Grubstreet did a write-up a couple of months ago (and Infatuation did a shorter review) — though I found those only while checking if the NYT review was out today.
We ate a lot, and hit most of the “advertised” dishes (except the sweet and sour pork over ice - iirc @SteveR loves sweet and sour pork so maybe that was an oversight?)
My 2c:
I wasn’t sure what to expect from a Hakka place in nyc because I grew up with a completely different branch of Hakka chinese food in India (not Indianized, but also not Cantonese-d).
Much of this meal tasted to me like well-done Cantonese.
My favorites were the stuffed squid that was reminiscent of the ubiquitous fried shrimp balls at dim sum, and the tender, braised pork belly (though I couldn’t discern the preserved greens, and I missed a bit of plain rice to soak up the braising liquid).
I didn’t enjoy the whole fish as much as I usually do (I may have been expecting the one with the fish cubed up and fried and the skeleton fried separately) - there wasn’t much flavor to it aside from crunch. Similarly the pumpkin, which was nice and crunchy but without much else.
I liked the silverfish (which was new to me a couple of group dinners ago and I now enjoy), done well with the chives bringing freshness.
The e-Fu noodles were fine (iirc the last place we ate them was Noodletown, perhaps a bit more flavorful than these), as was the bok choy (though by the time I ate it - my own fault - it was very soggy).
I’m not a tofu fan but I thought that dish was well-prepared. I didn’t try the dessert soup.
The famous Blossom Chicken was interesting, though I’m not sure I’d recommend it forward.
I was trying to recall what the stuffing reminded me of, and it finally struck me this morning — the stuffing of imperials rolls / Viet spring rolls with taro and pork, through this was taro and shrimp. The dish clearly takes effort to prepare and the presentation. Is impressive, but that seems to be its main claim to fame. And there’s no chicken in the dish other than the skin, by which some of us may have been surprised (as it was the “poultry” dish choice).
I’d go back to try other things we couldn’t get to last night, because the food was very well-prepared and the service was very attentive and kind.
Adding pics to what @small_h already posted:
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Braised pork belly with preserved greens
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Sauteed silverfish with chives
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Fish maw and crab soup
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Stuffed tofu (stuffed with pork balls and braised)
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The famous Blossom Chicken (not chicken but chicken skin stuffed with shrimp and taro)
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Crab e-Fu noodles
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Squid stuffed with shrimp (deep fried not sautéed)
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Bok choy with mushrooms
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Deep fried whole grey sole (there are a couple of different options)
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Pumpkin with salted egg yolk
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Dessert soup (tapioca and some other things?)
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