Kyochon! Korean Fried Chicken (Northern Blvd, Bayside NY)
Kyochon
156-60 Northern Blvd., Queens, NY 11354
718-939-9292
Kyochon, a fantastic place for Korean Fried Chicken. These fried chicken are not your ordinary KFC, far from it in fact. They are much more tastier and less greasy. Be prepared to wait though while they cook your order, it can easily take 20-30 minutes. On a busy day, you might have to wait a long time for a table. On the other hand, they do deliver! Again, be prepared to wait anywhere from 30-40+ minutes for a delivery. I prefer to order 20 min ahead of time and then pick it up myself since I’m not far from either in Bayside rather than wait for a longer delivery.
Here’s a tease… More after the jump!
Kyochon Fried Chicken Sweet Garlic
Late Night Dinner: Chicken & Rice (Halal Guys NYC on 53rd/6th)
Halal Guys NYC
53rd & 6th Avenue (Next to the Hilton Hotel)
New York, NY
Operations: 7:30pm – 4:00am
This halal cart is famous for its chicken and rice platter. As you may see many other vendors like this one, the taste and quality of the food is completely different. Every day there is a long line queued with many hungry New Yorkers as well as tourists just to get a taste of this delicious platter. The line moves very quickly and the wait is definitely well worth the wait.
Chicken & Rice: Halal Guys 53rd/6th Ave Long Line
More pictures after the jump! Read more
Sunway Cafe Chinese Diner
39-07 Prince St
(Near 39th Ave, 7 train to Flushing)
Flushing, NY
After watching Simpsons The Movie at the glamorous College Point Movie theatre, the bf, bf’s brother, and I were craving for food. We left at about 10:30 pm and tried to figure out what the hell we were going to eat. No, not Wendy’s or White Castle again. For once, we were all sick of fast food and thought that we needed to sit down tight at a civilized place with plates of real food. Since we were on a tight budget, we decided to head out to Flushing for some cheap ol’ Chinese food. The bf’s younger sweet 16 brother, Alvin, suggested that we go to Sunway. He swears that it’s the best place ever and claims that he’s been there over 20x. It must be dam affordable if he goes there religious. With growling tummies and a loose wallet, the bf and I decided that we should hit this joint and find out.
If you’re in Flushing, you have to be blind not to see this restaurant. It’s smacked right in the middle of Flushing, literally a block away, and it’s right on the corner of Prince and 39th Ave. We got there around 11pm and had to wait on line because there were so many people waiting for a seat! Outrageous! Well, it’s better than it being deserted because then it would get creepy, like in manhattan’s Chinatown.
After about 10 mins, we got seats right under the plasma tv. The baseball game was playing, but not like anyone was paying attention to it. Most of the people here were younger kids that looks really fobby. A pack of young teenage girls were giggling in the back of the restaurant, and a good sprinkle of older fobby guys were sitting in the middle chatting it up like gangsters.
Anyways, after we were seated for like 10 mins, a waitress came to us and asked what we liked to drink. Let me tell you, the best part of the menu are their drinks. I’ve never seen anything more colorful and cocktail-like in my whole entire life. They serve an array of bubble teas and mixed fruity drinks. I opted for the Phoenix Sunrise drink, picture below, because it sounded so kickass. When the drink arrived, I was oh so impressed by the color because it looks like how it sounds and it tasted very sweet, which I love. I can taste mango and orange. Exactly what they put their drink is beyond me. And Alvin got the mango smoothie, which to me didn’t look anything special. The taste wasn’t that great too.
Alright time for the chow part of this blog.
Rice noodles with duck, wonton, and choy sum
Price: $3.75
I wished they gave more rice noodles. Apparently Alvin didn’t finish this bowl due to the dim sum that we ordered, which I will get to. I did have a taste of the duck and wonton and to me, it wasn’t anything special. I grew up eating this stuff, and I figure as long as the taste doesn’t get worse it’s fine by me.
My Rating: 3.5/5
Recommended: Yes especially if you never had this before, or you’re craving for delicious duck and noodles.
Rice noodles with braised beef
Price: $3.75
Again, what’s up with skimping with the dam rice noodles?? I ordered this thinking that this dish can absolutely cannot go wrong, but it did. I’m pissed as hell with the skimping, but to give me the hard ass part of the beef and a few pieces of meat is not cool with me. The broth tasted pretty good, but I’m not feeling this skimping part.
Rating: 2.5/5
Not Recommended
Dim Sum!
Price: $2.25/each
Beef wrapped with Rice Noodles (In Chinese, it’s called Ha Chern)
Malaysian Spongcake
Ha Gow (Shrimp covered with thin rice paper)
Pork Bun
I give them props for having dim sum at this hour. These didn’t taste bad at all. If you are craving for dim sum late night, I’d definitely recommend it.
BBQ Spare Ribs
Price: $5.25
This is the cheapest piece of meat that I’ve ever seen. There’s not a lot of meat and this is the most oily thing that I have ever eaten. I didn’t really like it and wouldn’t recommend anyone ordering this.
Remember, you pay for what you get. The food is decent here and it really gives a quick fix for a staving stomach. The drinks here are absolutely phenomenom. People were ordering it here like crazy. I really recommend that. Alright, I’ll leave you with the health inspection results from the city.
SUNWAY CAFE
39-07 PRINCE STREET, QUEENS 11354
Violation points: 9
Inspection Date: 09/14/2006
Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.
Sanitary Violations
1.) Plumbing not properly installed or maintained; anti-siphonage or backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained; sewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.
2.) Evidence of flying insects or live flying insects present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
Ten Ren’s Tea Time
79 Mott St
(near Canal St)
New York, NY
I like to point how difficult it is to take pictures in Chinatown without someone walking into your shot. It took me several shots because I can get the above picture. My before picture looked like this:
You see this priceless face? Yeah he hates tourists like me who flashes around their cameras like nothing. Don’t worry, just know that you need to take a least a couple of shots to get a clear one.
Anyways to continue, Ten Ren, I can say makes one of the best Bubble Teas in chinatown because it has this richness, in terms of taste and color, and can almost be compared to the ones on the west coast. I have tried bubble tea in Toronto, San Francisco, and Los Angeles and they all vary slightly, but will never let you down. If you try the bubble tea at Green Tea or Tea-riffic, also down on Mott St, you’ll taste how diluted their drink is and how bland it is, compared to Ten Ren. Let me tell you, bubble tea is definitely not made like that in NJ, Canada, or the west coast. Ten Ren here won’t disappoint, since Ten Ren is also located around the world.
I will rate bubble tea in terms of:
Appearance
Richness in taste
Texture of tapioca (boba or pearls in the west coast)
Price
Portion
This is exactly how big Ten Ren is. There are limited seating in the back and there is no bathroom at all. Repeat there are no bathrooms for customers so you should either take your drink to go or wait until you go to a restaurant or go back home.
By the way, this place also serves food as well:
Though I’ve never eaten there before.
There are only two guys who works here as you can see, and on the counter you’ll usually see a ten ren cup with tapioca filled inside and then they fill up your drink. You can tell if they leave it out for too long because then it becomes hard. But most of the time it’s soft and chewy, very chewy, just the way it should be.
A small drink is $4.00 and a large one is $6.oo.
I ordered a passion fruit tea w/tapioca from the ice slushy category:
My friend ordered the mango flavored one which looks exactly like this one. I had no idea that passion fruit would turn out to be orange, but it did and it tasted like it.
Let me tell you, at Green Tea and Teariffic, they can’t make a bubble tea like this maybe because they have a different way of making the tea. This drink is sweet til perfection and the tapioca is exactly how I remembered it — soft and chewy.
I highly recommend this place if you’re in chinatown or wanting to sport a good bubble tea.
And if you’re a heavy bubble tea drinker, I’d recommend you to ask for this card from the cashier:
Sorry if it’s a bit blurry, but basically it says what it says: Buy 10 get 1 free.
I will give it a 4.5 out of 5.
Well time for the health inspection verdict. Are you ready?
TEN REN’S TEA TIME
79 MOTT STREET, MANHATTAN 10013
212-732-7178
Current violation points: 27- PASSED
Inspection Date: 02/21/2006
Violations were cited in the following area(s) and those requiring immediate action were addressed.
1.) Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
2.) Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
3.) Personal cleanliness inadequate. Clean outer garments, effective hair restraint not worn.
4.) Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.
