FoodMayhem

Most malls that I have been to have terrible food. They focus on bringing interesting stores and the food courts end up with just McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Nathan’s, Pretzel Time, and Panda Express. Flushing Mall Flushing Mall, did it all backwards. Not many people visit the shady, retail stores, but their food court is always a mob scene, and for good reason: the food is good and cheap!

We met up with my cousins at the food court, took charge of two connecting tables, and had one or two stand guard, while the rest of us split up to get food at all our favorite stands. We’re very efficient!

The Taiwanese plates hit the table first. Oyster Pancakes are hard to describe. They have juicy oysters, eggs, leafy greens, and a somewhat sticky and gooey starch that holds it all together. That may not sound appealing, but the combination, topped off with a sweet sauce is uniquely rewarding.

Then there’s the traditional oyster noodles soup. The super thin noodles and extra thickened soup is also quite unique. There’s never many oysters in this dish, but the flavor is rich and comforting. It was devoured so fast, Steve and Lon never even saw it, while they were upstairs picking up dumpling.

The Home-style Pork Rice was an instant eye catcher for Lon. Three types of pork can do no wrong, right? This one had rousong, red cooked pork belly, and pork shreds. The key to this dish is to drench the rice with the pork jus.

Stinky Tofu is one of the few Chinese delicacies, I’m not that fond of. I’ll eat it bit I never search for it. I love the spicy sauce and pickled veggies that come with it, but I’d enjoy it more with just plain fried tofu, without the stink. My cousins complained that this one was actually quite mild.

Cousin Steve and Lon traveled to the other side of the building to get dumplings, which we’ve covered before. The dough was still fantastic but I thought the filling was a bit under-seasoned this time.

Fresh noodles are always great. Don’t forget to watch as they make the Knife Shaved Noodles. It’s literally a big block of dough, and thick slices get shaved off with a blade, right into boiling water. We got one with Dza Jang, which was good, but not really a Dza Jang because it wasn’t made with bean paste.

We also got one stir-fried with shredded pork. No matter which preparation, the highlight is the thick and ultra chewy noodles.

The same vendor also makes hand-pulled noodles. We got the seafood, which was probably our least favorite dish of the night. The noodles were too thin, and seafood was interpreted as a few shrimp and lots of imitation crab meat.

I thought we were close to done, finishing off with custard-filled, egg cakes, made-to-order, soft and warm.

Still, people kept leaving the table and coming back with more! I come from a family of savages!

The giant plate of boneless Fried Chicken scared me. I loved the hot crispy chunks anyway and the preserved radish was a big plus.

After another round of freshly brewed Ice Teas, we still had to have Shaved Ice. I like the starchy toppings like taro (these chunks were too big though), red bean and barley, green beans, and you have to top off with condensed milk.

Painfully full, but still happy. We got to sample from a long list of varied dishes that I’ve really missed, all at Flushing prices! I have got to make it over there more often!