Overview of Chinatown
On Sunday, February 10, the year of the snake . Which translates into almost two weeks of parties for the huge Chinese community of New York: fireworks, dragon parades, music, food fairs, activities for children... If you are overwhelmed by crowds and excessive noise it may not be the best It's the time of year to visit any of the city's Chinatowns, but **if you can stand it, don't miss the madness of these days in the streets of Manhattan's Chinatown, Queens (Flushing) or Brooklyn (Sunset Park) **.
Be that as it may, this is a guide to what you can do (and eat) in New York's Chinatowns at any time of the year. Beyond the spring roll and the imitation of "Lolex".
Maybe this time is not the best to stop by here, but...
**1) CHINATOWN (MANHATTAN) **
They say that only this southeastern neighborhood of Manhattan should be called Chinatown it is becoming more and more difficult to find their limits: they practically ate the Italians and their Little Italy , they did the same to the south with the Jews and, for now, they maintain their forms with the new (not very new) moderns of the Lower East Side (“They will fall”, some will think) . In 2011 it was confirmed that Chinatown has become the third largest Chinese community in New York , their neighbors have been fleeing for 10 years to Queens or Brooklyn in search of larger spaces and cheaper prices. But even so, this is still the center with the most tourist pull, totally justified, not only for the good known but for the best to know: Legend has it that every week a new noodle bar or herbalist opens on every corner.
Things to do (and eat) in Chinatown
- Go shopping: At first, seeing the live toads and crustaceans in those wooden buckets or the lacquered ducks hanging from their necks is impressive, but if you don't think about it too much and follow the advice of a great New Yorker like Larry David, you will end up convinced that It is the best place to buy fresh food at reasonable prices in Manhattan. . If you trust him and Woody Allen, go to New Sam Kee Jan (Catherine Street), as they did in If the thing works.
Crustaceans in cubes? Why not?
- Have an ice cream and some trifles: the ice cream at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, of course. Here the strange thing is to ask for chocolate or vanilla, try the green tea, lychee, mango or red bean, their greatest hits . And the Chinese sweets (sweet and sour, spicy, sticky…) at Aji Ichiban, the Mott Street branch of the Hong Kong chain.
- Play slot machines: at Chinatown Fair, less cool than the Barcade, but much more addictive. The mythical Mott Street arcades, reopened in 2012, are no longer the seedy place where the star machine was the Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken (play three in a row against a chicken!), but its lights and sounds continue to captivate .
- To eat: there are a thousand places to recommend in Chinatown and many, depending on how we recommend them, have probably become a new one. So we are left with a classic-modern: the Congee Village , a gigantic restaurant full of nooks and crannies, small rooms (you will never sit in it), some with karaoke, others with goldfish, others with dragons … The menu is huge but the main thing is to ask for the house special chicken.
- Buy some chopsticks: at Yunhong Chopsticks (Mott Street), the first store to open in New York dedicated solely to selling this instrument and its accessories. As you can imagine, their drawings, colors, themes or materials are endless.
- Exercise the body and mind: or rather see how retired Chinese exercise it in Columbus Park, the only open space in Chinatown (formerly part of Little Italy). Some play the mahjong, others to xiangqui (or Chinese chess) and some practice kung fu or taichi . A very relaxing show.
Watch old men play mahjong
- See a Chinese funeral… with an Italian band: Although it may not seem like it, it has its charm. It is not easy to agree with one and they are not all the same, but it is increasingly common for the family of the deceased to hire an Italian band of musicians (their neighbors in the neighborhood) to play something outside the funeral home. A nice and peculiar act of neighborhood unity.
**2)FLUSHING (QUEENS) **
If Chinatown is history, Flushing is modernity. If you see nothing but elderly Chinese in Chinatown, in Flushing you will see nothing but young . Of the three Chinatowns in New York, it is the one in which the aesthetics of today's China are best recognized, for its glass buildings (such as the Flushing Library) and, above all, for its galleries and shopping malls, the main reason why the one that is worth taking the subway line 7 from Times Square, for example, and get off at the last stop, Flushing – Main St. Along the way, learn these words: jiao zi and mian tiao. They are the generic of dumplings and noodles . Yes, although little by little this neighborhood is opening up to the curious and the tourist, most of its letters are still only in Chinese. Oh, and few places accept credit cards!
Things to do (and eat) in Flushing:
- Eat dumplings: the best in town and at ridiculous prices. A must-see is Zhu Ji Dumpling Stall (Main St), one of the oldest places in the area (it was born in 1974) and it still sells 10 pieces for less than 4 dollars. More or less the same price, but better looking (or almost) is Nan Xiang Dumpling House , in the Golden Mall, where you will see nothing in the kitchen but women folding and frying Chinese dumplings. According to the owner, women do it better. Hey!
- Get lost in the malls (shopping centers) and, above all, in their food courts (food courts): On the one hand, there are the classic ones with a rather sticky appearance, such as the Flushing Mall, where you should try the Shave Ice **(an iced cone with phosphor colors) **, or the Golden Mall, where in addition to the Nan Xiang Dumpling House, You have to try the Chengu Heaven noodles. Two stores in Flushing Mall are also worth a visit: Toy Qube, a marvel of vinyl toys and collectibles, and True Love Wedding, a photo studio and wedding planner in the purest Chinese style… you know.
Both malls have been somewhat overshadowed by the huge and gleaming New World Mall, a gigantic and tacky place with a hypermarket (Chinese, of course), a restaurant for big events but where you can also eat for less than $15, the Grand Restaurant; clothing stores, accessories, toys, freaks and, attention, a karaoke! Full of neon, tiger sofas, private rooms to sing in privacy … a paradise of macarrismo! And, of course, the new Flushing shopping center also has a food court, a little more expensive than the others, but just as recommendable.
This is Flushing, the most modern Chinatown
- Discover the wonderful world of Chinese pastries: In Manhattan's Chinatown you can also, but as with dumplings and noodles, not at these prices. Don't leave the New World Mall without trying the **crêpes with ice cream from Mojoilla Fresh or the egg tarts from New Flushing Bakery**. And if you like cupcakes: forget about Magnolia Bakery, go for the Earl Gray one at Sun Mary Bakery, a famous pastry shop for its animal-shaped cakes.
- Have a bubble tea and pass the Starbucks: It is the famous bubble tea, made (according to recipes) with tea, milk, cassava balls and well shaken until bubbles appear. It can also be found in Manhattan, but since it is a drink invented in Taiwan and it is in Flushing where is the largest Taiwanese population in the city It seems the most suitable place. Try Ten Ren Tea (Roosevelt Avenue) or one of the many Fay Da Bakery franchises.
A translated sign in Manhattan's Chinatown
3) SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN'S CHINATOWN
Paul Aster's latest novel, Sunset Park, took place in this neighborhood in southwestern Brooklyn where there is also a significant Latino community. But of the three Chinatowns is the least known and visited , although Fujians (inhabitants of the province of Fujian, where most immigrants to the United States now come from) and Cantonese from Manhattan have moved to it: for its cheaper prices and the direct subway line to the City. And for all that, **it has become the largest community in New York (followed by Flushing)**. In principle, the Chinatown was restricted, along Eighth Avenue, to the space between 42nd and 68th, but in recent years its unstoppable growth has extended it south, to Avenue U or Bersonhurst.
Things to do (and eat) in Sunset Park
- Chill out: Due to its direct line with Manhattan's Chinatown, its wide open spaces, parks, it functions a bit like a suburb of it: the outskirts where the Chinese population of New York lives more peacefully. This is transmitted in more relaxed atmosphere than Manhattan , but also more humble than the one in Flushing. The best thing about this neighborhood is the Sunset Park , a beautiful park from whose highest point you have a stunning and unique view of Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty . If grandparents flock to Columbus in Manhattan, here they spread out at ease to practice tai chi, kung fu and in the summer in the public pool. Built in 1936 in the art deco style, it has been recently renovated and is one of the best valued and least crowded in New York.
- Keep eating: Before or after your siesta at the top of the hill in Sunset Park you can walk down Eighth Avenue and its side streets, lined with restaurants and shops, once again with few signs in English. Among the great offer of places there are two special places: one for brave, Yun Nan Flavor Snack (49th Street), a great-looking joint, but probably the only one in New York with food from China's Yunnan province; and another for the neatest, East Harbor Seafood Place (65th Street) , a huge and elegant restaurant (in Chinese terms) where you eat a delicious dim sum.
- Buy a fish: No one really knows why, but this Chinatown in Brooklyn is home to the largest number of fish shops of any Chinatown in New York. Maybe it's because the houses are bigger, they have more space to put those huge fish tanks that they like so much, maybe it's that more relaxed atmosphere... The fact is that between 7th and 8th avenue there are a lot of aquariums with small Nemos and huge tanks , like Reef Aquarium, King Fish, 7 Avenue…
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Chinatown: always yes