like .2 miles that way. The roast pork over rice is amazing. You gotta try it. Try it out. Thanks, man.