Day 9: Little Namking

Where does the week go? It's been crazy at work, and I just plain old forgot to post about this week's restaurant! Bad blogger! No treats for you!

This week I went with my wife and her parents to Little Namking at 695 E. 14th St. I never know what to get, so I was especially happy to have my father-in-law along who is the master at family style ordering.

I had been dreading this part a bit, because we have two Chinese food places, one right after the other. We've had delivery from the next one, Yummy Yummy, and is was "Ok, Ok."  Maybe it's just because it was delivered. We'll try it at the restaurant and see if it's "Better Better." I'll keep you posted.

Any-who...the four of us sat down at a table for four by the window in this small restaurant, about 21 seats altogether, ready for some delicious Chinese food that we could already smell. We were immediately shooed out from that table by the waitress, and made us sit at a larger table.

This lady, I can tell already, loves bossing people around. She was very sweet about it, and we certainly needed the space for all the food we ordered.

We started out with the appetizer of the crispy crab cheese puffs. It's your basic crab rangoon with the amazingly bright colored red sauce. Anyone know what that sauce is supposed to be? This kind didn't taste like the regular goop I've had before, it was nice and tangy.

I didn't taste a lot of crab there, but the cream cheese was all melty and the wrappers were really crispy. Yum. $3.25 for four pieces.

Have to get soup too, right? The wor won ton soup has chicken, shrimp, slices of beef, and zucchini. One big old bowl was enough for the four of us, and it was warm and filling ($6.25).

Our entrees began coming out one by one, as they have a very small kitchen, and the waitress insisted on passing the plate to someone, instead of setting it on the table, which was funny. She really wanted us to work for her, so she could boss us around some more. The kitchen is right there next to the table, so you can watch your food being made, and listen to the waitress yell at her cooks.

First to the table was the Szechuan prawns ($7.95), that we asked for not too spicy. I was lucky to snap this photo because this got eaten up almost before the next dish arrived. The broccoli was steamed perfectly, not soggy like crappy takeout places sometimes are, and the shrimp were cooked perfectly with the crunchy batter.

The spicy crispy chicken with honey sesame sauce was the weirdest thing we got. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but that sauce! Man was it thick! I'm mad at myself for not taking a picture of this, but I could stick my spoon vertially in the air, with just a bit of the sauce.

Even though it was sweet, it was also nice and salty and spicy, and not a drop was left. The chicken was deep fried, and crispy to the point where you have to be careful not to cut up the roof of your mouth ($6.95). 

We tried the beef with green beans in brown sauce as well ($7.25). The meat was cooked just right and the sauce wasn't too spicy (well, we asked for it to be not spicy). We think that since we asked for it not spicy, they obviously left out those little red chilies, but I think they added in red bell peppers for the same visual effect. Nice touch!  

As if the previous dishes weren't enough, we got one more. This was the last dish we got and it was by far my favorite! The eggplant and basil was super good ($5.95)! Long thick cuts of eggplant, with a delicious sauce, and a hint of basil. Definitely get this when you come. Unless you are an eggplant hater for some reason. Then you won't like it.  

One other nice thing about this place is that they serve tea in beer mugs. Very cute.  

The only thing that should change is the noise level. Their fan for the kitchen is hella loud, although I've heard that the spices can be overpowering, so maybe that's a trade off. I think I'd take a bit of noise over not being able to breathe because of the airborne chilies.

This place blew away all my expectations of crummy/average Chinese takeout-type food. This place is legit. This may be hearsay, but we heard that all the city cops that work next door go here instead of the other place, to be reviewed next time, and you should too.

Six items for four people, with tip and tax a bit more than $50 is a great deal. The most expensive thing on their menu is $9.95 for a filet of fish.

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Distance traveled:

Little Namking:  1.2 miles roundtrip

Total travelled so far: 12.9 miles

Originally posted at: broadmoortobayfair.tumblr.com