Sheng Wang

Wandering through Manhattan's Chinatown, I look around and think: I'm sure so many of these places are hidden gems, specializing in that one amazing dish- but I don't want to risk ordering the wrong thing! And there are so many tiny, dubious holes in the wall that, aside from ordering, it's tough to decide which doorway to step through. J had his eye on Sheng Wang, based on the table full of women rolling fish balls(?), hour in and hour out, so we knew they made (at least some of) their goods on premises. And one glance at the menu tells us that they have a specialty: noodles.

Our paper menu was decorated with ballpoint scrawlings, and while these appeared rather offensive, it wasn't in anyone's interest to take them that way, so we just laughed and scanned the list of noodle soups.

Although I was intrigued by the Duck w. Taco Rice and the Pig's Feet with Pell Noodle Soup, we thought we should start with the basics. We had a huge order of delicate steamed dumplings- the kind with thin skin, not the doughballs you sometimes find at the dollar dumpling spots. Then we watched the guy behind the window in the back make us Roast Duck Peel Noodle soup, where he slices slivers of dough from a ball to make slightly curved and somewhat more sturdy noodles than the elasticy pulled noodles. We grew envious as we saw him pull these type of noodles apart with his fingers, then smack them on the counter and repeat- but we were satisfied with our foray into the peel noodles.