Food Halls are fairly ubiquitous in New York City these days. And I’m generally not a fan, but yesterday I happened to be in the Union Square neighborhood walking home, when I noticed Urban Space on 14th Street; I’d not seen this location before, though I’d heard of Urban Space Vanderbilt.
So I popped in just for the hell of it, and noticed a stall that was seemingly opening for its 1st service day. I mean, this stall wasn’t even in Sietsema’s review of Urban Space Union Square, which was only written back in January. As a matter of fact, it’s (as of this moment) not even in Urban Space Union Square’s listing of vendors on their website.
The stall I’m referring to also appears to be the first of its namesake here in NYC; that is, if it’s namesake has anything to do with the Manhattan location.
Lou Yau Kee Chicken Rice is the name of the stall, and the only online reference I currently see is for their delivery menu from doordash. Other references are to places in Singapore and Malaysia. Anyhoo, I ordered the chicken and rice dish with both roasted and poached chicken (and a can of tea)…
Apparently, I was one of the first 5 customers, and both yesterday and today they’re giving 50% off.
The chicken was quite good (both moist AND flavorful), but the rice was the star - really nicely flavored, most likely with the broth from the poached birds; also like the addition of the yu choy for a green veg.
