vip in the city

Oh Yeah

Another destination on the seemingly endless tour of Chinatown lunch spots: New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe on Bayard. The restaurant is most often compared to the two other hu cai eateries on the same street: New Green Bo and Shanghai Cuisine, local favorite of chef Ming Tsai.

NYSD is the youngest (and seemingly least popular) of the restaurant trio; decor-wise, it sits a notch above the other two, in that there exists at least some attempt at ambience: exposed brick walls, scads of fake greenery, curious cave-like wall and ceiling treatments… taken as a whole a little odd, perhaps, but as Chinese restaurants go, I’ve seen worse.

The restaurant feels more spacious than most Chinatown restaurants, too, in large part due to the depth-enhancing mirrors strategically placed along the back wall, which briefly fooled the eye of my dining companion this afternoon. We crossed over a short, fountain-lined footbridge into the back room, which was lined with framed, vintage-looking Shanghai ladies advertising posters.

I forewent the highly recommended (but possibly too heavy for midday) honey roasted pork — I wonder if it’s anything like “candy pork“? — in favor of the bargain lunch specials, served over rice and accompanied by a bowl of hot and sour soup — most $4.25 – $4.95.

And of course, we could not pass up a bamboo steamer full of those pinched pouches of molten deliciousness: the Shanghai soup dumplings. New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe serves up respectable rendition, certainly, but I would have to give the edge here to New Green Bo.

*chik… chika-chiKAH*