![]() “This is not the end for us, here at Chinatown, as we are actively looking for a new location to move into as soon as possible,” the restaurant said in their Instagram post. As mentioned, they will maintain what’s come to be known as a “ghost kitchen” to service outdoor dining and takeout. Their Upper West Side location will not be affected. Until March 7th, Jing Fong’s dining room will be open Monday – Sunday from 10am to 7:45pm at 25-percent capacity and then 35-percent capacity as of this Friday. The restaurant is known for its lively atmosphere and dim sum carts, both of which have been unable to persist during the pandemic. Chinatown Menu Jing Fong Upon entering and ascending the grand escalators, you’ll find a bustling atmosphere embodying all the essential elements of 'yum cha' - a traditional dim sum. A superb meal We started with Peking duck dumplings and chicken and corn soup, then moved on to BBQ ribs and sweet and sour pork. The new owners moved the restaurant to its current 20,000-square-foot location at 20 Elizabeth Street in 1993. With mounting operating and maintenance expenses, the owners negotiated an ingenious deal with their master plumber, Shui Ling Lam: in exchange for forgiving Jing Fong’s debits, he would become the restaurant’s majority shareholder. In a still-developing Chinatown, amidst the wider economic uncertainty of New York City in the 70s, the original founders soon fell upon difficult times. After the closure of its original Elizabeth Street location in early 2021 (which brought heartache to many New Yorkers), Jing Fong made a triumphant. Jing Fong first opened as a 150-seat dim sum restaurant at 24 Elizabeth Street in 1978. In a statement to Eater NY, third-generation owner and manager Truman Lam said, “With our drastic decline in sales and mounting losses sustained over the course of a year, we needed to make the tough call to close our indoor dining space and redirect our resources in hopes to continue our operations.” He told Eater that sales are down 85 percent year-over-year, amounting to a loss of $5 to 6 million. ![]() Indoor dining shuttered from March to September and then again from December to February. Jing Fong restaurant has been the heart of dim sum culture in the Lower Manhattan community for almost three decades. ![]() Their second location on the Upper West Side saw sales dip 20 percent.Īnd things have continued on a difficult trajectory for the restaurant. The heart of Chinatown may stop beating but its spirit will continue to live on. There was just enough pork mixed in with the chives to add salty and savory flavor and silky texture to the filling.A post shared by Jing Fong Restaurant early March, even before New York’s official shut down order, restaurants in Manhattan’s Chinatown, as well as those Chinatowns in Flushing and Sunset Park, were being disproportionately affected due to racist sentiments and the Trump administration’s use of the term “China virus.” On March 2nd, Jing Fong’s marketing director Claudia Leo told the Post that March events were down 75 percent compared to last year and business was down 50 percent. These were deep fried and excellently crispy and largely packed with chives, which have a mild onion flavor. The last dumplings I tried were the Fried Pork and Chive dumplings which were excellent. But at the Jing Fong the rice flour wrappers had a slight stretch and chew with a great mouth feel and held the filling together. Jing Fong does rice flour wrappers really well, at a lot of places these wrappers are gummy and chewy and yet somehow don’t hold the dumpling filling together. ![]() A satellite spot on the Upper West Side, which opened in 2017, is not affected by the changes, Leo said. The flaked crab sitting on top of the filling didn’t add much flavor, but overall the flavor and texture of these dumplings said fresh and healthy. Jing Fong opened in 1978, but moved to its current location in 1992. Jing Fong which also operates a second location on the Upper West Side continued to offer outdoor dining, takeout, and delivery from the Chinatown restaurant after the dining room shut. The same excellent shrimp that are in the How Gar went really well with the spinach in these dumplings. Next I tried the Crab, Shrimp and Spinach Dumplings which are open pockets made with rice flour dough wrappers stuffed with spinach and shrimp and topped with flakes of crab meat.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |