Koreatown instead of Chinatown for a change of scenery and bites.
Combination kimbap from Somunnan Kimbap – egg, spam, tofu skin, carrot, radish, burdock, spinach, mushroom – or something along those lines. She made the perfect wrapping look like a breeze.
Northern King Dumpling – kimchi pork bun, cabbage pork bun, shrimp and pork dumplings. Korean-Chinese version of similar places in Flushing that serve 10-15 boiled dumplings. The buns were large, well-filled, and tasty, but are never my thing given the doughy-ness and ratio of dough to filling relative to dumplings or pancakes. The dumplings were flavorful and slightly different than the pure Chinese equivalents – filling was partly chopped and partly pasty so as to hold together. Also different than the similar Korean dumpling place in New World Mall. (But we forgot to try to ask for a mix of fillings here, lol.) More skillful hands making the dumplings and buns onsite.
Assorted jeon from Hanyang Mart – scallion or perilla or mixed, fish ( saengseon), beef (wanja), peppers stuffed with beef, zucchini. We saw these at some banchan specialists too, but here they were being made fresh and everything but the fish was hot. My favorite is always wanjajeon, but the greens ones are always good – like pajeon, but different.
Cafe W had very creative croissant-based items (and more) – apparently it’s a whole thing (though we discussed that croinigiri would have been a better name than onioissant). We tried one stuffed with mayo & pollack roe. Not my thing, but clever and well-made. The croissant part was slightly sweet, in contrast with the salty filling.
Final stop was to sit down at JeunJu for some cold noodles with kimchi and pork neck bone stew. Plus lots of banchan – a fried egg per head, coleslaw, radish chunks, greens, radish strips, broad beans and king oyster mushrooms. It’s a small place and they were completely full even though it was late for lunch rush. Very nice staff.
My favorite stop of the day was Northern King Dumpling, while I do prefer a thinner wrapper, I loved the freshness of the filling and the textural contrast provided by the chunks of shrimp in the filling. I hear you on the bread-to-filling ratio on the buns but I’m starting to think of that as a feature rather than a defect, something comforting about biting into that soft, pillowy dough. (Hopefully not veering into Freudian territory
My main takeaway was just how accessible Murray Hill is, a fast, easy ride on the LIRR from gct or penn, grab a bus right from the 7 train stop in Flushing or a lovely, 20-minute walk from the 7 train with lots to see and eat on the way.
we also stopped at the Voelker Orth Museum, which made for a nice respite between restaurants.
That was clear. Sorry that I was not. My question was (to clarify), was there a reason to get off at Flushing instead of Murray Hill for you? Are there food stops one way, but not the other?
I stress that this is a serious factual question for me. Often I do what you guys do, lamely and late, but it helps to know where to get off the LIRR, etc.
Well you like the salted egg type buns, so it’s a short hop over.
I do understand that the value ratio is also high on these buns because they are filling, which would have been a big plus in younger days, but nowadays I’m trying to conserve stomach capacity for more and varied bites, and these are quick to fill it up!
it’s just about logistics and personal preference. midday the lirr is a fast, clean, quiet train that one rides 4 stops with a drop off right in the middle of ktown. The 7 train is noisy, can be crowded, makes lots of stops, and once you get to crowded flushing, you have to make your way via bus or walking to Murray hill.
I took the lirr to Murray hill but wanted to bring my wife roast meat from corner 28, it was a glorious day and I had great company, so I walked back to downtown flushing, bought her dinner and took the 7 train back to Manhattan.
Next time, I’ll purchase some frozen dumplings from northern dumpling and take the lirr nack to manhattan since that’s a little faster, especially heading back towards gct since I don’t have to deal with the potential of 20-30 minutes of potential subway delays getting to the station
Pro tip: bring a little cooler to hold the frozen dumplings. I put a couple of bags of frozen dumplings in my little cooler and they were still frozen hours later sitting in a hot car.
thanks, since we’re on foot, I kinda hate carrying a little cooler around for 4-5 hours, in the past I’ve taken an insulated trader joe’s bag and picked up some cheap ice right after my purchase. I used to have an insulated backpack, maybe I’ll grab one on amazon.
The xian bing at 135-45 Roosevelt have been justly praised upthread and also here. I got something else from them today (plus my xian bing – I, too, am cajoled into the 4 for $10 deal) that was interesting:
These were lacy, radishy fritters with a starchy interior that’s possibly potato. They were very good, although some sort of dipping sauce would have been nice with them.
The filled flat bread at Fat Cat Flatbread in the New York Mall (on the right as you enter, about a third of the way in) is excellent. @hyperbowler has a picture near the top of this post, and there are others on Yelp.
It’s a thin flatbread about 10-12" in diameter folded in half over filling and cooked crisp. I got the spicy pork, and it had a nice tingle to it. The bread is studded with black and white sesame seeds. It all adds up to a terrific sandwich. I’m going to be back to try several of their other offerings (salted egg yolk + pork floss, here I come).
ETA: Some Yelpers complain that the filling is thin. It is, but so is the flatbread and the two nicely complement each other. Oh, it goes with saying that these are best right off the griddle after a slight cooling off (they emerge very hot), but the last sliver eaten 20 minutes later on the LIRR platform was good too.
I also, perhaps foolishly, decided to try some of the other offerings (other than crab roe & rice/noodles) at Xie Bao, the stall on the immediate left as you enter. The crab roe willow leaf buns were pretty, and the dough was nice – but too sweet for the filling (fatty pork is, I think, the best filling for such dough), and too much. The crab roe and shrimp spring roll was OK, dominated by the shrimp. The Dongpo Braised Pork With Lotus Leaf (why would anybody in their right mind order this at a crab roe specialist?) was oddly dry, despite the cut being belly. On the other hand, the Crab Roe Meatballs were excellent: Lions Heady, moist, studded with orange bits of roe. The combination surprisingly worked, and the sauce they sit in (with some bok choy) worked too.
I lied. The flatbread is more oval in shape and the filling is inside the entire bread. They serve it to you folded over in half in a paper bag, hence my confusing it with a filled semicircle. On a future visit I might take a picture.
Today I had the salted yolk & pork floss, the black pepper beef, and the dried vegetables (elsewhere called pickled veg, but dried seemed a better description on dissection) with pork. They volunteered that they have a 4-for-3 deal, so I got a barbecued chicken as well. The egg yolk one skewed more in that direction than pork, but floss is so ethereal anyway. The beef did have a pleasant peppery kick, and also had flecks of dried red pepper skins. The pickled veg one was faintly sweet. They were all good in their own ways, and I’ll bet I’m eating better on Amtrak than anybody else on the train right now.
