Shopping for Chinese Ingredients

Recently I estimated that over the past 8 years, I've taught close somewhere between 400 to 500 cooking classes. (And I don't even want to think about how many dumplings we've made in all those classes!) And whenever I teach, the most common questions I get from students are about where to buy ingredients around the city and the best brands to get. Navigating those grocery store aisles for unfamiliar ingredients, sometimes with dozens of varieties for something like rice vinegar, can be a very daunting task.

So in the past few years I've begun emailing students a resource list with good stores for Chinese ingredients (with links to addresses), some of my preferred brands for the ingredients, and recommended Chinese restaurants around New York. 

While most of the list is New York-specific, I hope that those of you who live outside the city can make use of the recommended brands section to find these ingredients closer to where you live. 

I will be continually updating this, but feel free to make suggestions for your own favorites! 

Stores:

• Manhattan - Hong Kong Supermarket (one stop shopping, big supermarket, big produce section)

• Manhattan - New Kam Man (also a big store, basement full of Chinese cooking equipment and serving dishes)

• Brooklyn - New York Mart

• Brooklyn - Fei Long Supermarket

• Queens - Jmart inside the New World Mall (this place is enormous, probably the best selection in the city)

• Queens - Hong Kong Supermarket of Flushing

Essentials for building a Chinese pantry (with recommended brands):

• Soy sauce (Kikkoman, Yamasa)

• Sesame oil (Kadoya)

• Chinese black vinegar (Gold Plum, Koon Chun)

• Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing with red label)

• Hoisin sauce (Koon Chun)

• Dumpling wrappers (Twin Marquis)

Restaurants:

• Manhattan - Nyonya - Singaporean/Malaysian with many Chinese dishes)

• Manhattan - Xian Famous Foods - Locations in Brooklyn and Queens too.

• Manhattan - Noodle Village - Best Hong Kong-style wonton noodle soup in NY. Great Cantonese food all around.

• Manhattan - Hot Kitchen - Very good Sichuan food in the East Village.

• Manhattan - Buddha Bodai - Good fully vegetarian/kosher Chinese restaurant. Taro "duck" highly recommended, and there's vegetarian dim sum too!

• Manhattan - The Bao - Hip Chinese spot on St. Marks (IMHO this place has the best soup dumplings in Manhattan. Sichuan chili-fried chicken also highly recommended.

• Brooklyn - Pacificana - Best dim sum in NYC. Spacious, too.

• Brooklyn - East Wind Snack Shop - Adorable snack shop on Park Slope/Windsor Terrace border with dumplings, pork buns, and more.

• Brooklyn - Win Son - Really good, kinda hip Taiwanese spot in Williamsburg.

• Brooklyn - Kathy's Dumplings - Adorable dumpling spot in Bay Ridge where the dumplings are wrapped to order.

• Queens - Spy-C (play on "spicy") - One of *the best* Chinese meals I've had in New York. Highly recommend the green chili mashed eggplant (!!!), Hunan-style fish fillets with soft tofu, and cucumber salad. In Forest Hills.

• Queens - The Bund - Fantastic Sichuan and Shanghainese restaurant also in Forest Hills

• Queens - Dumpling Galaxy - THE mecca for northern-style dumplings. The lamb/zucchini and lamb with pickles were my favorites.

• Queens - Fu Run - Their signature dish is an AMAZING cumin-rusted rack of lamb.

• Queens - Uncle Zhou - Get the "Big Plate Chicken". Comes with hand-pulled noodles. Yum!