Gui Lin Mi Fen (桂林米粉) (Recommended)

Gui Lin Mi Fen (桂林米粉)
135-25 40th Rd
Flushing, NY 11354
$
Menu

Gui Lin Mi Fen is one of the new specialty restaurants to join the fray in Flushing. The menu here is simple and focuses on one thing: mi fen (rice noodles). Guilin is a city in the southeast Chinese province of Guangxi. In this region, one of their most popular snacks and everyday food staple is their mi fen (米粉) or rice noodles. It’s quite common to top these noodles with an assortment of ingredients that include soybean, picked vegetables, scallions, and thin slices of meat.

The only thinking you have to do is deciding on what meat you want to pair with your noodles. There are 9 choices to pair with the noodle that includes vegetarian, smoked fish, chicken, braised brisket, and more.

Authentic Guilin Mi Fen 正宗桂林米粉

Being that it’s my first time here, I went with the first item on the menu: “Authentic Guilin Mi Fen 正宗桂林米粉” ($7.25) that had a few brisket slices and some roast pig.

The noodles are dressed with a light sauce with a hint of sichuan peppercorn. Each strand is very smooth and slippery and perfect for slurping. The sauce coupled with the toppings and braised slices of brisket has just enough flavor and if you want to turn it into a noodle soup, just pour in the pork broth.

For spicy food lovers, they have the Sour & Spicy Lao You Fen 酸辣老友粉 ($7.25) topped with spicy bamboo shoots and wood ear mushrooms. A lot of the heat comes from the chili oil, however its more more spicy than sour.

Each noodle is accompanied by a pork bone soup. The soup is actually one of the best parts of the meal and tastes very natural and clean.

One of their main appetizers (and meat option for the noodles) is the Shanghai Chicken 三黃雞. It taste just like a poached chicken (also think Hainan Chicken) with little meat. Portion sizes comes in quarter ($5.95), half ($11.95), and whole ($21.95).

The restaurant is quite new, barely a few months old. However it’s rare to eat something in Flushing that puts quality over quantity. The soup and noodles are top notch and the staff even teaches you how to bring out the best from the meal. Our waiter suggested that we eat the noodles dry first and then add the soup half way. I see big things in this small noodle shop and look forward to try out the other noodle assortments.

Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao (功夫小籠包)

Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao (功夫小籠包)
59-16 Main St
Flushing, NY 11355
$$
Menu

Apparently the new trend in naming Chinese restaurants is slapping the word Kung Fu in the name. Xiao Long Bao, or soup dumplings, or steamed porked buns, or literally: little basket buns (they really need to decide on an universal name) is a staple of Shanghainese cuisine. They are thin-skinned dumplings filled with pork meat and soup. Soup dumplings require a lot of attention to detail. Kung Fu might or might not be used in the kitchen but skill is vital to perfect the consistency of the dough and right portion of soup.

I like the huge variety of northern Chinese and Shanghainese appetizers offered. Their menu is definitely larger than other xiao long bao restaurant’s.

Kung Fu Steamed Pork Buns 功夫小籠包

 The Kung Fu Steamed Pork Buns 功夫小籠包 ($5.95/6) has a flavorful soup but I didn’t like how sticky the dough was. The dumpling hung on to my chopsticks when I raised my pair up. Also there is always a crab option ($6.95/6) but I felt that those were lacking in crab meat and crab flavor. I think it needed some crab tomalley to provide that extra seafood flavor.

Kung Fu Cold Dish Combo

Kung Fu Cold Dish Combo ($16.95/4) – Good for when you want to try multiple appetizers but don’t want to commit to full size dishes. Each portion is smaller than the regular offering. In this meal, we order the following 4:

Wine Pork Knuckles 清醉豬蹄

Chinese rice wine is a perfect marinate for boney meats that you can gnaw on. Each bite releases small bursts of aromatic, sweet, savory wine juices while you strip the tendons and meat off the bones. The Wine Pork Knuckles 清醉豬蹄 ($6.95) is an excellent palette for this sauce and there is a better ratio of meat to bone compared to other meats.

Chicken Feet in Wine Sauce 清醉鳳爪

The Chicken Feet in Wine Sauce 清醉鳳爪 ($6.95) taste the same as the pork knuckles except with more skin, tendons, and bones. Chicken is typically the best pairing with the Chinese wine but in this case, the pork was a better.

Black Fungus w. Pickled Pepper 木耳泡椒

The Black Fungus w. Pickled Pepper 木耳泡椒 ($5.95) is dressed with a mildly spicy, tangy sauce. If you like slippery and crunchy textures, this is for you. I liked it.

Beef Tripe in Hot Pepper Sauce 夫妻肺片

The Beef Tripe in Hot Pepper Sauce 夫妻肺片 ($7.25) is a classic appetizer found on any Shanghai or spicy Chinese food restaurant menu. The slices of beef tripe and tongue soak up the smokey chili oil nicely and should be ordered as a full dish because this will be the first to be eaten up.

Chocolate Steamed Buns 巧克力小籠包

Nutella and banana filling

The special xiao long bao unique to Kung Fu XLB is the Chocolate Steamed Buns 巧克力小籠包 (5.50/4). These dessert XLB’s have more of a hazelnut/nutella flavor than chocolate. Also each is filled with a warm banana slice that compliments the nutella perfectly. However, each bite size “bun” is over $1 which means you are paying for the gimmick.

Kung Fu Xiao Long Bao’s wide variety of appetizers and exceptional service sets them apart from the other soup dumpling restaurants. While their xiao long baos don’t measure up to those of other places, they bring unique ideas like a dessert version to make up for it. This is expected when in Flushing there are so many other xiao long bao places to choose from.