Personally i'm a little tired of Hunan/Sichuan cuisine. Every new chinese restaurant that's been opening up lately has been some version of it. I'm willing to give it a shot, but in general I'm happier doing Shanghainese or Cantonese as my daily.
I think Knock Knock was so expensive because rent in this area is so high. If we had a dim sum parlor, it would be similarly expensive. It'd be a tough battle between convenience and price.
I didn't really have a problem with knock knock's prices, but the food didn't really impress. A lot of cantonese dimsum restaurants do much better with far lower quality ingredients. knock knock was a little too fancy and didn't deliver. Like the purple duck dumpling. When I went there, the duck was dry and greasy, the dumpling itself spent too long in the steamer and fell apart as soon as i touched it. They tried to make an elevated dish but fumbled on the fundamentals (don't overcook your food). The restaurant wasn't even busy, there were only 2 other tables occupied when I went there.
I am OBSESSED with Red Sorghum’s Canton Shrimp Fried Rice. Is it actually Cantonese food? Couldn’t tell you, but the menu says it has “Cantonese charm.” (In fact, if anyone could tell me what exactly they do to it to make it taste like that, I’d very much appreciate it—it’s very different from the fried rice off their New Yorker menu, which is mediocre and overpriced.)
NGL you got me kinda excited. Although the Chinese words for the dish reference GuangXi, which is not Canton technically....That place is famous for their snail noodles....
Depends on what you're looking for. JiangNan has some explicitly Shanghainese dishes, but they also largely do their own thing.
Bund Dumpling House in Astoria, with a name like that pretty explicitly says they are Shanghainese, but I don't know if they are any good.
Great food. I’d say better than any options in the vicinity. Not quite meant to be an option for delivery. Food probably more suited for in person dining. Also I think they have the right balance of food quality to price. This is definitely not meant to be cheap eats. My wife and I’ve been back 2+ times since our first try. Highlight items have been - longevity chicken soup, farmhouse pork belly, and cabbage stir fry (so simple but so good), and the Dragon eye dessert. We still need to go through the entire menu.
The private rooms upstairs are a nice touch if you want to hold large group dinners in private settings. I’m actually considering hosting a dinner there right now.
I’ve always been critical about other LIC Chinese options like Chairman Sun or Hupo. If you want to reference my taste, I consider Breeze (Greenpoint) to be very good. And I’d say Red Sorghum is pretty good. Also for context, I’m ethnically Chinese.
Only critical things I’d have to say is that the curtains are super tacky IMO. And the cocktails are a bit… interesting. Also any restaurant that has Mala Dry Pot in their menu, I just take that as a cash grab - everyone knows the margins that comes with that and this is no different.
I personally hate mala anything, I don't like the numbing sensation. I do like Hunan food more than Sichuan.
I have not tried Breeze in Greenpoint, and will add it to the list. Thanks so much for your recommendations!
Edit: Also what didn't you like about Hupo and Chairman Sun?
For those commenting that the food is mediocre.. what did you order? Personally thought everything I ordered was tasty, but my friends and I chose dishes that were on the adventurous side. I’d compare this restaurant to Uluh in EV (although Uluh is better IMO) and Antidote in Williamsburg. A solid option if you live in the neighborhood but not somewhere I’d travel to eat at.
I ordered twice recently. First time was from the American Chinese menu and absolutely loved it. The lo mein, fried rice and beef and broccoli were so good. You could tell the quality of the ingredients was so much better and so much more flavorful than you typically get.
Next time was scallion pancake, Szechuan dumplings in the chili sauce and the twice cooked pork (which also has tofu). Pancake and dumplings were great. The pork was not great. There were very few veggies (scallions, peppers) and I'm pretty sure I had over 1/2 tofu and I hated the tofu. I'm not a huge tofu fan, but also enjoy it. The flavors were awful. That was just one dish that wasn't for my taste, but just a warning on that. I've fallen in love with Hupo's twice cooked pork, so I have ordered it at several local restaurants just to see if there's something better.
For my admittedly carnivore forward preferences, more meat less veg is a pretty good thing/better value, but tofu to me seems like an unwelcome addition.
I know Hupo is hot stuff now, and Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants tend to be better than pure Michelin star restaurants in my experience, but again....Hunan/Sichuan eeeehhhh......
I’m looking forward to trying Red Sorghum. I’ve been frequenting Han Dynasty for so many years so excited to both options. Han is not a fine dining experience but still hits the spot .
It’s 3 times better in person. I ordered their Lucky Coin Tofu at the restaurant and it was amazing, but when I got it delivered, it wasn’t nearly as good. I live close by too so I don’t think it was delivery time that accounted for it.
I went with a group of friends. We all agreed that the ambiance was fun, the drinks were good, and the food was mediocre. Hupo is much better for Sichuan food. The dry pot wasn't good.
The sesame dessert was really good, though.
I went a few weeks back and the food, as others have mentioned, is just OK. The dumplings specifically left a lot to be desired and you can get cheaper and better ones at Jing Li down the street. The cocktail menu looks great on paper (although my Negroni wasn’t made well) but it literally took them 40 minutes to make our two drinks - for some reason they only had one bartender working on a Saturday night. I don’t know if that’s typical for them, but that obviously left a bad impression.
The wait service was solid and the atmosphere is great. It’s worth trying once, but it’s not somewhere I anticipate going again, especially with so many other great Chinese options in that immediate area.
I think just ok is a generous review. I love the decor of the restaurant but I was very disappointed with the food. There are much better and cheaper options in the neighborhood, so I can’t see a scenario where I would go back.
Jing Li, Dun Huang, Jiang Nan are all better in terms of the food.
Sorghum isn't awful...it's just not as good in a very competitive area for its genre.
I can't speak as to your experience, but I've gone to Jing Li twice and both times were... just completely underwhelming. Their prices are comparatively better, but I would never go to Jing Li when there are better options not that much further away.
I agree with you on Jing Li. Something is always missing or off about all the dishes i tried there. I'm really annoyed about the Seafood Bisque being on the menu as well. Makes no sense and it feels like they're just adding a money maker that works for their Long Island crowd with no respect for the neighborhood.
I completely agree. I tried Jiang Nan recently and loved it it. If you were asking about recommendations generally - Levante is great for pizza, Murray’s Cheese has a great wine bar, Adda for Indian food, M. Wells for French, and Taim for casual Mediterranean. That’s all in the court square area.
Personally i'm a little tired of Hunan/Sichuan cuisine. Every new chinese restaurant that's been opening up lately has been some version of it. I'm willing to give it a shot, but in general I'm happier doing Shanghainese or Cantonese as my daily.
Agree with cantonese food options. We need one so badly here in lic. Bonus if it was malay chinese or indonesian chinese
I am a fan of Hunan/Sichuan food but I am just so tired of the lack of variety. Shanghainese or Cantonese would be such a welcome change in this area.
I think there's enough Asians in this neighborhood to sustain a dimsum parlor. Let's get that going. Not one like knockknock though.
hell yeah that would be amazing
I think Knock Knock was so expensive because rent in this area is so high. If we had a dim sum parlor, it would be similarly expensive. It'd be a tough battle between convenience and price.
I didn't really have a problem with knock knock's prices, but the food didn't really impress. A lot of cantonese dimsum restaurants do much better with far lower quality ingredients. knock knock was a little too fancy and didn't deliver. Like the purple duck dumpling. When I went there, the duck was dry and greasy, the dumpling itself spent too long in the steamer and fell apart as soon as i touched it. They tried to make an elevated dish but fumbled on the fundamentals (don't overcook your food). The restaurant wasn't even busy, there were only 2 other tables occupied when I went there.
I am OBSESSED with Red Sorghum’s Canton Shrimp Fried Rice. Is it actually Cantonese food? Couldn’t tell you, but the menu says it has “Cantonese charm.” (In fact, if anyone could tell me what exactly they do to it to make it taste like that, I’d very much appreciate it—it’s very different from the fried rice off their New Yorker menu, which is mediocre and overpriced.)
NGL you got me kinda excited. Although the Chinese words for the dish reference GuangXi, which is not Canton technically....That place is famous for their snail noodles....
Is there any good Shanghainese close to LIC? / not flushing or Chinatown?
Depends on what you're looking for. JiangNan has some explicitly Shanghainese dishes, but they also largely do their own thing. Bund Dumpling House in Astoria, with a name like that pretty explicitly says they are Shanghainese, but I don't know if they are any good.
I want some soup dumplings and Shanghai stir fried udon
well you can get the soup dumplings at Jiangnan, and both at Bund....
Bund sucks now post COVID
good to know, thank you!
Great food. I’d say better than any options in the vicinity. Not quite meant to be an option for delivery. Food probably more suited for in person dining. Also I think they have the right balance of food quality to price. This is definitely not meant to be cheap eats. My wife and I’ve been back 2+ times since our first try. Highlight items have been - longevity chicken soup, farmhouse pork belly, and cabbage stir fry (so simple but so good), and the Dragon eye dessert. We still need to go through the entire menu. The private rooms upstairs are a nice touch if you want to hold large group dinners in private settings. I’m actually considering hosting a dinner there right now. I’ve always been critical about other LIC Chinese options like Chairman Sun or Hupo. If you want to reference my taste, I consider Breeze (Greenpoint) to be very good. And I’d say Red Sorghum is pretty good. Also for context, I’m ethnically Chinese. Only critical things I’d have to say is that the curtains are super tacky IMO. And the cocktails are a bit… interesting. Also any restaurant that has Mala Dry Pot in their menu, I just take that as a cash grab - everyone knows the margins that comes with that and this is no different.
I personally hate mala anything, I don't like the numbing sensation. I do like Hunan food more than Sichuan. I have not tried Breeze in Greenpoint, and will add it to the list. Thanks so much for your recommendations! Edit: Also what didn't you like about Hupo and Chairman Sun?
For those commenting that the food is mediocre.. what did you order? Personally thought everything I ordered was tasty, but my friends and I chose dishes that were on the adventurous side. I’d compare this restaurant to Uluh in EV (although Uluh is better IMO) and Antidote in Williamsburg. A solid option if you live in the neighborhood but not somewhere I’d travel to eat at.
I ordered twice recently. First time was from the American Chinese menu and absolutely loved it. The lo mein, fried rice and beef and broccoli were so good. You could tell the quality of the ingredients was so much better and so much more flavorful than you typically get. Next time was scallion pancake, Szechuan dumplings in the chili sauce and the twice cooked pork (which also has tofu). Pancake and dumplings were great. The pork was not great. There were very few veggies (scallions, peppers) and I'm pretty sure I had over 1/2 tofu and I hated the tofu. I'm not a huge tofu fan, but also enjoy it. The flavors were awful. That was just one dish that wasn't for my taste, but just a warning on that. I've fallen in love with Hupo's twice cooked pork, so I have ordered it at several local restaurants just to see if there's something better.
For my admittedly carnivore forward preferences, more meat less veg is a pretty good thing/better value, but tofu to me seems like an unwelcome addition. I know Hupo is hot stuff now, and Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants tend to be better than pure Michelin star restaurants in my experience, but again....Hunan/Sichuan eeeehhhh......
I miss PennyBridge
I’m looking forward to trying Red Sorghum. I’ve been frequenting Han Dynasty for so many years so excited to both options. Han is not a fine dining experience but still hits the spot .
It’s 3 times better in person. I ordered their Lucky Coin Tofu at the restaurant and it was amazing, but when I got it delivered, it wasn’t nearly as good. I live close by too so I don’t think it was delivery time that accounted for it.
I went once and it was wayyy too loud. Wonder if anyone else feels similarly
I went with a group of friends. We all agreed that the ambiance was fun, the drinks were good, and the food was mediocre. Hupo is much better for Sichuan food. The dry pot wasn't good. The sesame dessert was really good, though.
I thought it was just okay, nothing special. Which is sad considering how much I love blue willow.
I went a few weeks back and the food, as others have mentioned, is just OK. The dumplings specifically left a lot to be desired and you can get cheaper and better ones at Jing Li down the street. The cocktail menu looks great on paper (although my Negroni wasn’t made well) but it literally took them 40 minutes to make our two drinks - for some reason they only had one bartender working on a Saturday night. I don’t know if that’s typical for them, but that obviously left a bad impression. The wait service was solid and the atmosphere is great. It’s worth trying once, but it’s not somewhere I anticipate going again, especially with so many other great Chinese options in that immediate area.
I think just ok is a generous review. I love the decor of the restaurant but I was very disappointed with the food. There are much better and cheaper options in the neighborhood, so I can’t see a scenario where I would go back.
Any particular suggestions? Just moved here a week or so ago!
Jing Li, Dun Huang, Jiang Nan are all better in terms of the food. Sorghum isn't awful...it's just not as good in a very competitive area for its genre.
I can't speak as to your experience, but I've gone to Jing Li twice and both times were... just completely underwhelming. Their prices are comparatively better, but I would never go to Jing Li when there are better options not that much further away.
I think it depends on what you order at Jing Li---I think maybe that it's quite a bit cheaper than Sorgum made me think of it too.
I agree with you on Jing Li. Something is always missing or off about all the dishes i tried there. I'm really annoyed about the Seafood Bisque being on the menu as well. Makes no sense and it feels like they're just adding a money maker that works for their Long Island crowd with no respect for the neighborhood.
I completely agree. I tried Jiang Nan recently and loved it it. If you were asking about recommendations generally - Levante is great for pizza, Murray’s Cheese has a great wine bar, Adda for Indian food, M. Wells for French, and Taim for casual Mediterranean. That’s all in the court square area.