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Nha Trang Centre – Vietnamese Goodness

Nha Trang is one of my favorite Vietnamese spots in Chinatown since Gao Di first took me here when we both worked in Chinatown. This place offers some amazing meals and I figured I’d point out a few of my favorite dishes.

I was recently turned on to the awesome pho at Than Brothers in Seattle but…. in New York, Nha Trang is some great pho! I particularly like their Pho Dac Biet, a gigantic bowl of rice noodles in soup with beef brisket, eyeround and tendon. $5.75 for a ridiculously large bowl of soup? So awesome. Throw in some bean sprouts, basil, fish sauce and sriracha sauce and you got a good meal. An overlord of noodles and beef, mmmmm.

Another of my favorite dishes is the Com Suon Bi Cha, which is barbecued pork chop, shredded pork, and a steamed egg cake over rice. Nha Trang has delicious pork chops and the additional shredded pork goodness make for a good porky meal. The onions make for good additional flavor, as well. I have gone back and forth on whether or not I actually like the egg cake, but I think it’s pretty good and complements the meal pretty well. This one’s $6.50 and quite worth it.

My Nha Trang adventure would not be complete without my favorite waitress asking me before I even sit down if I want fried spring rolls- BECAUSE I ALWAYS DO. Nha Trang’s fried spring rolls (Cha Gio) are sooo good. For anyone who doesn’t know how to eat these, rip a piece of lettuce, throw in some mint and carrot, wrap it around the spring roll, and dip in the fish sauce. YUM. – $4.50

Mmm, so satisfying. Nha Trang also has a Baxter location, literally a block away, but I happen to like Centre’s ambiance (or lack thereof) more. Friendly service that always remembers me is always a plus. My waitress treats me like a son and is always wondering if I’m too cold or getting sick, awww.

Nha Trang is located on 148 Centre Street between Walker and White St.

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Wonton Garden

What better way is there to usher in the new year than eating and writing about it. Hello 2010!

I simply cannot stop eating asian food these days. New Wonton Garden is an awesome spot at 56 Mott St between Canal and Bayard. I want to say that the service is terrible, but it’s not, it’s more like the servers are just rude. Either way, I’ve never had a bad experience there, I don’t take it personally, but I can see how someone would be offended by the general attitude of the servers. They yell at you, but I don’t think they mean any harm by it… or maybe they do. Moving on…

My current favorite thing to get here is B9 – Beef Stew & Wontons in Noodle Soup. Alexa and Gao Di are in love with C18, which is basically the same thing except with the beef stew, wontons and noodles served on a plate with the soup on the side for dipping.

B9 is delicious. The stewed beef is tender and savory. The wontons are also  good, although my father says the wontons were much better when he was younger, and the combination of beef stew and wonton make for an incredibly fulfilling meal. Can we take a moment to revel in the generous portion of beef and wontons provided in the meal? Overall Wonton Garden is pretty heavy on the MSG and hours later I had that awkward MSG feeling left in my mouth- amazing while eating but irritating later. Anyway, my big bowl of noodles was $6.50 well spent.

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Bánh Mì Saigon Bakery

I have a deep, deep love for bánh mì – the vietnamese sandwich. Coming about during the period of French colonialism in Indochina, the bánh mì combines the ingredients of both Vietnamese and French cultures. The bánh mì traditionally consists of ham, pork roll, minced barbecue pork, picked carrots, daikon radish, cucumber, cilantro, pork liver pate – all sandwiched in a crisp french baguette. The sheer amount of pork products ensure an always enjoyable experience.

Bánh Mì Saigon Bakery is located at 138 Mott St. and doubles as a sandwich stand and jewelry store. There’s a lot of hype about this place and there’s generally a line but the bánh mì is worth it.

Saigon Bakery’s bánh mì features a hefty portion of sweet glazed barbecue pork and the addition of mayonnaise makes the sandwich a hit. When you ask for spicy, you get ridiculously fresh jalapeños. My general complaint about bánh mì’s is that they are usually not packed tight enough to have a cohesive flavor, and I feel like I’m getting every bit of taste in sections. As pictured, you can see how the barbecue pork is off to one side while the pork roll with carrots and daikon are off to the other one. Very minor annoyance. Sandwich is still delicious. At $3.75, Saigon Bakery’s #1 bánh mì is huge bang for your buck. A big-ass tasty sandwich filled to the brim of the baguette! Go get one! The line goes fast!

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Joe’s Shanghai vs. Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao

For those of you that don’t know what a xiao long bao is, it is a soup dumpling. Xiao long bao is roughly translated as ‘little dragon bun’ and is one of my favorite foods since childhood. A gelatin filling melts into soup as the dumpling is steamed in a bamboo basket on a bed of cabbage. My favorite type has crab meat and pork.

Context: Ian found a soup dumpling he claims is better than the ones found at Joe’s Shanghai. We made our way out to Flushing on Sunday afternoon and put the two to a taste test.

We first went to Joe’s Shanghai on 37th avenue to reacquaint ourselves with taste. We needed a point of reference. We are also glutinous people and love eating.

First off, my opinion is skewed because my heart yearns for Joe’s crab meat and pork xiao long baos- they were the first I’d ever had in my life. There are a lot of dissenters who claim Joe’s Shanghai is overrated and they may very well be right, but I think they are THE SHIT. The skin is thick and the soup and meat are super tasty. I’ve had some mixed experiences at the Chinatown location on Pell Street. The restaurant is a busy place and they’ve learned to prepare batches and batches of dumplings ahead of time to meet demands- so in turn, I’ve always had fast service but some unimpressive and dry dumplings, but my nostalgia always kicks in and I never leave unhappy.

That being said, Joe’s Shanghai fulfilled my hopes today and definitely set the tone for some tough competition.

Unable to keep this a controlled test (as previously mentioned, I already ate a pork and vegetable bun before getting to the restaurant), we had some salty, delicious string-beans. Yum.

That about wraps up Joe’s for now. On to Nan Xiang. After some wrong turns, we eventually found ourselves under a red awning waiting for a seat at Ian’s newfound favorite soup dumpling joint.

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A Picture Prelude to a Flushing Taste Test

My friend Ian claimed to have found a xiao long bao spot in Flushing that rivals my childhood favorite, Joe’s Shanghai. Ian promised a juicier xiao long bao. We set out to put the two to the test.

Sitting on the floor of the express shuttle to Flushing from Manhattan’s Chinatown. 20 minutes to destination! A bargain ($2.50 each way) versus the hour long commute using the 7 train.

Already starving. Had to pick up a pork and vegetable bun. Mmmm.

Enjoying some warm soy milk on the way to the meeting point.

Success! Ready for the Xiao long SHOW DOWN – first stop. Joe’s Shanghai.