I’ve been there twice recently.
Visit 1 was 6ish and the place wasn’t particularly slammed, but that (as it turned out) was because many vendors had run out of food. Lady Wong had shut down, and Mamak’s Corner was out of all biryanis and was down to three noodle dishes.
I got two fried rices from Mr. Fried Rice and the crab special (deep fried softshell) from Wok N’ Staple.
The crab was decent, but the chili sauce with it was disappointingly unchallenging, the bok choy limp and the “special sushi roll” they threw on on top a horrid, loose mess of vegetables and rice hastily dressed in nori. This was all atop a mound of rice.
Cost: $21.56 (pre-tip) plus a 3.5% credit card surcharge.
I was tempted by the chili crab but it was aimed at 2–4 diners, was twice as expensive, and the chili component seemed to consist of a few Thai chili slivers sprinkled on top of the crab shell. The service was comically inept. A diner who had asked for crab to go was served it a large ceramic bowl. There was confusion about which softshell crab was mine or was someone else’s, and the other customer and I were left to duel it out with crab claws at dawn. OK, I exaggerate – but it was left to us to compare order numbers and sort it out, while the counter person chuckled at the comedy of it all.
The rice component of my two fried rices were identically bland. Rice with bits of egg here and there. The chicken version did have a bit of pleasing chicken fat in it but the prawn paste the menu promised was entirely absent, at least to my coarse palate. Those of you with more sensitive tongues/noses may catch a whiff. Saving the best for last, the stingray version was very good (those crunchy bones!) and I’d get that again. There were also two small but tasty dabs of prawn past hidden in it, like little gifts.
Cost: Around $18 apiece.
Visit 2 was noonish and the place was indeed slammed. But I wanted Lady Wong, and, for better or for worse, I got some of her. They had four savory pastries and I got them all. I’m a sucker for savory pasty, but breathes there a human with soul so dead who isn’t? The sardine was by far the best, but – hard to believe – the inner sardine was chewy. So was (but more so) the chicken in the black-pepper chicken one (with no discernible black pepper), and even more so the pork in the char siu, the chunks of which challenged my teeth. My teeth won, but that’s only because I have such sharp teeth, dear. The standard curry puff was the biggest disappointment with slightly undercooked and entirely underseasoned potato. The last curry puffs I’ve had were at a Malaysian popup in Boston and they were less expensive and vastly better.
Plus, once again, comically inept staff – trouble with what I wanted, and an eventual stuffing of too much intended-to-be-crisp pastry into one small box.
On the whole, a disappointment, with food clearly watered down for the midtown office crowd, but worth a future visit once the kinks are worked out.
Let me add: What’s with all the dark decor? Do these food places aspire to Batrman-cave? Chelsea (the market not the great comedien) started it and this place continues the trend. Fight it, people. Ask for lighter floors, better lighting , in short Essex Strreet.
