Details: Located at 235 E 53rd St, New York, NY 10022. Official site is https://www.littletong.com/
Score: 6.8/10
Little Tong Noodle Shop is a contemporary Chinese good place. That means Yunnan inspired Chinese food with a little bit of Western touches added in. It’s fusion. Some people think that’s a bad word, but something new isn’t always bad.
I ordered the Mala Dan Dan Mixian (ground pork, ya cai, green peppercorn oil,
pickled celery, mustard seeds, spicy peanuts, cost $12 before tax). It was pretty good. I was expecting it to be insanely spicy, but you need to keep in mind that this is Chinese food altered for a Chinese pallet. I found the spiciness very light, which meant it was super light for most people since I don’t handle spicy well. The light spicyness was a pleasant surprise for me.
The noodles were extremely soft, which I think is how they are supposed to be. Unfortunately, I prefer my noodles with a bit of chew to them and these did not have that. I should also mention that I while I don’t enjoy hand pulled noodles, I do enjoy al dente noodles that usually have some egg in them. That’s because hand pulled noodles are generally too stiff and lack a complexity of texture egg noodles have.
Overall, this place was all right. The primary downside of this restaurant is the price. You can get a similar bowl of noodles for half the price in Chinatown or some other prominently Chinese area.
