Happy Lunar New Year!

After a long day filled with hosting and coordinating New Year activities for our families and communities, my Chinese and Vietnamese friends and I were finally able to sit down, eat and enjoy the first day of a prosperous year ahead of us!

We went to one of our favorite spots in Chinatown in NYC, Old Shanghai Deluxe. We ordered several dishes that we loved from the restaurant and must have for this holiday.

A Lunar New Year dinner must always have dumplings, and we were craving for the restaurant’s Soup Dumplings.

Exactly what Soup Dumplings should look and taste like! Meticulously shaped with juicy deliciousness of ground pork, veggies and soup broth inside. The burst of this juicy deliciousness was such a joy every time I took a bite.

Off the menu, our Chinese friends ordered a classic dish that they grew up eating during this time of year. This is an amazing Hot and Sour soup with chicken and assorted vegetables.

Warm, delicious and comforting over rice. The rich broth had a lovely, bright red color and had a great spicy kick in the taste. The chicken was perfectly cooked and the veggies had a crisp bite to them. The seaweed brought a nice saltiness to the overall stew. It never crossed my mind to add seaweed to any dish for saltiness. Wow!

What’s a meal without Pork Belly?!! Of course! Our Chinese friends also ordered this off the menu. They got us a Spicy Pork Belly dish with assorted vegetables.

Round of applause for this dish! As simple as it looks, it has a Wow-ful of flavor. With just one bite, I could really taste the yummy fattiness of the pork and heat from the Szechuan peppers. This dish is very delicious and comforting over rice as well. I had force myself to slow down so I would not be selfish and scarf down the entire plate!

For authentic, classic Chinese dishes, Old Shanghai Deluxe is definitely the place, especially for Chinese locals. It’s so local that it doesn’t have website! But you can check out their menus at http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/old-shanghai-deluxe/menu for more details on their huge variety of food. Happy Lunar New Year, and Happy Eating!

All images and content © 2016 Carol Vu.