My experience is that virtually all Chinatown restaurants are cheap, though some cheaper than others. Because I haven't seen it mentioned, I nominate Golden Bull, on the north side of Cermak just west of the fire station. Crowded but good and cheap. There are also all the other standard recommendations--e.g., Hong Min, Evergreen, Phoenix (in the Archer Avenue development), even Emperor's Choice though I think it's overrated. Penang is good, too, though it's Malaysian rather than strictly Chinese and is among the less cheap. Bill Kelley, Chicago Anil T. wrote: > I would appreciate nominations for "good and cheap" restaurants > in Chinatown. I am especially curious about the new annex along > Archer, but you need not limit recommendations to it. > > Thanks. > > -----
Chicago, IL
Good and cheap in Chinatown
User-Agent: MacSOUP/2.4 Xref: pale-rider.INS.CWRU.Edu chi.eats:4243 Anil T. wrote: > I would appreciate nominations for "good and cheap" restaurants > in Chinatown. I am especially curious about the new annex along > Archer, but you need not limit recommendations to it. Hong Min, right on the south side of Cermak, near a travel agency. Accept no substitutes - this is the place you are looking for.
Anil T. wrote: > I would appreciate nominations for "good and cheap" restaurants > in Chinatown. One place that I only became familiar with recently is Triple Crown at 211 W 22nd Place. Fairly standard Cantonese menu with some emphasis on seafood. Most main dishes below $10, though some seafood considerably more. Reasonably pleasant dining room. Tried quite a few things (can't really remember the details because my Chinese friends did all the ordering) and the quality was generally very good. I remember being especially impressed with a shrimp dish and an eggplant dish (sorry, I know that's not overly helpful). I thought a few things suffered from over-thickened sauces, though. The portions were absolutely huge--the biggest I've seen in a Chicago Chinese restaurant. So if you go with a group and order carefully you could eat very well here, very cheaply. For value, it has to be near the top of the list. Year after year, I've always liked Hong Min. Not much in the decor department but I've had some pretty good food there. Open late, too. Then there's Penang, the fairly new Malaysian restaurant that's been discussed here (very favorably). Very good place. I'd say both of these are good values.
Anil T. wrote: : I would appreciate nominations for "good and cheap" restaurants : in Chinatown. I am especially curious about the new annex along : Archer, but you need not limit recommendations to it. In addition to the ones others have recommended, I'd suggest the Coco Cafe which is at the west end of the Chinatown Square mall. Very good food, ample portions, very cheap (most dishes under $5).
On Tue, 9 Mar 1999 22:18:56 GMT, [email removed] (Anil Trivedi) wrote: >I would appreciate nominations for "good and cheap" restaurants >in Chinatown. I am especially curious about the new annex along >Archer, but you need not limit recommendations to it. Hong Min, everyone loves Hong Min. I like Hong Min, I love Little Three Happiness. LTH is not to be confused with the large Three Happiness on the north west corner of Cermak and Wentworth. Different owners, same name. LTH has dim sum, order off a menu as opposed to rolling carts, but I especially like to go there at night. Blue crab, stir fried with ginger and scallions, crispy rice noodles with mixed seafood, crispy skinned chicken, casserole dishes with sour vegetables, clams in black bean sauce, tiny snails in the shell, I could go on. The decor is non existent, but the food is consistently good. The Phoenix is wonderful for dim sum, the best in the city, For a nice Chinese dinner in the evening with people that are more ambiance sensitive than I may be, that is our choice in Chinatown. Penang, for Malaysian food, is wonderful and the service and ambiance are also nice. There has been much discussion about Penang in chi.eats. You may wish to do a dejanews search. As far as Chinatown square goes, a few places that I like; Seven Treasures is good for soups and lunch. Wing Chan BBQ, good for BBQ. Only take out. Saint Anna Bakery, not bad for baked buns. I once had the worst combination of foods there. They had a corned beef bun and it sounded so unusual that I had to try it. It was canned processed corned beef in a baked bun (sweet dough) and it was horrible. They also have that modern Chinese bun, the hot dog in a baked bun. Over all not bad though. You can do much better other places though. Shanghai Restaurant, some interesting dishes. The rice cake dishes are good. Coco Cafe, a dish that I really like there is watercress stir fried with preserved bean curd. Great Wall, probably the best BBQ in Chinatown square, grumpy service. BBQ King, decent BBQ. A very interesting grocery, one that most likely deserves it's own post is Mayflower Foods. Mayflower has an unbelievable selection of dried fish. I have no idea what most of them are, but it is interesting as hell to browse there. They also have a large selection of ginseng, both domestic and imported. The grocery items, including some fresh meat, are ok, but the sheer number of herbs and dried fish are the reason to go there. It is a small store, but I could spend hours just looking around there. In my option the best grocery for Asian ingredients is Viet Hoa on Argyle Street. It is a Vietnamese grocery, but has all types of Asian foods. Enjoy, Gary Mayflower Foods 2140 S Archer 312-326-7450 Phoenix 2131 S Archer 312-328-0848 "Little" Three Happiness 209 W Cermak 312-842-1964 Viet Hoa 1051 W Argyle St Chicago, IL 60640 773-334-1028