Restaurant Review: New May Wah 359

Details: Located at 133-49 Roosevelt Ave., Flushing, NY 11354. Couldn’t find an official site so here’s their yelp page: https://www.yelp.com/biz/new-may-wah-359-flushing

I’ve been looking for more Taiwanese restaurants in Flushing and found this place. They seem to have a bunch of Taiwanese classics like the stinky tofu and beef noodle soup.

I just ordered the chicken leg over rice with sausage. It came with (surprise surprise) a Taiwanese style sausage, pickled/sour vegetables, regular vegetables, literally about five string beans, gravy over the rice and a marinated boiled egg. It was all right and cost $7.50.

The big question is whether this place is better than my favorite place for Taiwanese style lunch bentos, 66 Lu’s Seafood Restaurant. The answer to that is no. Lu’s is still the best in my opinion. Lu’s chicken leg over rice has better fried chicken as well as a much better meat sauce over the rice. While the sausage was pretty good, the five string beans didn’t really add much.

Score: 6/10

Restaurant Review: Taipei Hong

Details: 136-55 Roosevelt Ave., Unit D, Flushing, NY 11354. The entrance is inbetween a bubble tea place and a Chinese skewer place. You have to go in and just walk straight to the back. It’s at the end. I couldn’t find an official site, so here’s there Yelp page: https://www.yelp.com/biz/taipei-hong-flushing

A while back I wrote that Gu Shine and 66 Lu’s Seafood Restaurant were the only Taiwanese restaurants in Flushing. I was very wrong.

From what I can tell, Taipei Hong used to be in one of the food courts along Main Street. It later moved to its current location on Roosevelt Ave. It’s a small, dirty place with a few tables inside. Don’t expect a romantic ambiance.

They serve a lot of classic Taiwanese things, like the stinky tofu, Taiwanese style popcorn chicken, and Taiwanese style bento lunches. The one thing they serve that most other Taiwanese places don’t have is the Gua Bo, which is just pork belly in a soft bun with various toppings, usually peanuts.

I ordered the pork chop over rice for seven dollars and a pork belly bun for three dollars. Considering the price of the pork belly bun, it was pretty good. Baohaus sells each of these things for more so this was a pretty great deal. The pork chop over rice was also pretty good. They fried the pork chop was fried the same way as their popcorn chicken and tasted like a big popcorn chicken piece, except it was pork. The pork chop was smoking hot when it was given to me and I nearly burned myself. The pork chop came with some fish cakes, meat sauce over the rice, sour/pickled vegetables, some string beans, a slice of egg (literally a slice of cooked egg) and some clear noodles. It was all pretty good.

66 Lu’s Seafood restaurant has the best Taiwanese style pork chop over rice in my opinion. This was good, but not as good. I’m looking forward to coming back and getting the braised pork belly over rice.

Score: 6.7/10

Restaurant Review: Kaya NYC

Details: I went to the holiday stall on the south side of Bryant Park in New York City. The official site is http://www.kayanyc28.com/

Came here for lunch one day. They serve Taiwanese style bao, which is meat wrapped in a soft, Chinese bun and topped with sauce and some vegetables.

I ordered the combo, which was two baos and Taiwanese popcorn chicken. I ordered the chicken bao and the pork belly bao.

To be perfectly honest, the baos were pretty bad. I’ve been to Baohaus and other places with these kinds of baos and these baos were some of the worst. The popcorn chicken was okay.

Score: 3.5/10 I do not recommend this place.

Restaurant Review: 66 Lu’s Seafood Restaurant

Details: Located at 135-25 40th Road, Flushing, NY 11354. Official site is http://66restaurant.com/

A while back I wrote a review for Gu Shine as one of the last authentic Taiwanese restaurants in Flushing. That was prompted by the closing of 66 Lu’s Seafood. Looks like I spoke too soon because that restaurant did not close, it simply moved locations. Accordingly, I guess I’ll write a review for it.

66 Lu’s Seafood is an authentic Taiwanese restaurant which does a lot of things right. You can order their more authentic dishes, which I don’t think would be all that appetizing to a Western palate. However, when I go here, I generally have a few go to dishes. They’re the ones a Western palate will likely enjoy.

First and foremost, the pork chop over rice is easily the number one dish here. It comes with a braised egg, vegetables, pickled vegetables, a fried pork chop, and meat sauce over your rice. My second choice is then the beef, tomato over rice. Then you get the classic Taiwanese snack like the oyster pancake with eggs, oyster with thin noodles, and the deep fried stinky tofu. It’s all really good. Most of these dishes are less than ten dollars, which is nice.

The interior is smaller than their former location. I’m not sure most people even know they moved.

The service isn’t great, but the food makes it worth dealing with.

Score: 6.7/10 Love this place, even though I don’t like their bedside manner.

Restaurant Review: Gu Shine Taiwanese Restaurant

Details: Located at 135-38 39th Ave, New York, 11354. Couldn’t find an official website.

Before talking about Gu Shine, we first need to discuss the restaurant located at 135-25 40th Rd, Flushing, NY 11354. This place is known by many names like 66 Lu’s Seafood Restaurant according to google, 66 Prince Restaurant according to yelp, and just plain 66 according to my friends. It’s been open for at least a decade. Unfortunately, we were walking by the place and saw that it closed. In it’s place a pharmacy will arise, and that is just depressing. 66 was one of the only two main Taiwanese restaurants left in Flushing and with its closing, that leaves only Gu Shine.

There are a number of things to look forward to at Gu Shine. You could get the lunch boxes, which only sell during lunch times. These generally have a main meat component with sides, rice and a soup. The sides vary, but it’s usually some kind of vegetable. Some examples of the meat portion are pork cutlet, chicken cutlet, braised beef, and fish.

If you come at dinner, they have a deal where they serve two main dishes and a soup for twenty five dollars (at least at the time this was written). You can add dishes for eleven dollars a piece. It’s a family style affair. There are a large number of dishes to choose from. Two of my favorites are the shrimp with egg and the diced spicy chicken with peanuts. The soup I usually get is the clam soup. It has heavy ginseng and is great if you’re feeling under the weather.

Lastly, you can just order directly off the menu instead of looking for their specials. I most often see people ordering the beef with spicy pepper. They also sell the chicken cutlet, pork cutlet, and a number of other over-rice dishes around the clock. They also have the classic Taiwanese dishes, like stinky tofu and the oyster omelet.

Score: 8/10 I love this place, and with the closing of 66, this is the only Taiwanese game left in town. If you’re craving some home style Taiwanese food, then this is the place.