Noodles at Sheng Wang
Usually when you settle down for a bowl of noodles at a hand-pulled noodle place in Chinatown, it feels a little cramped. Sheng Wang used to be like that before their renovation. But now their dining area is larger and more spacious. By hand-pulled noodleshop standards, the place is almost palatial. While the space is large, the interior seemed to lack heat during my most recent visit. It's a minor detail really, since the noodles and soup are piping hot. I like Sheng Wang for two things. One, if you want to buy frozen dumplings, they're a pretty good deal. One bag is fifty dumplings and it's $8. The second thing Sheng Wang does well is their Fu Zhou fish balls. Of course that's what I got with my hand-pulled noodles.
The pork chop hand-pulled noodles is $4.50 and is a good option for those who want familiar looking meats in their soup. Last time when I was at Kuai An, the animal parts in the soup were completely mysterious and the noodles had clumps in there. Sometimes you just wanna know what the hell the protein is supposed to be and have looser noodles.
And like previously stated, the fish balls at Sheng Wang are delicious. They're made right on the premises and I witnessed them making it right in the dining room. And I have to say that Sheng Wang is only a couple of minutes away from Kuai An... and you're better off going to Sheng Wang.
Lastly I want to point your attention to a blog post on the Freakonomics blog. There's a picture there that details U.S. consumption of meat over time. Basically you get to see which meat the country consumes the most and which ones have gained or lost market share.
Sheng Wang
27 Eldridge St.
New York, NY 10002
212-925-0805
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I actually feel like their hand pulled noodles (and beef broth) aren't all that special. That's probably just me though. Their Fuzhou fish balls though, are pretty much on par or better than most of the ones I've tried even in Taiwan. For sure they'd rank amongst the best I've had.
Nicholas
December 10, 2010 10:15 pm
Those fishballs are the business. I haven't really enjoyed any of the broths I've tried at Sheng Wang, but I've never been disappointed with their noodles. I don't think they're too consistent from visit to visit, but when shit is on, it is ON.
James
December 11, 2010 9:15 pm
After reading this entry on Friday night (while studying on an empty stomach, omg...), I totally set out to eat these hand-pulled noodles by the end of this weekend. I ended up eating there for breakfast on Saturday. Hah!
No, but really. Glad you posted about this place. Next are those pork-stuffed fish balls!
Kimberly
December 12, 2010 4:28 am
@Nicholas,
Most of the hand-pulled noodle places in NYC are about the same I think. I like the noodles like this mostly because I like this type of noodles vs the catonese types that's more al dente. Then beyond that we're getting into like egg noodles, mee fan, chow fan, etc. But for normal-ish Chinese noodle soups, I like most of the hand-pulled noodles. There's a new, more expensive one that just opened. It's like $15 per bowl instead of $5. I'm sure the soup is better there... haha
@James,
Yea good broth is a hard ticket to come by. I'm not too distracted by it though. I suppose if I order one of those pork bone or oxtail noodle soups, the broth will be better. But I haven't tried that yet either.
@Kimberly,
Hope you get a chance to try the Fuzhou fishballs! Like James said in his comment, they are the business!
Danny
December 14, 2010 9:34 am
Do they sell the Fuzhou fishballs frozen in bulk like the dumplings?
Hungry
December 15, 2010 12:20 pm