Great walk of China

Restaurateur Eddie Huang gives us the lowdown on Chinatown. (photo by Tamara Beckwith)

Oriental Garden, featuring fried peepar tofu, is a destination for banquets, weddings and other bashes. (Tamara Beckwith)

Super Taste’s Steve Yan hand pulls oodles of noodles at this popular spot on Eldridge Street. (photo By jonathan baskin)

Don’t be chicken about trying chickenfeet dim sum. (photo By jonathan baskin)

Great Bakery’s three-flavor bun is, uh, great. (Tamara Beckwith)

Chinese New Year is next week, and to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit, local restaurateur and outspoken food blogger
Eddie Huang showed us his favorite Chinatown spots. Huang, who can speak Mandarin, also helped translate menus to give us the inside dish on what to order.

A former lawyer and stand-up comedian, Huang, 28, is the force behind BaoHaus (137 Rivington St.), whose specialty is quality Taiwanese gua bao (steamed bun sandwiches).

“Manhattan’s Chinatown is heavily Cantonese,” explains Huang, who will cook up a $65 three-course, family-style New Year feast at Tyler Kord’s No. 7 restaurant in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, on Wednesday and Thursday (718-522-6370).

“They were the first immigrants, and this is the oldest Chinatown.”

Here are his picks for everything from dumplings and dim sum to sweet buns and hot pots.

MEATBALLS AND MAI TAIS

Shanghai Cuisine, 89-91 Bayard St.; 212-732-8988

“Shanghai Cuisine is the most underrated restaurant in Chinatown,” says Huang, as he digs into some pan-fried pork buns.

“It’s a good family restaurant. Locals go here all the time.

“You almost never see kids and Yelpers. They’re not doing anything trendy, just good old Shanghainese food. It’s very 1950s-feeling, [with] old posters and a tiki bar. I’m surprised more hipsters don’t come here.

“I love Shanghainese food — it’s a little sweet, a little savory.The flavors are very balanced. I think it has a lot of range. There’s good stir-fry, seafood, pork and even beef — a lot of provinces in China don’t cook beef.”

Eddie’s Picks: Nippon-style stir-fried eel with yellow chives ($21.95); a stewed pork ball with crabmeat in soup (a more delicate twist on “lion’s head meatballs” served in a clear broth, $14.95); pan-fried pork buns with black vinegar and ginger ($5.25); four seasons bean curd ($5.95).

CAN-TON OF FUN

Oriental Garden, 14 Elizabeth St.; 212-619-0085

“All the chefs know about Oriental Garden. It’s the best Cantonese banquet food — weddings, birthday parties, special occasions; you have to go here. It really has the best range of fresh seafood — a lot of high-ticket items that most other restaurants won’t even carry. Cantonese food is known for its exotic ingredients — and very few restaurants are able to deliver food of this quality. Everything is always fresh — they have live king crab, giant steamed oysters and other items you don’t usually see.”

Eddie’s Picks: Oyster with black bean sauce ($4.95 and up); fried peepar tofu ($18.95); fried bone-and-filet flounder ($38.95); braised sea cucumber with brown sauce ($38.95); braised abalone (at $128, it’s just one example of a “high-ticket” dish); snow pea leaves with crab meat ($28.95); country-style lobster ($38.95).

DIM SUM DELIGHTS


Ping’s Seafood, 22 Mott St.; 212-602-9988

“I like [that] Ping’s constantly has new dishes. They’re always aware of what’s going on back home in Hong Kong. They are one of the only places you go to for dim sum where you’re like, ‘Wow, that new thing popped up.’ A lot of places, they just do the classics over and over. [Here] the desserts are also especially innovative.

“Dim sum is great. It gets rid of the language barrier — you just point [to what you want]. If you want sticky rice, let the waiter know as soon as you sit down. It takes a while to do and it goes fast … shrimp dumplings [too]. I would [also] recommend the chrysanthemum tea — it’s a little bit sweet, light and floral.”

Eddie’s Picks: Steamed rice noodles with baby shrimp or char siu pork; chicken feet; home-style stuffed gluten rice with mung bean; deep-fried taro dumpling; char siu pork turnover (“barbecue pork crisp”); shrimp dumpling; beef shumai; mango pudding ($2 to $4.80 each).

KNOCKOUT NOODLE SOUPS

Super Taste, 26 Eldridge St.; 212-625-1198

“I think Americans eat noodle soup for the noodles — the influence of Italian-American food. For Asian people, the noodles are important, but I think we look more for the broth. [For good] broth, you have to have more expensive ingredients. [So now] you can get away with sub-par broth [if you have] very good noodles.

“Super Taste’s broth is my favorite. The thing that they do special is something called dao xiao mian — knife-cut noodles. It’s a totally different shape and texture. The legend is that people would strap blocks of dough on their head and then shave it off with a knife — it’s a very skilled craft, it’s interesting and it has some lore.”

Eddie’s Picks: Beef in hot and spicy soup with knife-cut noodles ($5).

SWEET AND SAVORY SNACKS

Great Bakery, 303 Grand St.; 212-966-3318

“There are a ton of bakeries in Chinatown — but for the most part everyone has the same baked goods. I like this place because they have a bun with three flavors — roast pork, taro and red bean. It’s pretty unique. A few other places started to copy them, but their bread isn’t as good. I point it out because it’s a good place to come for breakfast, a snack, after brunch, before brunch. I think they’re the best bakery in Chinatown — not for doing cakes — but for your 75-cent buns, your $1.50 hot dogs, things like that. It’s a staple — and it’s the best staple.”

Eddie’s Picks: Roast pork, taro and red bean bun ($1.10); hot-dog filled sandwich bun ($1.20); Macau-style egg tart ($1).

LATE-NIGHT DINER FOOD

Great N.Y. NoodleTown, 28 Bowery; 212-349-0923

“This is more like a Cantonese diner. They’re open really late — I’ll be here at 4 a.m. — and it’s always busy. You come in, you get a lot of barbecued meats — it’s not barbecued in the American sense. These are roasted meats.

“Even funny Chinese-American food like shrimp with lobster sauce is good here. I wouldn’t discourage people from getting what they crave.”

Eddie’s Picks: Three meats on rice (roast duck, pig, chicken; $6.50); roast duck won ton noodle soup ($5.95); seafood pan-fried noodles ($11.95); Chinese sausage with chicken casserole ($11.95); salt-and-pepper fried pork chop with jalapeños ($10.95); beef chow fun ($6.95).

ICY TREATS

Excellent Pork Chop House, 3 Doyers St.; 212-791-7007

“They have the best shaved ice in Chinatown. It’s served Taiwanese style, [with] the ice shredded fine. It’s a good place for an introduction to Taiwanese food, even if it’s not on a high level. To my knowledge, it’s the only Taiwanese diner in Manhattan.”

Eddie’s picks: Shaved ice with taro, green bean, ai-yu jelly, condensed milk and tapioca ($3.50 with three toppings); pork chop rice ($5.25); Taiwanese mei fun ($5.50).

THE HOTTEST HOT POTS

Grand Sichuan International, 125 Canal St.; 212-625-9212

“Hot pot is best to eat with a bunch of people. To have a good hot pot, you need all the different ingredients, and each ingredient costs about seven or eight bucks, so I like to come here with three or four people and get the beef, the lamb, the tripe. Fish balls are also a must. I’ll get the golden-tip mushrooms, the Napa cabbage, and then silken and fried tofu. I’ll get both for textural purposes. I also like the clear noodles, again for texture and to have a starch. I think the big thing with Chinese food is texture — a lot of times you’re eating things for that.

“The other [key ingredients] are the sauces. Shacha — Chinese barbecue sauce — is a must. Also garlic sauce, sesame paste and peanut sauce. I like to mix them all up with a raw egg because when your food is hot, the egg cools it down and coats it a little bit.”

Eddie’s Picks: Spicy broth or chicken broth — or a pot with both — plus ingredients to cook in the broth once it’s bubbling at the table. Cook tripe ($7.95) in the spicy broth. Dip lamb ($7.95) in the pungent tofu sauce ($1.95) once it’s cooked. Dip other cooked foods into a mix of sesame paste, shacha, garlic and peanut sauces combined with a raw egg ($1.95 each).