(credit: NYSF)

We first ran across the Chinese Mirch truck at the Choice Streets event a few weeks ago.  At that event, trucks only gave out a sample of their food, and we were looking forward to seeing what else they served.  The truck’s slogan is “chinese food. indian flavors”, which sounded promising.

Since I tried their momos at Choice Streets, on this visit I ordered duck sliders (bao), which cost $8 for an order of 3.

(credit: NYSF)

As I found out after Choice Streets, Chinese Mirch is a small brick-and-mortar chain with one restaurant in NYC at 120 Lexington Ave (26th  St) and a few more locations around New Jersey and New England.  This food truck is their first foray into the mobile eats arena.

The Chinese buns were similar to ones I’ve had before at the new Fun Buns cart and Asian restaurants.  The buns were filled with slices of roast duck, shredded carrots, scallions and a tamarind sauce, which was a bit spicy.

The duck  meat was chilled and it wasn’t fatty at all, although there was a little skin on each slice.  The dark flavor of duck went particularly well with the sauce, although calling it a tamarind sauce was a little misleading to me.

In my opinion, the sauce tasted more like a spicy hoisin sauce, with a little bbq flavor to it.  It wasn’t like other tamarind sauces I’ve had, which usually have a sweeter, more cloy taste.

The carrots gave the sandwich some crunch, and the scallions added an oniony flavor.  The buns were ok, but they were not as soft as Chinese buns I’ve had at other places.

Three duck buns was a nice meal for $8, and a decent value as well.  I’m not an expert, but I wonder where the “Indian flavors” come into the picture.  I felt like this was pretty much a Chinese meal, but as long as it tastes good, who cares?

You can find the Chinese Mirch truck on twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed.

(credit: NYSF)

(credit: NYSF)

Last night at Choice Streets, there were over 20 of NYC’s best food trucks.  It was a fun event, but we’ve been to most of the food trucks before.

One truck we had not been to was Chinese Mirch.  That would have been difficult because last night was their debut!

The truck said Chinese Food | Indian Flavor.  Sounds interesting.

Their menu for Choice Streets was Tibetan momos in chili sauce over rice.  There were both chicken and vegetable momos, which quite honestly seemed like dumplings to me.

Nevertheless, the momos were tasty, and the sauce was gingery and quite spicy.  They mixed Indian herbs with Chinese wok-style cooking.

Chinese Mirch is a small brick-and-mortar chain with one restaurant in NYC at 120 Lexington Ave (26th  St) and a few more locations around New Jersey and New England.

As for the new truck, you can find them on twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed.

We will check them out as soon as possible on the street and let you know our thoughts.  If you try them, let us know your thoughts.

(credit: NYSF)

(credit: NYSF)

Yesterday we told you about what we thought was a new food truck from the sibling team behind the Bian Dang and Fishing Shrimp trucks.

Last night we ventured out to 4th Ave & President St in Brooklyn to see for ourselves, and found a brand new food cart.  The way things are going in NYC with food trucks these days, a cart is a cheaper and safer way to go.  Then you only have to worry about other vendors, not the police too.

It was only their 2nd day on the street, and they want to roll things out slowly, so they only had one item, Five Spice Pork Belly Buns.  They cost $3 each.

Click through to find out how it was, as well as to get a look at their future menu.

Pork bun at the cart (credit: NYSF)

The above photo is not my best one, but it gives you an idea what the pork buns look like as served at the cart.  I also took some buns home for my family, and that photo (below) is not as pretty, but gives you a better idea of what’s inside the bun.

The buns themselves were pillow soft, but are made for eating right away.  The juices from the meat soak through where the bun folds fairly quickly, so try not to travel too far before eating it.

The pulled pork was slow cooked and really tender.  The meat was topped with crushed peanuts, cilantro and the same chopped mustard greens found in Bian Dang’s dishes.

Overall it was pretty tasty, but was saltier than I like.  I could taste the five spice powder, but would have liked a stronger hand on it.  Everyone’s taste is different, but a little less salt and a little more five spice powder is my recommendation.  Don’t get me wrong – it was still really good.  I’m talking more fine-tuning than major overhaul.

Pork bun at home (credit: NYSF)

Thomas told me the next bun will be lemongrass chicken marinated with garlic and shallot infused fish oil and topped with homemade daikon and carrot relish.

The final bun they expect to roll out is spicy beef shank stewed with star anise, cinnamon and cloves and topped like the pork bun, with pickled mustard greens, crushed peanuts and cilantro.

As for where they will be parking the cart, Thomas told me that will be a matter of trial and error.  The first two days were in the Financial District, but it was tough finding a good spot.  I recommended certain parts of midtown to him, so we’ll see.

One thing that seems certain is dinner in the 4th Ave/President St area of Brooklyn.  It’s only a few blocks from the commissary where they park the cart overnight, so stopping there for a few hours makes perfect sense.  For those of us who don’t live around there, it’s right by the Union St station on the R train.

I’m looking forward to trying the other two buns, especially the spicy beef.  Cinnamon, clove and star anise is a popular spice combination in my house, and it should be delicious with some heat on one of these buns.

You can follow Fun Buns NYC on twitter here.

Where I’m working in San Francisco is quite a bit out of the way from most of the food trucks, but I did read about the Truck Stop, an alley off Mission St by 1st St where three trucks park every weekday.  I later found out why they crammed three food trucks into a narrow alley.

The Truck Stop was only about half a mile from where I was, and yesterday they had Chairman Bao, Curry Up Now & Kung Fu Tacos.

Everything looked great, but I had to make a choice, and went for 2 steamed buns from Chairman Bao – pork belly ($3.75) and spicy chicken ($3.25).

pork belly steamed bun

The woman in the truck told me they were best known for their pork belly bun, and I could see why.  Upon opening the container, the color was striking.  There were several pieces of pork belly with thin slices of turmeric pickled daikon on top.  The daikon was pickled, but not as strong as some of the other pickled daikon I’ve had.

Last night I went to a Thai restaurant with my colleague and he got a pork belly dish where more than half of it was fat.  This pork belly was very tender and barely fatty at all.  This was extremely delicious (or as Mitt Romney would say, severely delicious).

spicy chicken steamed bun

Next up was the spicy chicken, which was topped with pickled carrots, cucumbers and cilantro.  Similar to the daikon, the carrots were thinly sliced and not heavily pickled.

The boneless chicken had a mild sesame flavor, and a spicy kick that took a couple of bites to kick in.  Once it did, there was a pleasant amount of heat, but not enough to overpower the chicken.  This was a tasty bun too.

I really enjoyed lunch from Chairman Bao, and $7 was a good price for this quality of lunch.  They also had baked buns that were larger and cost in the $6-7 range,and you only needed one for lunch.

They even had a short explanation on the truck of What The Bao Is A Bun?  After reading it, I got the steamed buns.  That way I was able to try two different fillings – a very good decision.  You can follow Chairman Bao on twitter here.

The other thing I learned today was that SF has a very similar problem to NYC, in that trucks aren’t legally permitted to sell while parked on the street.  There are some ways around this such as food carts (which are allowed), a few food truck lots, and this alley off Mission St that is privately owned, where the owner lets food trucks park.

The Truck Stop alley was an interesting way around the legalities, but after lunch, I walked past an even more ingenious way to legally serve food from a truck – build a small structure around it.

I had already eaten lunch, but check out what I found on the corner of Beale St & Howard St – What’s Up Dog? – a (technically) indoor food truck.  Now that’s brilliant!

After taking some time off during the winter, and visiting Taiwan for some inspiration, Bian Dang returned to the NYC streets last week.

Bian Dang, which is Taiwanese for “lunch box”, started out in 2009 as NYC Cravings and were nominated for a Vendy Award that year in the Rookie of the Year category.  Last year they changed their name to something more traditional – and changed the design on their truck into one of the most beautiful food trucks in the city.

Early last year they also opened a stand at Food Gallery 32, which is in an Asian food court at 11 West 32nd St (bet 5th & 6th Ave).

Bian Dang has delicious Taiwanese fried chicken, pork chops and assorted side dishes.  We ordered Taiwanese fried chicken for $7 and zongzi for $4.

The fried chicken at Bian Dang has crispy skin flavored with Chinese 5-spice powder.  This gives it a really nice flavor, and infuses the chicken underneath as well.  It’s moist, tender…and delicious.

You can barely see it in the photo, but under the chicken is white rice with Bian Dang’s s secret weapon, their pork sauce.  Bits of pork, herbs and spices are mixed with some greens into a sauce that tastes great with white rice.  I guess this isn’t a place to bring vegetarians.

Bian Dang describes their zongzi as a Chinese tamale, and is also called sticky rice or sticky rice in lotus leaf in other places.

First you take off the string, then unwrap several large leaves.  Inside the leaves is a mound of rice, and inside the rice is a veritable goody bag with Chinese sausage, peanuts, mushrooms, ground pork, soy beans and a little bit of greens.

The rice in zongzi can sometimes be too salty, but Bian Dang’s zongzi is not.  This is a very tasty dish , and quite filling for $4.  It can be a bit tricky opening it up and peeling some of the rice off the leaves, but I really enjoyed it, with all the different bits steamed inside the rice.

We’re glad to welcome Bian Dang back to the NYC streets for another season. You can follow them on twitter here (where the background still has the NYC Cravings logo) or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed.

We got word last night that Bian Dang expects to be back on the street today. Bian Dang is Taiwanese for “lunch box”.

Siblings Thomas and Diana Yang took the truck off the street for a couple of months during winter, and we understand one or both of them spent some time in Taiwan during that time off.  They even posted some photos of Taiwanese street food on facebook here.

Maybe they got some inspiration from their trip to Taiwan. While their Taiwanese fried chicken and pork chops were good enough to get a 2009 Vendy Award nomination for Rookie of the Year (when they were called NYC Cravings), the menu could use a few new items.

Looking forward to having this beautiful truck back on the street.  You can follow them on twitter here or on our Mobile Munchies twitter feed.

One of the oldest food trucks in New York is Rickshaw Dumplings. I first tried them at the 2009 Vendy Awards, where they were a finalist for the Vendy Cup.

They have since expanded to two trucks, three storefronts, and they just opened a new kiosk in the Times Square pedestrian plaza.  You can find the truck locations by following them on twitter here.

Today’s Lunch is Thai chicken basil dumplings and a cold noodle salad from Rickshaw Dumplings, which costs $9.

Although I’m not usually a big fan of chicken dumplings (pork or shrimp, baby!), the Thai basil chicken dumplings at Rickshaw Dumplings are among the better chicken dumplings I’ve had.  They had a nice flavor with minced chicken, basil, carrots and cellophane noodles make a tasty filling.  The dumpling wrapper was soft and springy too.

One thing that has improved since I first tried them is the peanut sate dip that comes with the Thai chicken basil dumplings.

peanut sate dipping sauce

The peanut sauce used to have a processed-food type of consistency and flavor, but it now tastes much more organic, and has a little bit of heat as well.  You can see a lot of spices in the peanut sate dipping sauce.

I also really like the cold noodle salad from Rickshaw.  There’s lots of stuff in there – carrots, bean sprouts, scallions and sesame seeds, among others.  It makes for a nice refreshing side dish, even though it’s cold as ice outside.

cold noodle salad

The Rickshaw Truck is a bit pricey, with either 6 dumplings for $6, or 6 dumplings and a side dish for $9.  You can get cheaper dumplings in Chinatown – but I’m in midtown during the day, and there aren’t many Chinese restaurants in my immediate vicinity.

Rickshaw Dumplings are obviously are doing something right, with this much expansion over the past 2-3 years.  Let us know what you think.

icken

crab shell pie

Shanghai is rightly known as a street food mecca.  The variety of street food in Shanghai is among the best in the world.

CNNGo has a mouth-watering list of 35 of the best street foods in Shanghai and other popular snacks from around China.

Click here for a quick trip to China.  Just make sure you aren’t hungry first.

soup dumplings

We received an email from Bian Dang telling us they are doing a FREE lunch promotion today with LevelUp.  Both the truck and store will be giving out free lunches of up to $10 in value.  All you have to do is to sign up for a free account with LevelUp.

Click through for more details on the promotion and LevelUp, which sounds like a company with an interesting concept.  LevelUp did a free lunch promotion last week at the Schnitzel & Things store, and Oleg told me it was a great success.

The Bian Dang truck is scheduled to be on Vanderbilt Ave & 46th St, but check their twitter here to make sure.  The truck is expected to be open until 4pm (or until they run out of food).  The store is at Food Gallery 32 at11 West 32nd St (bet 5th & 6th Ave).

How LevelUp works is you register to get your own personal QR code. Use it to pay (and save) at hundreds of local businesses in town. Instant digital receipts show what you spent and how much you saved.

Each day they feature a new merchant for you to try out. You’ll get $5, $10, $20 in credit to spend on whatever you want there. To use it, just pay with LevelUp!  Didn’t use it all?  Use the rest next time.  Spent extra? Pay the rest with LevelUp.

The first time you pay with LevelUp at any merchant, you’ll immediately get credit applied to your purchase.  As you go back, you’ll unlock more credit to use on whatever you want at that merchant. Sounds like a good deal to us!

The holidays seem to come earlier and earlier every year.  Thanksgiving used to be the unofficial start of the holiday season, but in the past few years, it seems to start right after Halloween.

Last year we enjoyed some great meals from vendors at the Columbus Circle Holiday Market, especially Pies-N-Thighs and Cascabel Taqueria.  While the Columbus Circle and Union Square Holiday Markets are not expected to open until Thanksgiving, the Bryant Park Holiday Market is already in full swing.

There are plenty of holiday shops selling gifts of all types, in addition to an ice skating rink, 2 ping pong tables (!), a carousel – and a bunch of food shops.

We took a quick stroll around the park, although we didn’t go up and down every aisle, so this may not be a complete list.

On the 42nd St side of the park near 6th Ave were Wafels & Dinges, Vegetarian Oasis and Mmmm…Enfes (boreks, golzeme and baklava), pictured below.

On the 40th St side near 6th Ave were Diggity Diggity Dog (hot dogs with funky toppings) and there were a couple of two ‘Wichcraft stands in the park.

Towards the 5th Ave side was Dumpling Soup House, which I stopped at for Today’s Lunch.

There were also a few cider, pretzel, churro and miscellaneous snack stands, but the above places are where you can get lunch.

I ordered Shrimp Noodle Soup ($6.25) and a side of Steamed Pork Dumplings ($3.50 for 4).

They had a decent good selection of dumplings, noodles dishes, noodle soups, and also some street fair fare (Italian sausages, grilled chicken, mozzzarepas).  You can see the menu here and here.

I poured dumpling sauce over the steamed pork dumplings and picked up one to eat.  It was pretty soft, but I was still able to pick it up.  The filling was minced meat, but there wasn’t anything distinctive about it.  I put some hot sauce on the remaining dumplings, which added some flavor, but I wouldn’t call these dumplings anything but average.

The dumplings might be a little better fried than steamed, but I don’t think that would make them a whole lot of difference.  They weren’t bad, but they weren’t great either.

The noodle soup was along the same lines, with a few provisos.  The shrimp dumplings in the soup were so soft, they fell apart when I picked them up.  There were 2 shrimp dumplings in the soup, plus egg noodles and a few pieces of carrot and bok choy.  The shrimp dumplings had a funky taste, kind of fishy.  They didn’t have a distinct shrimp taste.

At least the noodles were not too soft – they were still on the firm and springy side.

The broth itself was chicken based.  Initially, the soup was a little bland, but I added a little hot sauce to this as well.  This helped because as I got further along, the broth was more flavorful, although it wasn’t spicy.

Today’s Lunch from Dumpling Soup House was ok, but nothing special.  The dumplings ranged from average to funky tasting, and the soup was average too.  As I was waiting for lunch, the guy in front of me got a noodle dish that looked decent, and believe it or not, the grilled Italian sausage looked fat and tasty, although they serve it teriyaki style (?)

For lunch, I would stay towards 6th Ave on the 42nd St side.  In a row by the ping pong tables were Wafels & Dinges, Vegetarian Oasis and Mmmm…Enfes, which all looked really good.  I almost grabbed a borek before leaving the park, but decided to wait until next time.  They should be there until Christmas Eve.