Last night I headed out to Chinatown's spicy village at 68B Forsyth between Hester and Grand street with Ian, Jasmine, Michala, David, and Bernard for some delicious and inexpensive knife cut noodles. Ian had been bragging about the spicy chicken at this hole-in-the-wall for a couple of months and I have to hand it to him, he's found something special here. As usual, we decided to eat family style and we ordered up dumplings, vegetables, "spicy big tray chicken" and lamb hui mei for the table. Hui Mei are the thick knife cut noodles that are just perfect for sopping up the Mala (Sichuan peppercorn) soaked sauce that accompanies many of the dishes.
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| Bring us our noodles now! |
We started out with some cucumbers brined in garlic and I recommend you do the same. These are fantastic not to mention fun to munch on while you wait for your entrees.
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| Cucumbers n' garlic, with a note of chili too |
We also ordered up two pancakes, one with pork and one with beef. Consider it a chinese hamburger, only better. These are what Xi'an noodles, of Flushing and St. Marks Street, are famous for, only I like them better here. The two restaurants have quite a bit in common, the use of lamb, knife cut noodles, and the buns below to name just a few. One difference is that you can sit down at Spicy Village while Xi'An is standing room only. I also prefer the noodles at Spicy Village, they seem a little less "hard".
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| Pancakes with roast pork or beef- hearty and delicious |
And of course I can't resist dumplings. These are homemade and steamed and redolent of five-spice. I really enjoyed them. They also serve soup dumplings, but I was suspicious of those, this is Hunan cuisine and the offering seems more of a kowtow to popular tastes.
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| Tasty pork dumplings packed with five spice. |
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After whetting our appetites with these tasty morsels, we moves on to more serious fare. The Spicy big tray chicken lives up to its name; it can feed a small army. It's packed with small pieces of dark meat chicken on the bone and potatoes and is served swimming in a spicy brown broth chock full of numbing Sichuan peppercorns. We ordered ours with some knife cut noodles on the side, which we soaked in the sauce and consumed lustily. For those unfamiliar with Sichuan peppercorns, beware, they lend many of the dishes here their flavor. In a sauce, they are fairly innocuous, but if you bite into one of these peppercorns they have a numbing effect on the tongue that many people, including myself, find unpleasant. I will usually clean off the one or two pieces that may stick to a morsel of chicken or a strand of noodle before I imbibe.
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| The Spicy Big Tray Chicken you wish you were eating |
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| Lamb Hui Mei |
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| Keeping things healthy with some Bok Choy |
Everything was really incredibly tasty here, but the chicken is the true standout. I just found out they deliver, so I'm basically going to try everything on the menu, because spicy village is SO cheap. Six of us ate for $60 including tip. The possibility to have a meal like this, with truly exceptional and unique dishes that you can order to you r heart's content and still only spend $10 is what keeps me in NY. We even had a tasty desert, which isn't on the menu but is worth ordering, of sesame balls served in hot water. These gelatinous rice ball have a sweet and slightly crunchy center and are a great way to finish off a memorable meal at Spicy Village.
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| Sesame balls for desert |
You can also feel good about eating at Spicy Village, the people that work there are genuinely nice and pleasant to be around. Ian tells me their children are often hanging around and that they seem to be nice kids surrounded by loving parents and, of course, very delicious food. Writing this post is making me really hungry so I'm going to call Spicy Village right now, and hey, if you are lucky enough to live in downtown Manhattan, you should too!
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