A few weeks ago, I promised to show some love to Uptown and the outer boroughs, and Columbus Day weekend was the perfect opportunity to do that with my friends from Queens, who were home for break. A friend of a friend directed me and my mates, Colin and Jimmy, to Joe’s Shanghai Restaurant in Flushing. I don’t believe that Flushing is a neighborhood frequented by most Stevens students given how it’s fairly deep into Queens, but that’s exactly why I’m taking a break from writing about places in Midtown and Lower Manhattan. I want to show people some things to do or places to go that are outside of super-trendy and high tourist-density areas. Without further ado, let’s dig into Joe’s Shanghai Restaurant.
Like any good Chinese restaurant, they brought us a big pot of tea for our tiny tea cups almost as soon as we sat down. The flavor of the tea seemed fairly generic to me, although I definitely drank a lot of it – more than Jimmy and Colin. I guess I’m the tea drinker among us. What did stand out about the tea is that it stayed warm for our entire visit. Additionally, the kettle never seemed to run out, which was a pleasant surprise since I often find myself constantly ordering more tea or water at Chinese restaurants.
Through pure coincidence, Jimmy and I both ordered the Sesame Chicken. The chicken came in pretty large chunks, which is alright for me since I have a big mouth, but it still caught me off guard since I’m used to smaller bits of chicken from Asia in Hoboken. The chicken seemed a little dry on the inside, but it was still overall a good meal. The sauce is probably what made up for the dryness. It covered the chicken, but didn’t create a pool of sauce. I guess that makes this place good for people looking to have Chinese food without having to feel guilty, because the sauces are usually the most fattening parts of Chinese meals.
The big part of our meal was the soup dumplings. This was my first time having soup dumplings, and I was thoroughly impressed. Soup dumplings come in servings of 8 and should come with special instructions, but Colin gladly gave us instructions instead. You grab the top of the dumpling with the tongs and place the dumpling on your soup spoon. Do not take a bite into the dumpling. Nibble into the side of the dumpling and drink the soup out of the dumpling. Once you’ve drunk the soup, you can eat the beef and dumpling wrapper. We made a little game out of it where the first one to spill soup onto their plate loses. I got second place.
The dumplings were fantastic. The soup was a beef broth, but the flavor was absolutely perfect. My only minor complaint with the broth is that occasionally it was a bit hot, but that comes with the territory. I don’t have much to say about the remaining beef and wrapper aside from that it was a bit odd at first, like most new foods, but it didn’t taste bad or anything once I got used to it. On the whole, I completely recommend the soup dumplings to anyone who goes to Joe’s.
Overall, I’d recommend this place to groups of people who want to break out of the Lower-Manhattan/Midtown shell and experience all this city has to offer. Joe’s is located on 37th Ave between Main St and Union St in Flushing and is open until from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. most days. Get off the 126 bus at Port Authority and take the 7 train to try Flushing, Queens. Don’t actually try to flush Queens though, you’ll need a very big toilet.
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