The first time I tried Jade Asian Restaurant Jade Asian Restaurant, it was a Monday, and it was just me and my mom. We said we would be back to try them on a weekend, and this time, we had my brother, Lon, Lon’s mom, and Lon’s Grandma with us so we could try more dishes. We tried so many plates that this post makes a good reference for dishes, although we did try to skip most of the deep fried items.
The one dish I must have, every time I have dim sum, is the Shrimp Wrapped in Rice Noodles. The freshly made noodle sheets practically bounce in your mouth, while the shrimp snaps, and the sweetened soy sauce is just the right top off.
My mom’s all-time favorite is Fish Balls. The steamed spheres are light and bouncy, served with a sprinkle of pepper. Unlike the ones I’ve had elsewhere, these had bits of pork in it, which made Lon love them even more. (We had them cut several different items in halves because we had 6 people.)
The skins on the Chive Dumplings were a bit too thick this time, but the filling was still richly aromatic.
I had these Chicken Meatballs with Sticky Rice Coating last time, and I had to have it again. The wonderfully tender meat is flavored with Chinese black mushroom, a nice combination of light flavors.
We also had the beef meatballs, a nice throwback for me, since my mom made these a lot when we were little kids. These are not like Italian meatballs because there is no bread/bread crumbs in it, and it is steamed. The texture ends up being a bit bouncy and less crumbly.
Baby Chinese Broccoli is one of my favorite vegetables but restaurants always use more oil than I do at home. You usually only get one shot at getting greens at dim sum though, so just grab the green dish you see. It’s still pretty good.
Here comes the clam cart, which always catches my brother’s eye. These were great, tender little Clams in Balck Bean Sauce, perfectly cooked.
The Shrimp Stuffed Fried Tofu was nicely fried, leaving a thin crispy outside, with a very tender inside. However, it lacked flavor and the accompanying dipping sauce was extra oily.
The Peppery Beef Ribs served on the bone is a simple meat dish cooked just right.
The Roast Pork Buns were decent but I’ve had a lot better. The dough was not as soft as it could be and the meat was not as meaty, if that makes sense?
The Vegetarian Tofu Skin Wrap is a nice layering of textures, the jelly fish-like cloud ears, the al dente shredded veggies, and the very thin but strong tofu skins, that all soak up sauce well.
Lon’s mom was really enjoying the tofu skins so we got another kind filled with chicken, ham, and black mushrooms. Also good.
Pea Shoot and Shrimp Dumplings, another one I had last time, that I wanted again. The chewy skins, fresh shrimp, and unique pea shoot flavor, just makes a perfect dumpling for me.
The Silken Tofu was as silky as expected. It was only missing the ginger syrup most places serve it with.
The Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaves were
smaller than normal but the advantage of less sticky rice and meat is that it absorbs more lotus leaf flavor/aroma. I’m happy to trade size for quality.
These light and fluffy, egg-flavored, mini cake rolls, are lightly sweet, and freshly steamed. Yum
These Sesame Balls are better described as sesame coated and lotus paste filled, mochi-like balls. I prefer the ones with red bean paste but those are hard to find these days. These are a great item when served hot. The outside will be crispy from the sesame coating, but chewy from the mochi-like dough, and sweet from the soft paste inside. The problem is that these taste horrible when cold, like most fried foods. Ours were warm today, not optimal, but still decent.
With just a few complaints, and most of the food pleasing our table, we would all come back. The place is bustling with people, allowing quick turn-over, ensuring fresh food. The variety is impressive, with a good ratio of classics and favorites to unique creations or variations. Jade Asian Restaurant is also a much nicer looking restaurant that many others in Flushing, so it’s a good place to take guests.
okay, i want pretty much everything in those photos (although think my own fish balls are pretty darn tasty, if totally in authentic). maybe next time i’ve visiting my SIL out in queens…
You had me salivating at the very first pic! I love shrimp (or practically any meat, but shrimp is the best) wrapped in rice noodles, esp when the noodles are made well and give that bouncy texture you describe. And that sweet soy sauce they pour on the noodles…yeah I could eat my shoe with that.
So is it your opinion that the best Chinese food in NYC is in Flushing? What’s your favorite place in Manhattan, and how does it compare to your favorite place in Flushing?
I do think there’s better Chinese Food in Flushing. It would be hard to chose a favorite there because there’s so many good places.
In Manhattan, it would be Congee Village (Allen Street location) for Cantonese or New Yeah Shanghai for Shanghainese.
Will you be going to Flushing, when you come to NY?
Sadly, no I don’t think we can fit in a trip to Flushing this time. We do have 2 meals planned in Manhattan Chinatown — Bo Ky and New Green Bo/Yeah Shanghai. My sister is coming into town from Philly for a day just to get soup dumplings. I only recently realized that the Shanghainese places are right around the corner from each other, so we’re gonna try to do a side-by-side taste test. Next time, Flushing will be a must-go destination. I’d also really like to visit a place that does Sichuan hot pot and a place that does traditional hand-pulled noodles. There’s too many wonderful places in NYC! I’m so jealous of you guys!
Sheng, you’ll have to let us know how the soup dumpling show-down goes…
I’ve been meaning to try a place called Lan Zhou Handmade Noodle (144 East Broadway)so maybe you’ll be able to squeeze that in.
OMG! I miss dim sum! I’ve never been to this place, but you can bet it’s going to be one of my first stops when I get back to NYC! And I’m going to eat just about everything you wrote about! Ooo, can’t wait for the rice noodles with shrimp — it’s my fav too!
What’s in the chive dumplings besides chive?
The Chive dumplings have shrimp too.
I plan on being in manhattan next month possibly (can’t wait!) – so what is THE BEST place for Chinese in that area?
I have had awful Chinese food here – do you suggest New Yeah Shanghai? I am looking for fresh, spicy and noodles too – dim sum would be great if you know of a place in manhattan.
I love this post -looks delicious!
Taste Memory, I’m glad you’re coming to New York. It sounds like you have to do the cooking if you want good food down there.
I do recommend New Yeah Shanghai for things like soup dumplings and other dumplings. I recommend Congee Village for Cantonese style food and for spicy you need Sichuan/Szechuan food. Again, better in Flushing but I like this place in Manhattan enough, Wu Liang Ye. For noodles, I’m going to try a handmade noodles place, that seems promising, on Fri, so stay tuned for that review.
Hey Taste Memory, we are going to a dim sum place, HSF in Manhattan, instead of the noodles tomorrow. I’ve got my fingers crossed for you that it’s good. =)