New Southwind: Chinese Diner
New South Wind
21 Division St
(btw Catherine & Market St)
Lying near the far end of Chinatown, almost underneath the Manhattan bridge, this is a mom & pop diner that most locals will know. Unfortunately I never knew about this place when I was a kid because I lived in the other side of town, but hey, it’s better late than never right? haha. Luckily, my boyfriend grew up eating at this place and tells me how good their food are. So I decided to come to this place once and for all, with him, and to find out how good their food really is!
If you look at the window of the restaurant closely, you’ll see a tray of big fat specialty rice noodles. Can you see it?
Can you see it now? This is what you called Ha Mai Chern in Cantonese, which is essentially rice noodles with scallions and dried baby shrimps. What’s different about this is not only it’s big packed size, but there’s ham in it! Yum yum! This is the restaurant’s best seller. Yeah I can just tell when I walk into the restaurant and tray after tray of this is coming out from the kitchen to the front window. Man, it sells fast!! It’s cheap, at about $1 per roll, and it’s so delicious! I have never tasted something like this anywhere else in Chinatown, and I really highly recommend it.
Honestly, New South Wind isn’t really a nice/clean restaurant to sit in. It’s better if you order out here, but of course it’s entirely up to you. Since I’ve never been here before and I hail all the way out from Brooklyn, I figure it would be nice to eat here with the boyfriend.
Now from what he tells me, this place has went through reconstruction. The walls and furnitures are completely new, except for the floors, but who’s looking right? Haha. But yeah, this place is a simple Chinese restaurant that doesn’t need to look fancy and impressive. It just serves the needs of its locals, which is cheap delicious food.
When you first walk into this restaurant, you’re not going to have someone to guide you to a table. You just walk in and sit anywhere you please and eventually a waitress will come out and ask you what you want. Don’t expect to have a menu at your table. Most locals don’t even need a menu, but if you need one, look at the other tables and you’ll see a menu lying somewhere.
There it is. That’s all there is and then on the back it’s completely in Chinese. Refer to menupages to see the menu in full.
Alright the moment we sat down, out of nowhere this waitress comes to us and asks what we wanted to eat. I guess most people already have it ingrained in their mind of what they wanted to eat, but I wanted some more time with the menu. So we started off with some sodas. I heard that they make some kick ass ice milk tea, but I didn’t try it, but if you like it and you happen to stop by here, go for it and tell me all about it.
My boyfriend is always raving about their pork chops here and tell me that no place can make it more succulent and delicious. So we both order the pork chop w/onions over rice, $4.00, and he ordered the meat with tofu for starters, $2.50.
This is the meat w/tofu obviously, but it wasn’t that impressive to me at first. Apparently the tofu wasn’t fried which was a first to me, and to me this dish looks really bland. But I was wrong! Haha, the meat is really rich and flavorful, with the right amount of salt and the right about of greasiness. It sorta reminds me of the meat that you eat at a dim sum place, err…sorta like the shumai but better and meatier! Man, the only bad thing I can say about this dish was that they didn’t make more meat. God! The meat is so so good and it works perfectly with the tofu. Delicious!
My porky porky! If you’re an onion fan you’ll be drooling all over, but if you’re not, like me, you’ll still enjoy it too. Yes this dish doesn’t look like much at first, but you’ll be amazed at how much flavor it has. The onions are really, truly sweet mixed with a delicate taste of sweet soy sauce that’s obviously pan fried, and the pork chops are soft and salted to perfection, not at the least dried and cooked with soy sauce as well. The sweetness and the saltiness created a perfect balance for this dish which created droolage overload for me. This got to be the best pork chop cooked Chinese style I have ever had. I will highly recommend this dish.
I see most people order the pan fried rice noodles (sup chow gnow hor) and the green peas with minced meat over rice and a fried egg. It looks delicious and I can’t wait to come back here for take out!
After ordering another 4 rice noodle rolls, the bill came out to be under $18 and that’s including tip. I’d highly recommend this place. This is truly a gem of Chinatown.
Health Inspection Results!
NEW SOUTH WIND
21 DIVISION STREET, MANHATTAN 10002
212-966-4116
Current violation points: 21
Inspection Date: 11/13/2006
Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.
1.) Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained.
2.) Wiping cloths dirty or not stored in sanitizing solution.
3.) Personal cleanliness inadequate. Clean outer garments, effective hair restraint not worn.
4.) Hot food not held at or above 140°F.
Momofuku Ssam Bar – Takeout
Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 2nd Ave
(at 13th St)
New York, NY
(212) 254-3500
This restaurant has received a lot of rave reviews saying that it’s a delicious joint at a very low price. The only reason that I came here is because I wanted to try their Bahn Mi, viet sandwich. Even though the prices were not listed on its website or on menupages, I thought that it should be cheap because nymag featured them on their cheap eat section.
As I walked into the restaurant, I noticed how incredibly packed the restaurant was. 
This restaurant is a lot bigger than their noodle bar, which is located on 1st ave, but it’s still very small. A female waiter came to me and I told her that I wanted to do take-out. She went to get some menus and then she asked if I knew what I wanted, which I told her yes. I told her I wanted 2 Bahn Mi’s and she took my order. When she came back to give me my receipt, it came out to be $19.50 @ $9 each and then including tax!!! I figure, holy sheit, $9 for a sandwich, it better be damn long, stuffed, and damn good.
After waiting for a good 5-10 minutes at the restaurant, I grabbed my food and leave for him. The people here looks really trendy, but this place is very expensive. Cheap eats my ass.
That’s it. This is the sandwich, and it costs $9. Okay, so it’s a little small but maybe it’ll taste good.
Honestly, I didn’t feel for this sandwich. I really think Momofuku Ssam is really overrated. No sandwich should cost this much and it doesn’t even taste that great. The meat tastes really greasy and it wasn’t even a viet salami, it’s like a light/fluffy ground beef and the bread wasn’t even toasted!! I’m sorry, this is by far one of the worst Bahn Mi sandwich I have ever eaten. This place needs a lesson from one of the better Bahn Mi places.
Finechina’s Rating: 2.2/5
Quality – 2/5
Taste – 2.5/5
Ease of eating – 4/5 (because of me picking out all the jalapeños and gnawing on pork)
Presentation – 3/5
I will never come back here to eat a sandwich. Why on earth do they price it at $9?? That’s ridiculous. My bf tells me that it’s a trendy restaurant in a trendy neighborhood. But what’s the point if their sandwich isn’t even of par?
Alright, health inspection report:
MOMOFUKU SSAM BAR
207 2 AVENUE, MANHATTAN 10003
Current violation points: 6 – Passed
Inspection Date: 08/02/2006
No violations that present a threat to the public health or relate directly to factors which lead to food borne illness were recorded at the time of this inspection.
1.) “Choking first aid” poster not posted.”Alcohol and Pregnancy” Warning sign not posted. “Wash hands” sign not posted at hand wash facility. Resuscitation equipment: exhaled air resuscitation masks(adult & pediatric), latex gloves, sign not posted. Inspection report sign not posted.
2.) Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained.
3.) Toilet facility not maintained and provided with toilet paper, waste receptacle and self-closing door.
Paris Sandwich
Paris Sandwich
113 Mott St
near Canal St
(212) 226-7221
Paris is a fairly new deli/bakery located in the heart of Chinatown. The name of the restaurant couldn’t be more memorable because in Chinese it’s called French sandwich, which is what I usually say to get my Viet sandwich (yeah, strange but true), but Paris sounds dam sexy too. I honestly didn’t know if Paris could compete with Banh Mi which is a block away and Viet-Banh-Mi on Broome St because they are excellent. The only way to find out is to go in and see.
When I first walked into Paris at 7pm, I noticed how spacious and empty it was. Usually this place is packed from early in the morning to late in the afternoon. I guess no one come here for dinner. Anyways, this joint looked more like a fast food restaurant than a deli. You have 3 girls working by the cash register, and then two more ladies in the back assembling the sandwiches. When I asked for a french sandwich, the girl at the cashier stared at me and thought I wanted a french bread — the actual bread! I was like, er…no, duh the actual sandwich. I guess they were used to the numbers, which you will see on their menu that is above the cashier just like at mcdonalds.
After getting a receipt for my pork viet sandwich, which was $3.75, I walk towards the back of the joint and received my sandwich at that second. Gee, I didn’t know they worked this fast. I’m sure they skimped a lot of ingredients or probably just reheated the sandwich. I doubt they reheat it, but who knows.
Verdict: The sandwich does taste fresh, but they did skimp on the ingredients. I wished I had a better picture, but at the time I was busy chowing this down since I was really hungry. The only thing I liked about the sandwich was that the meat was tender and somewhat juicy and all the flavors of the sandwich came pretty well together. I wished this sandwich had more, but overall it tasted good.
Finechina’s Rating: 2.8/5
Quality – 3/5
Taste – 3/5
Ease of eating – 5/5
Presentation – 3/5
Of course the viet pork sandwich is one of the many sandwiches there, but with my first experience here, I think this place is pretty ok. This is better than Sau Voi Corp because 
they’re losing their edge on what a viet sandwich should really taste like. I used to love this place but they’re lacking taste, especially with their meat. But at least this place is better than most of the sandwiches created in viet restaurants.
Health Inspection Results
PARIS SANDWICH CORP
113 MOTT STREET, MANHATTAN 10013
212-226-7221
Current violation points: 7 – PASSED
Inspection Date: 12/22/2006
No violations that present a threat to the public health or relate directly to factors which lead to foodborne illness were recorded at the time of this inspection.
1.) “Choking first aid” poster not posted.”Alcohol and Pregnancy” Warning sign not posted. “Wash hands” sign not posted at hand wash facility. Resuscitation equipment: exhaled air resuscitation masks(adult & pediatric), latex gloves, sign not posted. Inspection report sign not posted.
2.) Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained.
3.) Toilet facility not maintained and provided with toilet paper, waste receptacle and self-closing door.
My next review will be of the viet sandwich made by Momofuku Ssam Bar. You’ll be in for a surprise.
