Your Guide To The Mouth-Watering World Of Flushing Food Malls
6 photos
<p>Golden Shopping Mall (Flickr user Ben Duchac)<br/><strong>Golden Shopping Mall:</strong> The granddaddy of the Flushing mall experience, Golden Shopping mall has been written up on countless blogs and even featured on Anthony Bourdainâs âNo Reservations.â Despite the hype, subterranean Golden remains pleasantly dingy, cramped, and overwhelming to first-timer visitors, with its easy-to-miss doorway and maze-like tunnels. While Golden Mall has two floors of food, the basement is arguably the better option.<br/><em>41-28 Main St <em></em></em></p>
<p>Xi'an Famous Foods Liang Pi (cold skin noodles)<br/>Highlights include the original location of the much-loved <strong>Xiâan Famous Foods</strong> stall, and while itâs now available in other locations in Manhattan, the cold skin noodles ($4-4.50) do have a certain basement terroir that canât be denied at Golden. <strong>Momâs Hot & Numbing Heat</strong> has an excellent, and appropriate name. For $17, youâre in for all-you-can-eat hot pot, with an incendiary chili broth on one side of the pot and a milder, clear broth on the other. Load up on lamb, tofu, potatoes, mushrooms and more and donât let the brusque staff tell you you donât want it spicy. </p>
<p>New World Mall (Yelp)<br/><strong>New World Mall:</strong> New World the perfect âintroduction to Flushing mallsâ mall. The multi-story megabuilding opened last year, complete with clothing shopping, an Asian supermarket, and a lavish dim sum hall, but the real action is in the basement, where the food court is. The 30-odd stalls are neatly arranged around a cavernous seating area, with bright neon signs calling out to customers. Not all of the signage is in English, but Flushing first-timers should manage okay, if for no reason other than the sheer variety of foods on offer. <br/><em>40-21 Main St, basement level</em></p>
<p>Knife-pulled noodles at New World Mall (Jamie Feldmar/ Gothamist)<br/>Highlights include <strong>Sliced Noodle</strong>, one of the few vendors to offer knife-sliced noodles. While hand-pulled noodles are long and thin, knife-sliced are thicker and chewier, made by slicing a ball of dough into rough strips. Get them with milky lamb soup and fresh vegetables for $5-6. Other winners include <strong>Ma La Tang</strong>, which serves individual hot pots/spicy noodle soups with your choice of topping (beef, clam, mushroom, etc, $5-6) and a selection of cold saladsâtry the paper-thin, vinegar-coated shards of potato and peppers (âcold mix sliced potatoâ) and the thin strips of pig ear in soy sauce ($2-4) For dessert, head to <strong>SnoPo</strong> for an amusingly translated menu of giant bowls of âsnowy ice,â topped with everything from sweetened condensed milk to jello. </p>
<p>Fried dumplings at Savor Fusion Mall (Jamie Feldmar/ Gothamist)<br/><strong>Savor Fusion Mall: </strong>Itâs less than a year old, but owing to a slightly off-the-beaten track location in a squat, nondescript building, itâs easy to skip over Savor Fusion. That would be a mistake. Savor is much smaller than the other mallsâless than 10 stalls total, but theyâre all owned by one proprietor, meaning itâs entirely possible to get hand-pulled noodles from one vendor and ask for the meat sauce from his neighbor (in fact, this seems to be a common request). Itâs a little dingy inside with bare-bones seating, but the food quality is enough to make up for the lackluster environs. <br/><em>42-01 Main St.</em></p>
<p>Gua Bao at Savor Fusion Mall (Jamie Feldmar/Gothamist)<br/>Highlights include Dan-Dan noodles ($3.50) from <strong>Chengdu Snacks</strong>, an excellent rendition of the Sichuan classic, with plenty of tongue-tingling Sichuan peppercorns and meaty ground pork atop a bed of springy, fresh noodles. At the <strong>Steam Dumpling</strong> stall, break with their namesake and order fried dumplings ($3) insteadâtheir dome shape and flat bottom allows one side to get perfectly crisp while the top steams and stays incredibly juicy. Try the âthree mixed meatâ filling, which is actually pork, shrimp and leek. Before leaving, stop by the <strong>Taipei booth</strong> for a gua bao, the classic Taiwanese pork bun snack that puts Momofukuâs version to shame. Slices of pork belly are braised in soy sauce, rice wine and spices until fall-apart tender, then stuffed into a fluffy steamed bun and topped with preserved vegetables, crushed peanuts and fresh cilantro. Itâs a messily delicious finger food that youâll want more of immediately. </p>