NYC, NY: Budget Eating… Asian Style

I did a BONEHEADED thing and accidentally poured myself a soda jacuzzi in my purse. I spent most of the week trying to dry out all my electronics, which included my camera. Doh. Unfortunately, that means I have no pictures of my recent trip to NYC.

OH, how I wish I had pictures to relive all the great meals I had in NYC!!! I really tried to save money while I was there, even on food! But really, it doesn’t mean that I ate badly. There’s SO MUCH good food (and cheap!) in NYC!

A lot of my meals this time were Chinese or Japanese since I haven’t been able to get quality Asian food in DC. BUT fortunately for me that meant that a lot of my meals were very cheap!

Budget Places to Eat Asian food in Great Areas to Explore!

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1. Chinatown: I randomly walked into Fu Kee for duck wonton noodle soup. OH MY GOD. It is SO GOOD. It reminded me of my favorite Cantonese bbq place in LA, Sam Woo BBQ. Don’t be a fool. If you see duck hanging on hooks in the window, they’re not decorations… it’s tasty! So go in and order it. It’ll only cost you $5. Afterwards, pick up a knock off purse and rest your feet with Boba at Green Tea Cafe ($3).

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2. East Village: To tell you the truth, I didn’t see much of East Village. But I can tell you that one of the trendiest ramen places in Manhattan is there. Ippudo is amazingly unassume from the outside. But once you walk in, the trendy geometric shapes are EVERYWHERE! The place is always packed during eating times, but it’s worth the wait. (avg bowl of ramen: $12)

Another night, we headed to Yakitori Taisho for… well… yakitori! But it was so packed, we walked 2 feet over and went to its twin, Oh Taisho! With a huge array of meat on a stick, okinomiyaki (potato cassarole?), grill goodness, and beer, it was a really great time. For a lot of food and 5 people, our bill only came out to be $64 = $12.80 pp.

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3. Koreantown/Murry Hill: Every time I look at the Empire State Building, I know that I’m close to Korean food! This time, my friend took me to E 32nd & 5th Ave, then had me walk through a sketchy entrance w/o a sign, up a creepy staircase and into fried chicken heaven… BonChon Chicken is Korean fried chicken.