Sunday, January 13, 2008

Do I have chicken-foot breath?


Back in Chinatown with an old high school friend Sunday for a dim sum brunch, including ...


  • 2 orders of chicken feet

  • Flat noodles with soy sauce

  • Egg noodles with mushrooms

  • Tripe

  • Small fried fish (not anchovies, but something related?)

  • Dumplings

  • Fried pork

  • Another pork dish (white)

  • Chinese spinach or broccoli

  • Fried tofu in pineapple sauce with tomatoes

  • Tofu soup

  • Scallop and shrimp balls

  • Rice balls

  • Vegetable spring rolls

  • Two types of tea
... and there could easily have been others I'm forgetting.

This easily fed 7 people for $13 per person, including tax and tip.

We arrived around 12:30 and probably waited about 20 minutes to be seated. The room was massive and filled with families -- apparently it's also a popular wedding venue. This made it perfect for large groups but definitely not a place to sit and read the Times over coffee.

Oh, and if the list above isn't familiar and you're one of those folks nursing a Gatorade on the train Sunday morning/afternoon ... well, you may want to stick to a fried egg sandwich.

OK, so I admit, I'd normally pick french toast over tripe, but even I can nibble on chicken toes (mind the bones). We were also hoping to get turnip pancakes, but seated in the middle of the crowded banquet hall we didn't have much luck -- the carts were always out of them -- though service-wise it helped to have Cantonese and Mandarin speakers in our group (sorry I can't remember any of the proper food names!).

Golden Bridge Restaurant
50 Bowery St. (@ Canal, across from the Manhattan Bridge entrance)
Subway: B, D to Canal; J, M, Z to Bowery or Canal; N, Q, R, W, 6 to Canal

As of this posting, it has (out of five) 3 1/2 stars on yelp and 4 1/2 on citysearch.

Afterwards, we stopped for bubble tea (bubbles = gummy tapioca balls the size of blueberries, very sweet). The staff was nice and served all seven of us, plus a line of others in no time. The shop is tiny, no seating, but it looks like they serve snacks (fries, popcorn shrimp), too.

Vivi Bubble Tea
49 Bayard St.
Subway essentially same as above.

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