AA Plaza

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 40-66 Main St, Flushing, NY 11369 Price: $ Nearest Transit: Flushing – Main St (7, 7X) Foursquare

AA Plaza is the place to go for dirt cheap Chinese street food. It’s not the healthiest or the cleanest of foods around, but they do offer a good value. For $1.50 or less you can get a stick of fish balls, scallion pancake, dumpling soup (4), an order of fried turnip cake (lo baak gou), chicken wings/drumsticks, rice noodles, or fried noodles. A great option for a quick eat that won’t leave a dent in your wallet.

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Dumpling House aka Vanessa’s Dumplings

Rating: ★★★★☆ 118 Eldridge St (btwn Broome & Grand St), New York, NY 10002 (212) 625-8008 Price: $ Hours: Mon-Sun 11 am – 11 pm Nearest Transit: Grand St (B, D) Bowery (J) Delancey St (F) Facebook // Google+ // Foursquare

The Dumpling House has one of the best deals in the city, for less than eight bucks you can feed yourself and a friend. They serve both fried and boiled dumplings that range from $1-4 depending on the type, quantity and if you add soup or not. Their Beijing style buns are exceptionally good and range from $1-1.50 depending on the stuffing. They are fried and have a crispy bottom layer. Their sesame Pancake is also a crowd favorite. These are sandwiches topped with sesame seeds that have various stuffing (egg, roasted beef, pork, peaking duck) and they range from as little as $0.75-2.25. The Dumpling House also offers tasty soups, noodles, cold dishes, as well as a host of beverages.

My usual is an order of chive & pork fried dumplings (4 for $1) + pork fried buns (3 for $1) + sesame pancake with roasted pork ($2). For $4 bucks this is an amazing deal that is sure to leave you stuffed. What’s better is the Dumpling House recently under went renovation, so it’s a lot cleaner now and they have 6-7 tables of proper seating in addition to your window counter-top. Be warned, this place does get busy, especially on the weekends, and you may have to wait a while if you want a seat.

Hong Kong Station

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 45 Bayard Street, New York, NY 10013 Website (212) 233-0288 Price: $ Hours: Sun-Thur 7 am – 10:30 pm Fri-Sat 7 am – 11:30 pm Nearest Transit: Canal St (J, N, Q, Z) Grand St (B, D) Canal St (4, 6, 6X) Facebook // Google+ // Foursquare

Hong Kong Station is not a MTR stop, but rather a noodle house that serves fast and cheap noodles. They have a total of three locations (45 Division St, 128 Hester S, & 45 Bayard Street), I like the one on Bayard Street the most because it appears to be the cleanest + they play awesome HK pop music. You begin the ordering process by choosing a type of noodle ($1.75-2), they have six kinds to choose from. You then, can add as much ingredients as you want at $1.25 each. They have curry fish balls, fish cakes, veggies, chicken wings, lunch meat (spam), beef tribes, chicken liver, ham, and many more to choose from. Everything is laid out so you can point to them. The soup, sauce and scallion are added last to your noodles with your discretion. I often go with the thin rice noodles (ho fan) + curry fish balls and veggies + soup  and sauce.

Since the inception of HK Station, they have raised their prices steadily, but even at its current prices they are still very cheap. In addition to noodles they have also added some popular rice dishes and soups. Their drinks are Ok, but not great. Overall, HK Station is a great place for a quick and cheap meal.

45 Bayard Street venue

Minced beef w/ egg over rice

3 items w/ noodles

Beef intestine and tripe over rice

128 Hester street venue

128 Hester street venue seating

Fried Dumpling

Rating: ★★★★☆ 106 Mosco St (btwn Mott & Mulberry St), New York, NY 10013 (212) 693-1060 Price: $ Nearest Transit: Chambers St (J, Z) Canal St (J, N, Q, Z) Brooklyn Bridge – City Hall (4, 5, 6, 6X) Foursquare

This is strictly a traditional Chinese dumpling house. They serve fresh pork fried dumplings and buns. You wont find customer service here, the lady that serves you is rude and ill mannered, but the dumplings she makes are pretty good. You can get a set of five dumplings or four buns for a dollar. Seating in the store is limited to a small counter that seats four, at most five. If  you really like their dumplings and don’t mind putting in the elbow grease to fly those puppies up yourself, you can also grab a bag of their frozen dumplings (30 pcs for $5) as well.

Sweet N Tart

This venue is closed.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 136-11 38th Ave, Flushing, NY 11354 Website (718) 661-3380 Price: $$ Nearest Transit: Main Street (7)

Come here for dessert, not for a full meal.

They are clearly try to mimic a Hong Kong style cafe / restaurant, succeeding in the decor and completely failing with the food. The entreés and dim sum are very disappointing. I had the windmill foie gras dumplings as my starter and the sticky rice bucket as my entreé. Both came out over cooked and did not taste anything like modern Chinese food. Their dessert however, were on par. They have a large selection of Hong Kong Style desserts to choose from, I recommend the hot ginger milk pudding.

This place is also cash only, no credit cards accepted

Bright Pearl Restaurant

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 346 Spadina Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 2G2, Canada Website (416) 979-1103 Price: $$ Hours: Mon-Fri 10 am – 10 pm Sat-Sun 9:30 am – 11 pm Facebook // Foursquare

This by the far the best dim sum restaurant in Toronto, but don’t go outside of Happy Hour, it’s just not worth it.

Happy Hour:
Mon – Fri 9 a.m.- 11:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.- 4 p.m.
Sat, Sun, Holidays 9 a.m.- 11 a.m.

The dim sum here is on par with ones that I have had in Hong Kong, but the selection is very basic / traditional. They don’t offer the creative dim sum like they do in Hong Kong and New York City (i.e. shark fin dumpling), but at the price point of $1.88CAD a pop for authentic dim sum this the place to go for weekend brunches.  Just beware outside of happy hour be prepared to spend anywhere from $4-$7CAD a dish.

Sky Dragon Chinese Restaurant

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ 280 Ave Spadina, Toronto, ON M5T 3A5, Canada (416) 408-4999 Price: $$ Hours: Mon-Sun 9 am – 10:30 pm Facebook // Foursquare

A big thumbs down for this place!

This place is completely awful. The dim sum is pushed around in carts that don’t keep them hot and you know how bad dim sum is when it’s served cold. In addition, the dim sum is not prepared and cooked properly. I got a beef dish that was not suppose to have a hint of shrimp taste but did, which lead me to believe they are steam multiple dishes on the same plate. Not good!

Corner 28

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 40-28 Main Street, Flushing, NY 11355 (718) 886-6628 Price: $$ Hours: Mon 10 am – 12 am Tue 7 am – 10 pm Wed 2 pm – 12 am Thu – Sat 9 am – 1 am Sun 6 am – 11 pm Nearest Transit: Main Street (7) Facebook // Foursquare

Corner 28 is a full service Chinese restaurant / cafe / market. They have a proper seating and take out section. They offer a wide selection of chicken (baked whole: plain, slated, dipped in soy sauce, BBQ wings), pork (roasted or BBQ grilled), ducked, curry squid, and much more.

I bought a dozen BBQ wings, half a baked chicken, and 1.5lbs of roasted pork. The food average at best and is nothing extraordinary. In terms of value, I felt that it wasn’t too bad. $4 for a dozen wings, $12 for 1.5 lbs of roasted pork, and $6 bucks for half a slated chicken. That’s 22 bucks for dinner that feeds four.