What I ate on my NYC trip (all rec’s from this sub)

The list:
Tao Hong
Royal Grill Halal
Zabar’s Whitefish on Kossar’s Bagel
Woorjip
Me Chicken Rice
Bonus: McWhorter BBQ in Newark

Reviews:

Tao Hong

What I ate: A pineapple and regular pork bun, both under $2 each

Thoughts: These were delicious!! The regular was slightly better imo. The only problem is they seemed slightly underfilled. The last bites where all the filling had been pushed back were absolutely heavenly, I wish they had all been more like that. My go to is Mei Lai Wah, and this was definitely meatier (vs MLW’s fattier) and the bread was a little more bread-y and a little less bun-y. Overall, I liked both, tao hong’s are a little better quality but need more filling.

Royal Grill Halal

What I ate: $10 chicken tikka plate

Thoughts: This was sooooo good. Super filling with all the rice, and absolutely delicious. Absolutely worth $10.

Zabar’s and Kossar’s

What I ate: Grabbed some $13.77 whitefish from Zabar’s then walked to Kossar’s for a $2 everything bagel

Thoughts: Whitefish was excellent, definitely some of the best I’ve had although I like a little bit of a smokier flavor. Kossar’s was a really delicious bagel, very well seasoned and chewy but not hard to bite into. I’d go back to Kossar’s in a heartbeat, but Zabar’s I’m not sure if was worth it for the price and the walk.

Woorjip

What I ate: Sampler platter for $14 with spicy gochujang chicken, honey soy garlic chicken, clear noodle w/vegs, kimchi fried rice, seaweed rap, and shrimp shumai, as well as yubu chobap with bulgogi for $5.50.

Thoughts: One of my favorite things I ate this trip. I love how deep the flavor of Korean food is, and the sampler platter was a perfect way to try lots of different things. The yubu chobap was my favorite thing though, so perfectly sweet and savory with the bulgogi. The spicy gochujang chicken had a slight kick, but I wouldn’t call it spicy (and I tend to have a medium to low spice tolerance). Didn’t love that the food was room temp and had to be microwaved, but it comes with the concept.

Me Chicken Rice

What I ate: No.1 steamed chicken rice for $14

Thoughts: It was good. The chicken was solid, and the rice was excellent. Overall though, I have to admit I was glad to have tried it but won’t make an effort to return. Probably would have been better going to NY Dosas, which I’ll have to try next time I’m in the city lol. Wasn’t as filling as I had hoped, and the flavor just wasn’t quite as strong as I wanted. The broth it came with was fantastic though.

McWhorter BBQ

Not technically in the city, but a nice stop on my way to EWR.

What I ate: $16 chicken and beef combo plate (comes with rice and fries)

Thoughts: This was sooooo good. Fries were solid but nothing special. The chicken and beef however, if you like Mexican style BBQ (asada) were fantastic. The chicken was the best, the seasoning and char was just perfect. The beef was solid, but about as good as any decent Mexican restaurant you’ll find in the U.S. The rice was also fantastic. The quantity was insane, this was definitely made to be shared with someone else. The more I ate, the more rice seemed to appear on the plate (lol).

Thanks for reading!