China Pearl Seafood Restaurant

Friends and I were craving good Cantonese style seafood and decided to satisfy that craving here.

We ordered 5 dishes...

Let's start off with the only non-seafood dish. I hope I'm remembering this vegetable right...I believe it's snow peas leaves? It was good simple stir fry. I think it's hard to mess this up.

Clams with Black Bean Sauce

In my opinion, this one was the worst of the batch. It was salty and when it came out, it looked a little weird too me. Something was off with consistency of the sauce. It looked like an "old dish" if that makes any sense.

I only ate a few of these clams.

Fried Flounder

I don't know why I don't order more fish when I go out. I like it but I'm not ready to cook it at home (I'm not over the slimy part yet). This dish was great. It was nicely fried so it had a nice crunch. The only bad thing was that it had some sort of soy sauce underneath it which made the areas that were on top of the sauce a bit salty. Next time, I will definitely tell them to put the sauce on the side.

Stir Fry Lobster - ~$29

This was great as well. It wasn't too bland or salty. The only bad thing was that there weren't a lot of pieces that had a lot of meat. It was good but I'm not sure if it's worth $29.

Salt and Pepper Fried Squid

The dish that others have raved about. It sure didn't disappoint. The batter was light, the seasoning was just right and it didn't taste oily at all. One of the best fried squid dish I've had in awhile.

Overall, good seafood place and I would go back. The bill came out to be ~$102 before tip. Not a cheap meal but I guess you would expect that considering the majority of the dishes were seafood.

China Pearl Seafood Restaurant
8222 45th Ave
Elmhurst, NY 11373

Prosperity Dumpling

So this place has 1671 reviews with a 4.5 rating on Yelp. That was enough to drive to chinatown to try them out. I ended up getting there around 1-2pm on a weekday.

The place is a small and tight shop with about 4 stools for seating. There were about 4 people ahead of me. Ordered 5 orders of the Chives and Pork Fried Dumplings and it was ready in about 10 to 15 minutes.

5 for $1

End result? Eh..it was alright. It was good thoroughly cooked dumplings. Not sure if it warranted the 1671 reviews/4.5 rating on Yelp though. It's definitely not worthy of going out of your way to get it.

Prosperity Dumpling
46 Eldridge St (between Canal St & Hester St)
New York, NY 10002

(212) 343-0683
prosperitydumpling.com

Yeh's Bakery / Red Leaf Bakery

A friend told me that my favorite green tea cake bakery also makes good curry beef puffs. I love me a good curry beef puff so I decided to check it out one day.

I wanna say these were $1 each? They were good except that it had one major flaw. The meat to pastry was off. There was just not enough meat for the thickness of the puff. I felt like I was eating more of the outside than the filling which left my mouth feeling dry and wanting more. I guess Fay Da Bakery will still be my go to place for my curry beef puff cravings.

Yeh's Bakery / Red Leaf Bakery
5725 Main St
Flushing, NY 11355

Chili and Basil Tofu

Thanks S for giving my this recipe. It's such a simple and semi healthy (?) dish to make.

This was my first time making this and I made the mistake of over frying (pan fried) the tofu. I could be wrong but I think if you cook your tofu too much, it will not be able to absorb the seasoning/sauce mix as well.The next time made this, I cooked it so that the tofu was just a tad brown on both sides and I felt like the tofu absorb my soy sauce/fish sauce mix much better.

Yun Nan Flavour Garden

Remember that cold noodles place I raved about in Brooklyn? That little hole in the wall called Yun Nan Flavour Snack Inc. ? Well, I have good and bad (?) news. The good news is that they moved to a bigger restaurant with a decent amount of tables! The bad news is that I think it's not as good. Well, at least for me. H thinks it is just as good. Maybe it's because I've been eating the noodles there instead of eating it at home (I'm thinking that by the time I get home, the sauce is absorbed in the noodles making it tastier!)

I am going to test that theory out the next time I go there!

Dumpling with Hot and Sour Sauce - $5.25

I always forget which dish this is...it's either the rice noodle with meat sauce or the noodle with spicy meat sauce (I must have forgotten to take a picture of the other dish).

Hey you - yes you, the person who I was trying to make hungry with my last post. You should venture out to Brooklyn and finally try this place.

Yun Nan Flavour Garden
5121 8th Ave (between 51st St & 52nd St)
Brooklyn, NY 11220

(718) 633-3090

Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao

Found me a new Xiao Long Bao place!!!

Scallion Pancake

I gotta say...this was one of the best scallion pancakes I've had for awhile. It was flavorful, not too thick and was not drenched in oil.

Hot and Sour Soup

This was pretty darn good too. It was actually hot and sour! I hate hot and sour soup that is neither spicy or sour...

So they have your pork ones and crab ones...

This was delicious. The skin was thin. The meat was cooked right and the soup was flavorful. If you like Joe Shanghai and want to avoid the crowds, just come to this place.

Ma Po Tofu

I've very picky when it comes to Ma Po Tofu. I gotta say...this place makes it decent. I would say this would be my second choice after my old fav schezuan place.

Shanghai Pan Fried  Noodles

Blah - this was a disappointed. The noodles were tasteless and it was a bit oily.

Sliced Pepper Beef

Yummy.

I'm happy I found this place!

Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao
59-16 Main St
Flushing, NY 11355

No. 1 East Restaurant

Wanted to try a new place one morning and found this on Yelp. I saw that they serve hot soy milk and Chinese crullers and I got excited right away.

Sweet Cold Soy Milk - $1.25

Sweet Hot Soy Milk - $1.25

We got one cold and one hot version. I enjoyed it. It had a good amount of sugar and wasn't bitter at all.

Chinese Cruller - $1.25

I didn't like this. It was too oily and too crispy. It was difficult to eat. I enjoy crullers that you can pull apart without it breaking into crumbs. I barely ate this.

Fried Dumplings (8 pcs.) - $4.95

I wasn't a big fan of the skin. It was very loosely wrapped and a tad oily. You can see the insides from the sides. The inside was not bad though . It was cooked thoroughly which is a must for me. I hate it when the inside of a dumpling is not properly cooked. I wouldn't order this again though. It's nothing special.

My buddy got this. I personally think it's a bit much for breakfast. His words were..."It's not bad."

I'm looking forward to enjoying the hot soy milk in the winter and trying their other items.

No. 1 East Restaurant
41-27 Main St
Flushing, NY 11369

(718) 460-8686

Lao Dong Bei Restaurant Inc

Update Below (7-24-13)

I went back to this place again a few weeks ago. Ordered two dishes. The fish with cumin and a new dish - Eggplant w. Hot Garlic Sauce.

Awesome food here. I love having a nice great restaurant near me.

The last time I got the cumin fish, it was a tad salty. This time, it was perfect. Crisp, flavorful and light.

The eggplant? Yummy too. It's not your typical eggplant with garlic sauce. It's on the sweeter side and I think the eggplant is deep fried so it has a tad of a crunch. This is the second place that I know of that makes eggplant this way. The first place I discovered this dish was at Golden Palace Gourmet, which I have banned (I do have a post on them from the first time I visited). Their service was horrible the last time I went. I can deal with the typical Chinese waitress service. What I can't stand is stuck up waitresses and owners. And you know what made it worst? When I got home, I realized that they gave me the wrong order! I think that they knew that too! I think someone didn't pick up their order and they decided to give me that one. Argh!

Anyway, enough about Golden POS Gourmet. This post is about the wonderful Lao Dong Bei Restaurant Inc.

I can't wait to go back and try their other dishes.

Eggplant w. Hot Garlic Sauce - $8.50

UPDATE (7-23-13)

Went back again and ordered two dishes that I've had before and one new one. I ordered the fish with cumin and Fried Pork in Orange Sauce. Both dishes were excellent. I found that the pork dish this time was better than the first time I had it.

Green Bean Sheet Jelly - $9.50

This was our new dish. I found this unexpectedly good. It was cooked with good flavor and I think it went well with the other dishes. It was a nice light appetizer that went well with the fish and pork. Just be careful when picking these noodles up because they are very slippery!

Lao Dong Bei Restaurant Inc
44-09 Kissena Blvd
Flushing, NY 11355

(718) 539-4100
http://www.yelp.com/biz/lao-dong-bei-restaurant-flushing

Yang Chow

Looks kinda shady with their dark windows right?

Spicy Szechuan Wontons Soup

Sate Sauce Three Ingredients - Chicken, Shrimp and Beef with Malaysian Spicy

Slippery Shrimp

Overall, not a bad place. I went here for their famous slippery shrimp and honestly, I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong. It was good but not great like others have described it. It tasted similar to general tso shrimp to me.

Good thing about this place is that their portions are pretty big. We ended up taking back at least half of each dish with us.

Yang Chow
819 N Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90012

(213) 625-0811
http://www.yangchow.com/

Lao Dong Bei Restaurant Inc

My dinner tonight.

Small restaurant with about 5-6 tables? Your typical family owned business type of restaurant.

Winter melon with Seaweed and Egg - $4.95

A good flavorful soup. Great soup to start off with especially if you have a decent size party. Looking at the pic, I realized that I ate the soup without eating any winter melon. Doh.

Crispy Sliced Fish with Cumin - $12.99

Crispy, light and well seasoned. The cumin and red pepper flakes made this delicious. It was a tad salty but it wasn't a problem.

Fried Pork in Orange Sauce - $9.99

This was good but not great. What I liked about this was how thinly sliced the pork were. Usually these fried meat dishes come in good size pieces which I personally don't prefer. Someone said the sauce is similar to the peking pork chop sauce but that is not true. This one is sweet but not the type of sweetness you would taste with the peking style pork chops. This one also had a hint of ginger which was different.

Overall a really good restaurant. I can't wait to go back and try their other dishes.

Oh and the lady there was really nice.

Oh oh, they also didn't charge for rice which I think is awesome. I hate it when chinese restaurants charge for rice even if you order multiple entrees.

Lao Dong Bei Restaurant Inc
44-09 Kissena Blvd
Flushing, NY 11355

(718) 539-4100
http://www.yelp.com/biz/lao-dong-bei-restaurant-flushing

AA Plaza

I woke up one Saturday morning and I was in the mood for those rice noodles I used eat when I was a kid. I'm talking about those $1 rice noodles that you would get in those karts in Chinatown. Fresh noodles is the foundation of this dish but that sesame & soy/hoisin sauce is what makes you want it over and over again.

...my usual place is the kart by the Elmhurst library in queens however. I didn't feel like driving so far that day so I decided to try a new place in flushing...

Note: The one in Elmhurst isn't the best but it is the best I've found so far in queens...

Pic courtesy of Yelp ;)

This place is super busy all the time. If you ever go there, be prepared to get cut because there isn't a clear line. But hey, this is Flushing so it's somewhat expected.

I got an order of rice noodles and one spicy fish balls stick. I made my own milk tea.

The rice noodles were decent. I found some of noodles a bit firm which to me indicates that it isn't that fresh. Usually, fresh noodles are soft and "flexible". The sauce combination was okay too. The sesame/peanut sauce was good but the soy/hoisin sauce was not right. It was a bit liquidity. Usually, there is some level of thickness to it so that it sticks to the noodles.

In the end, I haven't decided on how I feel about this place. I'm going to give it a few more times and then decide. Hopefully, I learn how to make that sesame/hoisin sauce and also find a good shop that sells fresh rice noodles with little shrimp (I don't remember these noodles having and shrimp...which sucks).

Ahh, fish balls. I love these. It's basically "fried fish balls" simmering in a spicy base. It's really great if you are looking for a snack.


AA Plaza (Right next to the Flushing LIRR)
40-66 Main St
Flushing, NY 11369