Restaurant Review: Cocoron

Details: Located at 16 Delancey St, New York, NY 10002. Official site is http://www.cocoronandgoemon.com/

Cocoron is a vegan noodle place. They have vegan and non-vegan items. They mostly focus on soba.

The space is small and cramped. Service was okay. The place was severely crowded when I went.

I ordered a bowl of Kake soba for around ten dollars. It was okay. I’m starting to realize that I either don’t like soba or that I’ve never had good soba before.

Overall, Cocoron reminds me of the stereotypical trendy noodle place that is all trendy-ness, no substance. It’s not terrible, but I don’t recommend anyone come here.

Score: 5.2/10

Restaurant Review: Sheng Ramen

Details: Located at 36-36 Prince St. Ste. 102, Flushing, NY 11354. I couldn’t find an official site so here’s their claimed Yelp page: http://www.yelp.com/biz/勝面-sheng-ramen-flushing

Sheng Ramen stands out in my mind because it has the best bowl of zha jiang mian (or jia jiang mian) that I’ve had in all of New York City. It isn’t the best by a wide margin, but it is the best.

Restaurant Review: Flower Brook Mifen House

Details: Located at 44-35 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11355. I couldn’t find the official site so here’s the Yelp page: https://www.yelp.com/biz/flower-brook-mifen-house-flushing

I came here one day on a whim. There’s a lot of places in Flushing that sell Chinese ramen or noodle soup. Flower Brook Mifen House is another such place.

I ordered the beef noodle soup, which was around eight dollars. The meat was cut into small cubes and the noodles were okay, but didn’t stay firm for long. They let you choose how spicy you want it and it can get pretty spicy. The spice they use is the numbing, Sichuan kind, not just hot.

Overall, it was okay. I think that if you had to choose between the beef noodle soup here and the beef noodle soup from the nearby Red Mountain Noodle House, the Red Mountain Noodle House’s noodles were easily better. Better noodles and broth. If you’re in the area, go to the Red Mountain Noodle House instead. However, if you like overly spicy food, this place isn’t terrible.

Score: 5/10

Restaurant Review: Xi’an Famous Foods (NYC)

Official site: http://xianfoods.com/

This place used to be a hole in the wall, downstairs, inside a mall where absolutely no one paid their taxes. That was before Anthony Bourdain paid it a visit. Xi’an Famous Foods has since exploded and opened a number of successful store fronts inside the city.

I went to the one in downtown Flushing, a block down from the original location. Mostly because it’s slightly nicer with better seating.

The food consist of mainly two things: noodles and the lamb burger. There are also some cold appetizers like cucumbers. Almost everything is spicy. Including the cucumbers.

As an aside, I hate spicy food.

If you can get over the fact that Anthony Bourdain came here, then you’d find that the food is between mediocre to crappy. It’s authentic, but there’s nothing extraordinary about it. In fact, there are many locations which do the same kind of food around Flushing and Chinatown. This place is mostly for people who like spicy food and noodles. The burger was good though, very fatty.

Score: 3/10 As someone who hates spicy food, this place can be scored no higher. I feel like you could get the same quality of food if you added a bottle of Sriracha to cup noodles. Yes, the noodles were chewy. That is not enough to make me want to come back.