King’s Kitchen

This place looks way too clean for a Chinatown restaurant that has duck, chicken and pig meat hanging from their windows. That said, I thought the food was going to be overpriced and crappy but all the meals were the same price as some of the other restaurants that would probably fail an inspection test.
I got the chicken over rice here and it was good. I like the meat over rice dishes here because it comes with vegatables and not just rice. Not quite as good as some other places but that’s because they don’t pour the oil-​heavy sauce everywhere. The rice in claypot dishes were also good, with ample meat. It does take a while to come out though so just be prepared. We had pretty much finished all our food by the time a person at our table got their dish. 4 stars for managing to be both clean and cheap in chinatown :)

Based on the reviews I was excited to come here but once I left I felt otherwise. This place is nice on the inside, not too big but not super small either. They only take cash btw, which sucks but a lot of places in Chinatown seem to go by that rule of thumb. There’s hot tea on the tables once you sit down.
I ordered the Roasted duck with vegetables and white rice and it literally came out less than 10 minutes after I ordered it which was kind of odd for me at least. When I bit into it my food was cold which was confusing so I told the waiter that my food was cold and he took it back and warmed it up. Totally lost points with me there. Then I see only certain people get refills on their tea without having to ask the waiters and I thought ok well they’ll come to me next but they never did. Not once did they come around to ask me how everything was so I wasn’t happy with the service at all!
The food was pretty good for the price it was about $ 5. The duck tasted pretty oily so I just put some pepper sauce on it lol.

Got a Hong Kong milk tea and a wonton noodle soup all for under $ 7!
This place was very convenient and located right under our airbnb.
The milk tea was perfect and delicious and not too sweet.
The wonton noodle soup was decent. I know there are better wontons around Chinatown in New York but this place was sufficient since it was literally right under our place we were staying at. The texture of the noodle was very good. Had a good chewy texture, just like how real wonton noodles should be. The wontons itself could have a little improvement. It did not have the nice texture the good qualitied wontons are supposed to have. They are normal sized and nothing special to it. But overall, I was satisfied with it and the price of it. Satisfied my cravings for wonton noodles. I thought it was strange that they did not have chili oil though. They just had the regular chili sauce.

I came here for the Bou zai fan because I heard good things about it. Upon entering, this restaurant looks pretty «upscale» in chinatown and I expected a higher price. It is clean and huge located closer to LES.
I am surprised the price was actually the same. My friend and I shared the frog + mince meat + egg rice casserole. I have to say it was the best casserole in manhattan. They were generous with their meat and vege on top of the rice and it was flavorful. It feels like every scoop you ate after you mixed had some taste in it instead of just white rice.
We also ordered the «dong bo rou», it was one of their chef specialty. What can I say? Looking at the picture already made me drool. The pork literally just melt in my mouth. I am usually not a huge fan of fatty pork but I made an exception for this. I mixed the sauce with my rice in casserole tasted SO GOOD!
Tip of the day: order the dong bo rou with a rice casserole and mixed the sauce from the pork into your rice. :D
Service was great. CASH ONLY!

Kings Kitchen
NY Manhattan Chinatown
10pm Saturday 24^th April 2016
Three Stars
As I walked in, they told me that I could only order to take away. They had an hour left on stated close time but whatever. I had won ton noodle soup with Char Siu ($ 7.75). It took 12 minutes which could be a good or bad sign. I ate my meal under the Manhattan Bridge which had a much different character than on the revitalized Brooklyn side. The dumplings were freshly made but they were all pork, no shrimp, and were not filled very full. The noodles were plentiful. The broth was light, very MISG intense, and had a weird after taste. I wasn’t really impressed by anything in the place except for their overall cleanliness.

Having been to this restaurant and to their Brooklyn branch, I have to give this place a two thumbs up. The food is excellent. From the rice rolls to casseroles, this place does it all very well. Place feels clean and food presentation is as good as the taste.
It feels like a hidden gem due to it’s location. This place is located east of Bowery in Chinatown. This place sees a lot more locals as opposed to the area west of Bowery near the Canal Street area frequented by tourists and visitors. It is a little bit of a trek from the hustle and bustle of Canal. However this place is definitely worth going over to for the food.
Prices are very reasonable and good presentation to go along with the great food. If you enjoy rice rolls, casserole rice, noodles or Chinese BBQ, you ought to give this place a try. Definitely a top pick for serious good Chinatown eats.

Best Beef Chow Fun in NYC.
The rice noodle rolls especially with the twice fried rolls inside. so good.

Food was dirt cheap here! 11 bucks for our take out and it was a good amount of food. Love that this place was still one of the many places still open after 10:30 pm and the service was very friendly. I understand with asian restaurants late in the day things tend to run out quick so really we didnt have any option for ordering out food so we settle for what we could. We went with the roasted duck with rice and beef naval soup. These were both great and had lots of flavor. Reminds me of food back home in LA. Our take out order was ready in minutes and we were happy campers to have found food in Chinatown late at night. I am not sure why lots of places close so early in chinatown but I am glad we stumble here without knowing what to expect. Good food, good service, no complaints!

That was some intense stuff I just ate. Don’t get the jellyfish. Or the weird duck with green bones.
Regardless, our waiter was sweet as pie. Dude can hang.

Sunday dinner with los padres so you know you good. On that muggy rainy evening, Kings Kitchen looked like a warm and clean (most important mom criteria) oasis on the somewhat dodgy street of East Broadway.
Being this was my first meal that day we ordered quite a lot:
2 BBQ meats: scallion chix, roast duck — the bbq guy was cleaning up by the time we ordered this so we got the not so choice pieces and ended up with a very small portion. However, the chix had great flavor and the duck was just ok but nothing special.
Fried Cruller and beef rice roll — something I really wanted to try and wasn’t disappointed. The cruller was fresh and crisp and the beef filling was juicy and drowned in sauce it was pretty damn good.
Wonton Noodle Soup — came out quickly but soup was very bland and wontons were just ok. For $ 5.25 I’d rather spend my money at NY Noodletown.
Taro and preserved meat clay pot rice & Preserved Veggies with mince meat clay pot rice — these take at least 30 minutes to cook and are smaller than the ones A-​Wah serves. Upon arrival I could smell that one was burning on the bottom and the crisp rice you scrape on the bottom was a bit burnt on one of the pots. The rice is also very oily but was saved by the addition of the soy sauce provided on the table.
Overall I’d make a stop here to try their rice rolls and but if you’re hangry maybe call ahead for the clay pots or try the bbq meats for lunch when they haven’t cleaned everything out yet.

I ordered a pick up over the phone and the service was pretty good. I ordered 5 clay pots and they were in clay pots that were smaller than the usual ones and at the same price.
The clay pots weren’t anything special. The flavors were really there. The rice at the bottom of the clay pot were really burnt. I was able to taste that burnt flavor more than the ingredients put into it. It was crispy but pitch black.
Once you finish your clay pot, you can give it back to the restaurant and they’ll give you $ 2 back.

I had to knock off one star because the staff is very lazy/doesn’t care about refilling tea. As a Chinese restaurant, they should know better! Tea should be a top priority as it is very important to accompany a meal. (The Chinese don’t like drinking cold beverages because it messes up digestion, or so my elders have taught me.) Other than that, the food here is amazing. They have rice rolls stuffed with all sorts of meats and vegetables, ALL MADE TO ORDER, which means it’s fresh.
My friend got the roast duck despite my warning. People! Don’t come here for the gimmick in the window. Either buy a whole duck or none at all. I ordered a spare rib clay pot and it was filling, I couldn’t even finish the whole pot which is a shame because the best part of the clay pot rice is the crunchy rice crust that forms at the bottom! (Then again I did eat a shrimp rice roll, cheong fun, all by myself.)
For the best experience for two, I recommend ordering a vegetable dish, a rice roll dish and a claypot to share between two people. For more people, just order more rice rolls. THEY ARE THE BEST!
And make sure you flag down your waiter for their delicious tea.

The claypot rice with preserved meats and an egg on top (for a slight upcharge) is a classic dish. It is very authentic and reminiscent of my childhood. If you’re patient, they’ll make it right! It usually takes 30 or so minutes to make to get the bottom and the sides of the claypot rice really toasted and crispy.
I’ve had it in many different places but none as good as King’s Kitchen (so far).
Unsurprisingly, there is a slight difference in price from the Brooklyn location and Manhattan location.

I had stopped here a couple times for breakfast. The fried dough and preserved egg congee. The flavors are great and prices are reasonable tho it is a tad more expensive then other places I’ve ate at.
They sell whole fresh roasted duck for $ 20 which I think it is a great price.

We came by this place by accident on our way to another restaurant and the gf suggested we tried it since we liked the one in Brooklyn. Whether or not it was related didn’t matter so much once we came in. We both ordered rice dishes; me with 3 meats and her with the chicken thigh option. If nothing else, the service and fast and to the point.
The food came out quick, hot, and looked amazing. The meats were succulent but on the sweet side. There were plenty of meat and veggies, more than enough for a lunch. We devoured our lunches quicker than we should have but it was perfect for the day. We haven’t had the chance to try anything else here but we’ll keep it in mind for other options.

I recently started frequenting Kings Kitchen when it first opened a few months ago after having gone to the same old chinatown restaurants. This spot on East Broadway seemed convenient to me due to its location under the bridge being just on the fringes of the lower east side and the frenetic maze of people in chinatown.
Things that immediately drew my attention were the roast meats and bustling activity inside. I got take out a few times just for the cha siu, soy sauce chicken and roast pork but when I ate here I saw that they had an extensive menu. One that included my favorite rice rolls. This place has at least 20 different kinds of steamed rice rolls besides your regular beef and shrimp fillings such as the cha siu, fish, and shredded duck. They had the fried fritter (cruller) rice roll which is a goodie but the bonkers thing is that they have fillings in the fillings such as fish paste or ground beef in the rice crullers in the rice rolls so its like a double filling. Those were just meh since the shell of the cruller got a bit soggy and made the inside remain a bit mealy. But I definitely like coming here earlier just to get a bunch of rice rolls and the traditional congee style breakfasts.
They also have the clay rice pots here with the chinese sausage, minced pork, chicken and mushroom and eel. Use the special soy sauce at the table. Always order these first since they take a long time to make. They are not very big in size but are good to share between 2 people per clay pot. Since a-​wah 2 closed recently without explanation I am glad I can also get this here. I have also tried the singapore mei fun which was a bit dry and average in its taste but they also have a bunch of other noodle and rice dish choices to get here and all of these dishes are quite inexpensive.
I am never hurried here although it gets quite busy here on weekends. I once sat at a big table for 30 minutes alone on a sunday afternoon waiting for my party to arrive and they were very nice about it. They have so called bubble tea and drinks but I would stick with the regular tea they give you or at most a regular bakery style basic coffee or a soda of course.
They do have a single bathroom but there is a problem with the lock and not the cleanest facility but if you have to go you have to go. Overall I like the variety of cantonese dishes this place offers, its nice bright dining room (if I close my eyes I can just pretend that I am sitting in a restaurant in hong kong) and of course the bonus is not having to walk through chinatown to get a meal. But this place does get pretty busy so be prepared to wait if you have a party more than 2.

Having recently moved to New York, there are a couple of things about Chinese food in New York that this SF girl has learned.
San Francisco. Good olé Cantonese American cooking. Aka Southern Chinese peasant dishes. Lots of rice and gravy-​like dishes for the win.
New York. Total opposite. It’s all about them dumplings, hand pulled noodles, and spicy noodle dishes with lots of kick. Like seriously, mouth on fire kick! Bam!
Having said that, this SF girl misses and needs her beef chow fun and finally found an satisfactory outlet in King’s Kitchen. King’s Kitchen is the place you go to for your bo jia fan aka rice cooked in clay pots and reminisce about your time exploring hole in the walls in Hong Kong. Don’t forget to add the soy sauce. Yum, nice, savory, and crunch. Crunch, went the rice at the bottom of the pot! Get the cured meats over the spareribs.
You have to order the beef chow fun with gravy and the fried fritter rice noodle roll! So legit! I also recommend the milk tea.
Only cons are don’t forget that it is cash only and pass on the roast duck. A little too salty and not enough duck meat.

I got the combo casserole. You can pick what meat you want in it. I picked the preserved duck and chicken over rice. The chicken was really tender and flavorful. The preserved duck was dry… prob wouldn’t get this meat again. It comes with eel too, not bad!
CASH ONLY, cheap prices!!!

We ordered a chicken rice casserole and a cha siu noodle soup. The cha siu was very dry and tough. It had flavor so it was edible. The broth is chicken msg, not the thick beefy broth I’m used to. I’d stick with New Wong across the street for cha siu anything.
The rice casserole was really where they shined. At first we thought it was very bland but turned out we were missing the secret sauce which was on the table. I have no idea what the sauce is (if someone knows, msg me!). We first poured soy sauce but that wasn’t the right flavor. It’s the tall bottle on the table. If this was a non-​Chinese restaurant, I might’ve complained about the service but that’s just how Chinese restaurants are. They assume you know what the sauces are.
Overall, I wouldn’t go back for the noodles but the rice is really good.

I’ve been here on several occasions before but for takeout only. I saw that their rice casserole dishes are rather popular here, so that’s what I went with when I decided to dine in with some friends today. Meanwhile, my friends got noodle soup dishes and a order of fried wonton. The noodle soup dishes didn’t really take a long time to come, but the casserole dishes took about 20 minutes. I settled for the pouched egg with minced beef and I found it to be rather appetizing.
Other than that, this is just your regular Chinese restaurant that serves up typical Hong Kong cuisines into the late night. Language here was also a problem as there was a slight language barrier between us and the servers.