100 Allen Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 941-1818
www.congeevillagerestaurants.com
Congee Village is one of those places that we have been going to for a while for fast and yummy Cantonese food. During the dinner rush and weekends, it is crowded and noisy with families and big groups. It is open till fairly late (around 2 am), which is great after a night of carousing about town. The location, on the outskirts of Chinatown, means that it fairly easy to find parking.
The specialty is of course congee, or rice porridge. Congee is typical breakfast fare in China. Unlike the Philippine version (arroz caldo) which employs a lot of garlic, ginger and chicken, congee is not as seasoned and is thicker and starchier.
Small bowl of seafood congee. It is served bubbling in an open clay pot and is very hot-hot-hot! Try not to burn your tongue!
The menu is your typical Cantonese, with a lot of familiar dishes--- seafood (including frog legs), meats, chicken, veggies, rice and noodle dishes. There are also set meals for family-style dining, if you are so inclined to splurge (shark's fin soup, anyone?). We ordered the fried bread with milk dipping sauce and it was all gobbled up before I could take a picture.
Mixed mushrooms in oyster sauce. This was quite yummy, and so full of umami. There were button, enoki and shitake, if I remember correctly.
Young chow fried rice.
I was able to snap a picture of this last piece of scallion pancake before it disappeared. This was a light and delish appetizer.
Fried pork ribs. Yes, they are unapologeticaly fatty. Why else would you get them?
Fried squid. These are battered and fried, so they tend to be rather greasy. The best part is the fried little garlic bits that fall to the bottom.As you can see, we kind went overboard on the fried stuff, no wonder were quite gassy the next day. Next time, we will order more veggie dishes.
No comments:
Post a Comment