We were on our way to Lao Beijing (my favorite restaurant in Chinatown) when we paused in front of Hing Kee, mesmerized by the site of a man making noodles. We drew our eyes away just long enough to see the sign on the window that pointed out that a bowl of those noodles was only $5.95. 'Nuf said. We went in.
We ordered two bowls of the ramen, one with pork belly and one with szechwan chicken. They arrived almost instantaneously, and they were fantastic. The noodles were fresh and soft and delicious - you really haven't lived life until you've had freshly made ramen. It's just an incredible thing, like nothing you've ever had. The broth was admittedly basic pho broth (they offer a lot of pho options), and not even the best I've had, but flavorful. Both the chicken and pork belly were both out-of-this-world fantastic. Either soup, on its own, would make for a great lunch for one person. And both are reason enough to come to this restaurant.
But there were four of us, so we ate more. Everything else sort of arrived whenever, but we didn't really mind. The scallion pancake was chewy and delicious (though it didn't come with any sauce, which was a bummer. It didn't need it, but nonetheless, I do love that sauce), the peapod tips with garlic were phenomenal, and the salt and pepper beef was way, way better than I've had anywhere else - moist, chewy chunks of beef that were beautifully accented with salt and pepper and a hint of soy. I was not a big fan of the chinese broccoli in oyster sauce, but that's because I don't especially care for chinese broccoli - everyone else loved it. The only blemish on an otherwise outstanding record were the pork dumpling, which were basically potstickers, and not especially good ones at that - the dough was too thick, and the filling wasn't that flavorful. The sauce didn't do much to help. Other than that though, it was a fantastic meal, and clocked in at less than $15 per person, which raised it to the level of "oh hell yes we're coming back here".
The menu features a bunch of pho as well as sushi. For my money though, it's all about that ramen. Definitely check it out.
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