Four Wongs (And One Yee Li) Make A Night

Posted: February 19th, 2010 | Filed under: Feed, Manhattan

Back in October, BATC friend Mary organized a duck tour of Manhattan’s Chinatown that included some of her favorite low-budget spots for roasted duck and Peking duck. She called it a duck tour — we’re calling it a Duck Walk. We visited five (!) places in about six hours: Big Wing Wong, Hoy Wong, Big Wong, Hsin Wong and Yee Li.

Big Wing Wong Restaurant, 3:40 p.m.:

Roasted Duck, Big Wing Wong Restaurant, 102 Mott Street, Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, October 10, 2009, 3:40 p.m.

Hoy Wong Restaurant, 4:33 p.m.:

Peking Duck, Hoy Wong Restaurant, 81 Mott Street, Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, October 10, 2009, 4:33 p.m.

Big Wong Restaurant, 5:11 p.m.:

Big Wong Restaurant, 67 Mott Street, Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, October 10, 2009, 5:11 p.m.

Hsin Wong Restaurant, 6:10 p.m.:

Hsin Wong Restaurant, 72 Bayard Street, Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, October 10, 2009, 6:10 p.m.

I’ll take this as an argument for eating out more often:

Fortune, Hsin Wong Restaurant, 72 Bayard Street, Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, October 10, 2009, 7:08 p.m.

We needed a break after Hsin Wong, so we took a short walk and visited Mei Dick:

Mei Dick Barber Shop, 37 Mott Street, Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, October 10, 2009, 7:31 p.m.

Yee Li Restaurant, 8:14 p.m.:

Peking Duck, Yee Li Restaurant, 1 Elizabeth Street, Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, October 10, 2009, 8:14 p.m.

Mary asked us to rate the places. Here were my notes:

  • 1. Yee Li — though [this came at the end of the night and] we were stuffed, I think this may have been the best, plus [we liked the] floppy fish [which writhed on the ground near the tanks in front of the restaurant after getting dropped by one of the chefs]
  • 2. Hoy Wong — [A local] favorite, right? I kind of agree . . . though the server may have extra beered us to inflate the check
  • 3. Big Wing Wong — hard to remember, but I recall comparing this halfway through and thinking it was solid
  • 4. Hsin Wong — then again, Hsin Wong (friendly server, right?) was pretty good, too — maybe switch with Big Wing Wong (or is that wong to say?) [Ed note: Ugh!]
  • 5. Big Wong — if memory serves, this was saltier and not as fatty

I later learned from something called “Yelp” that Yee Li is apparently owned by the same people as Hsin Wong, which could account for some of our difficulty differentiating the different ducks.

Bonus points go to Yee Li for their useful “Mr. Wipes”:

Mr. Wipe, Yee Li Restaurant, 1 Elizabeth Street, Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, October 10, 2009, 8:13 p.m.

No clue how you’d pronounce “Lrmgobao” toilet tissue:

Yee Li Restaurant, 1 Elizabeth Street, Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, October 10, 2009, 8:42 p.m.

Also at Yee Li, this fortune that I’m still trying to figure out:

Fortune, Yee Li Restaurant, 1 Elizabeth Street, Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, October 10, 2009, 8:51 p.m.

So many places insist they don’t use MSG — then you see something like this on the street outside:

Monosodium Glutamate Container, Bayard Street and Elizabeth Street, NW Corner, Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, October 10, 2009, 9:02 p.m.

I believe this is known as the universal symbol for “happy ending”:

84 Bayard Street, Chinatown, Lower Manhattan, October 10, 2009, 9:06 p.m.

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