Picked up char siu, soy sauce chicken, and spicy beef and pork (separate) pancakes.
I was a bit perturbed to see that the pancake (xian bing) stall I like had changed, but the lady who was there was so sweet and solicitous that I bought a few anyway (for some reason she gave me 4 x $4 pancakes for $10 as a “deal”).
Well, these pancakes were as good as the previous ones, so I’m less perturbed now.
Char siu was very good, but having recently eaten it in Hong Kong, the difference I noticed was in the pork itself – more uniformly moist / fatty in HK (while not just being big chunks of fat). Also somehow the flavor seemed to penetrate deeper there. Anyway, that’s a 15 hour plane ride away and this was still tasty, so that’s that.
(Note to @vinouspleasure – in some bizarre twist, the prices at the roast meats place seem to have dropped a couple of bucks.)
Oh, and apparently duck wings (and other parts) are available.
Ha, I coincidentally got a chive (leek?) and egg xian bing there yesterday. Meat ones seem to be the way to go— loved the dough, filling was a bit oily for my taste.
The oil is more from cooking the green leeks (chives?).
No, I live in the SFBA, just passing through and my first time in Flushing. Remarkable to have so much concentrated in a walkable area. Interesting to see maybe a dozen international Chinese chains that are now in the SFBA.
I have some more exploring to do, favorite bites have been a beef jian bing at Followsoshi and a black pepper beef flatbread at Fat Cat Flatbread. Hoping to get to Yukun Shaobing (closed yesterday and today) and Lee and Bai, which I learned about on HO, and I learned this morning doesn’t have a variety of buns until lunchtime.
I saw those when I picked up char siu. They looked doughier, like the ones at Tianjin.
We also had one inside the little mall on Roosevelt, the dough was flaky there (I like these better, but those were better than Tianjin imo, and also I may be responding to the filling too).
There’s also a new place on Kissena that I meant to stop by but I didn’t have time.
Oh cool, I may check that out if I have time. Do you remember roughly what intersection?
My goal is mainly to gaze at, and occasionally sample, from the food stalls. I’m curious though – – is there a consensus go to higher end non-Cantonese or non-Sichuan place?
Oh man… it’s been a while but my friends and I used to do Flushing food trips a couple times a year, thanks for the finds, will definitely check them out on the next visit! Please keep the updates coming!
I was on that glorious mode of transportation the other day, the LIRR. My ticket hadn’t been checked and we were just pulling into Flushing. I did what any person with a decent appetite would do. I hopped off. I then crept in the footsteps (or drag marks) of those of you who have crawled above. (Thanks to all.)
Lin Cafe, in the interestingly named “Friendship Shopping Plaza” (41-42A Main St), next to the Golden Mall. That name (FS Plaza) narrows your idea of “plaza” to a thin corridor through which you have to squeeze and jostle. Still, the close proximity to fellow humans – my bum hasn’t brushed so many others since I was a grad student at Stony Brook – is certainly conducive to friendship. Lin Cafe is on the right a couple of counters down after you enter. I got an excellent radish+driedshrimp panfried bun, a very good pork (plus cabbage?) one, and an equally good steamed roast pork bun. I didn’t ask for this last one but was made to take it. (See end of this post, ye who get there.)
Northern Dumpling King (41-22 Main St). Pies. Pickled cabbage and pork, Chinese cabbage and pork, and – the best – green turnip (nibbling on that leftover as I write). Also an excellent container of peanuts riddled with crisp, tiny anchovies.
Wedge of some sweet pie with dried and candied fruit, and possibly a nut or two, off some vendor on Main. Excellent.
Landmark Quest Mall (136-21 Roosevelt Ave), jianbing (w/sausage). This was a coarse (the wrapper) disappointment. My first ever jianbing was in Beijing and I saw that it was good. Since then I’ve had decentish ones in the New World Mall across the street from LQM and, oddly, in the otherwise nondescript Corner Mall in Downtown crossing (DTX to us locals) in Boston. The one here was only so-so in comparison. Next time I’ll try the snail noodles from the stall further into this space that so perfumed the air.
The dumplings and pies at the window near the NW exit from the 7 train. I had good, juicy pork+crab dumplings and a decent radish pie. Here, too, I was pushed into buying more than I wanted.
The main reason I hopped off the LIRR (and was barely able to waddle back 90 minutes later) was the crab roe at the stall on the immediate left as you walk into the The New York Food Court (133-35 Roosevelt Ave). I was intrigued by the backstory of the stall. A physicist turned restaurateur. (I once briefly shared an office with an ex-student of Stephen Hawking, but he only ended up running a Carvel in Riverhead. True Story. Despite the pictures that dotted his parlor of “The Proprietor with the Pope” – long story behind that – the business failed.)
The crab roe sauce was spectacular. Sweet from the crab and complex. I had it on rice.
Overall comments:
There were empty counters/stalls everywhere I went.
I had to counter upselling at almost every stop. I’d ask for 1 of something and would have 3 pushed on me, or would have something added to my order. I resisted as much as I could, but a couple of times I gave up.
That wedge would have been cut from a Fujianese mooncake, which ounce for ounce typically has the caloric richness of a Snickers bar. It’s good that you found a vendor who serves slices.
The place I told @hyperbowler about has eliminated xian bing and most dumplings from its offerings in a short while, and I didn’t want any of the soupy offerings
Went to New Northern King and got the lamb dumplings and pickled cabbage and pork pancake.
The lamb dumplings were juicy and tasty (and more in line with what we had expected when we ordered them at New World Mall and got carrots etc inside).
The pancake was a bit bigger and better stuffed than my current favorite near the 7 train, but comparable otherwise. (The ones by the train might be fresher as they’re making them throughout the day.)
Revisited the dumplings / wontons at the place a few doors down (that used to be in the old Golden mall) — as good as last time, but maybe we need to carry around our own chilli oil.
Finally, stopped in at Qing Dao out of curiosity even though I was loaded down with leftovers, but restrained myself and only took out some salads — lotus root and black fungus.
Shoutout to the staff and elderly owner who watched me walk curiously through the store studying all the things, then sent me an English-speaking (ok, somewhat communicating) person so I could inquire and purchase, and gave me a big smile at the end like I had accomplished something