When you’re looking for inexpensive food, there’s always one neighborhood you can count on–Chinatown.
Looking into Chinatown restaurants is always a safe bet anytime I need somewhere to get dinner but I’m running low on funds. What’s not always part of the package is somewhere you can sit down with a group as well. Lots of the REALLY low-priced places (I’m thinking dumpling places like Prosperity Dumpling) don’t offer any kind of seating. So, my desire for a cheap sit-down place led me to Great NY Noodle Town, a place that was on my must-try list but I can’t for the life of me remember how it got there or why. But hey, it was a cold, rainy day, and noodle soup is a fantastic way to warm up, so I didn’t question it.
Great NY Noodle Town’s interior looks just like any other in Chinatown with no stand-out decorations or features. There is a counter at the front where I’m pretty sure you can order ribs and duck to-go though (the ribs and duck are hanging behind the counter). When you sit down, you get a complimentary pot of tea, which really adds to this being a perfect spot to get a meal on a chilly night. The menus are laminated onto the table surface, and it’s quite a lot of stuff to sift through. My group already knew that we were going for the noodle soups specifically so that narrowed down our choices quite a bit.
We were torn between ordering the roast pork noodle soup and the roast pork wonton noodle soup. To go with traditional noodles or the slightly more expensive wontons? We all ended up ordering the kind with wontons, and our waiter asked us, “The wontons are shrimp…is that okay?” 1) Really nice of him to verify that with us before placing the order. 2) Umm YES that’s okay. That’s even better actually. Did I mention that I’m often on the look-out for ways I can get the most in a dish? Getting to have roast pork + shrimp was a great surprise.
And the surprises didn’t end there! When we got our soups, we quickly realized that it came with wontons AND noodles. Score!! Looks like we didn’t have to agonize over choosing between the two after all. The broth of the soup was crazy flavorful, the shrimp wontons were plump and juicy, and the pork was moist and delicious. We eventually asked for an order of ribs because we couldn’t stop drooling at the ones we saw at the front of the restaurant. They tasted very similar to the pork in our soup (aka GOOD) but were coated in sauce. Definitely didn’t mind at all having double of that pork.
When we got our check (remember, cash only!), we received a plate with oranges, which was a nice touch to the end of the meal. Tasty, cheap, quick service…Great NY Noodle Town hits all my requirements for Chinatown eats.
Roast pork wonton noodle soup, ribs
28 Bowery
New York, NY 10013
