The sign reads, "Fried Dumplings," but Taipei Hong
harbors some of Flushing's tastiest Taiwanese .
“Whenever I come here, I always feel a sense of frustration," Anthony Bourdain once said to me over a plate of cold skin noodles at the Golden Shopping Mall food court. "There’s not enough time to explore all the food in this building, much less Queens.” That lament is as true today as it was when the big dude said it two years ago. Which is why I'm glad I have a crack team of Twitter followers and other friends who are as obsessed with Queens and its diverse foodways as I am. Not only do they turn me on to new places, they sometimes point out spots I might otherwise have overlooked. Today, a look at two such joints, both of which lie within Flushing food courts I frequent on a regular basis.
Taiwanese salt and pepper fried chicken with all the fixins.
Credit for the first find goes to old school Chowhounder, Peter Cuce, who tweeted a snapshot of the Taiwanese salt and pepper fried chicken at Stall No. 3 in Flushing's newest food court, Savor Fusion. An obsession with the glorious Sichuan grub to be had from Zhu Da Ji's stall and the fact that No. 3 is labeled "Fried Dumplings" conspired to keep me in the dark about it. Had the the Chinese name, Taipei Hong, been listed I might have eaten here sooner. In any case the yen su ji, crisp salt and pepper fried chicken is exquisite.
It's listed twice on the menu once as an appetizer for $4 and once with rice for $5.95. I went for the latter, expecting the only accompaniment to be a bowl of rice. I was rewarded with a styrofoam school lunch tray laden with sides and a cup of soup. Pickled vegetables with Chinese sausage, stir fried cabbage, a tea egg along with a couple of blocks of tofu, and rice topped with ground pork make for a powerhouse of flavor and value. School lunch was never quite like this.
A chopstick's-eye view of Taipei Hong's yen su ji.
The fried chicken here is crisp, salty, and habit-forming. Along with all the sides it's a ton of food. To wash it all down I scored a can of HeySong Sarsaparilla soda for a buck. When asked what "hong" meant in Chinese the friendly lady at the counter said it was Taiwanese slang for cool. Thanks again to Peter for such a cool find.
Spicy Wok is one of the newest, most popular outfits in New World Mall.
Credit for the second food court find goes to fellow Flushing aficionado Eric, the man behind the wonderful blog Mahlzeit! Of late he's been obsessed with Stall No. 24, Tian Fu Ma La Xiang Guo, a Sichuan stir-fry specialist. The other day I ran into him at White Bear and we decided to go share some ma la xiang guo.
Choose from several types of meat and vegetables.
The concept here is simple, a spicy stir-fry salad bar of sorts. Point to various ingredients you want in your stir fry and wait for the gang in back to fry them up. Of the proteins,which include lobster and crab, Eric chose spam as well as the chicken wings and pork blood cakes. For veggies we went with cloud ear fungus, bok choy, potatoes, and tofu skin.
Very spicy here is just about as hot as the fire in that wok.
You'd be hard-pressed to find it, but this stall's English name is Spicy Wok. As with all good Sichuan restaurants they take requests for very spicy very seriously. Order thus and your stainless steel bowl of stir fry will be laced with chili oil, dried hot peppers, and plenty of Sichuan peppercorn.
The finished product.
The gal behind the counter handed over our stainless steel bowl of ma la xiang guo still steaming from the fire and fragrant with chili and ginger. Ma la means spicy and tingly and xiang is fragrant. In addition to a copious amount of dried chilies, chili oil, and Sichuan peppercorns the entire lot was shot through with sesame seeds,cilantro, ginger, and garlic.It was indeed spicy and tingly and quite fragrant. My palate was soon humming with the peculiar electric sensation of Sichuan peppercorns and chili heat.
You'll be glad for the white rice when you order extra spicy.
The stir fry was a capsaicin-laced cavalcade of textures and flavors. Chewy tofu skin, pink blobs of spam crisped around the edges, toothsome chicken wings and crunchy bok choy to name just a few. The tab for this feast tallied to $16. A few days later I went back solo and requested an extra spicy fry-up of rice cake, tripe, tofu skin, chicken wings, bok choy, cloud ears, and spam. I tried to to get across that I was only one person, but still wound up with a enough food for two. My advice is to bring a friend when dining here. And if you order extra spicy, be sure you mean it.
Fried Dumpling (Taipei Hong), No. 4, Savor Fusion, 42-09 Main St., Flushing
Spicy Wok, No. 24 (Tian Fu Ma La Xiang Guo), New World Mall Food Court, 40-21 Main St., Flushing
More World's Fare
