After reading a 2012 NYT review of Royal Seafood, on Mott Street in Chinatown, by Pete Wells, Adam and I decided to try it. It was just after Hurricane Sandy, and once Chinatown reopened, we were so happy to get out. We followed the suggestions in the article and ordered the lobster, although it didn’t appear anywhere on the menu. It was chopped up and “wok-fried with a sticky, Cantonese sauce of scallions and slivers of ginger (NYT).” We also ordered the crispy fried bean curd (now served with mushrooms), and a sauteed green with garlic. I can’t remember anything else we might have eaten, but we have been back many times since, for lunch and dinner, with family and friends. It never disappoints. Recently, my grandson loved the steak cubes with chives and the house special fried rice. Dinner is usually quiet, but lunch, especially on weekends, draws crowds for its dim sum. Wells suggest that you “sit on an aisle….sitting too far from the trolleys puts you at risk of missing a favorite dumpling.”

Menu items I haven’t tried yet (that were recommended in the article) are crispy fried chicken, a fried whole flounder, springy e-fu noodles with fat mushrooms, house special lamb chops in a black pepper sauce, and the West Lake beef soup with bright green cilantro leaves. I will try these and hopefully they will still be as delicious as the reviewer found them.

 In an article published in 2019, Where Should You Eat in New York? Go to These Favorite Spots, several of the Times contributors suggested Nom Wah Tea Parlor on Doyers Street. It has long been a favorite of ours for chicken and pork shumai, steamed shrimp and snow pea leaf dumplings, original “OG” egg rolls, stuffed eggplant, rice rolls, and Chinese greens in oyster sauce.

I am constantly on the lookout for new restaurants in Chinatown and will write about those that are worth a visit.

“OG” egg rolls

New addition: Hakka Cuisine reviewed by Pete Wells, October, 2023, is a beautiful and very clean restaurant in Chinatown. We only ordered one of the dishes suggested by Mr. Wells, the Hakka stuffed tofu: little pork sausage patties resting in thumbprints scooped out of bean-curd cubes in a light, savory sauce. Most of the dishes were delicious, but some were not. The spring rolls, and scallops served on clam shells over cellophane noodles were a disappoint, however the Hakka Mei Fun, a seafood noodle dish was wonderful. My grandson loved a chicken and peanut dish along with shrimp fried rice. The Hakka people are nomadic tribes who originated in China and whose cooking focuses on the texture of food. Their menu also features items found in traditional Chinese restaurants.(Sorry, closed!)