Monday, February 9, 2009

Amy's - Hing Won

16. Amy’s Bread
672 9th Avenue between 46th & 47th (multiple locations)

After being told by two different locations that the sticky buns ($2.75) sell out before noon during my West Village tour, I knew that I would have to get there early if I was going to be able to try them. Luckily, a co-worker passes the midtown location on the way to work and was gracious enough to grab a couple at Amy’s Bread. I had pretty high expectations given the popularity of the pastry and was not disappointed. It’s taller than the usual sticky/cinnamon bun, topped with pecans, walnuts and drizzled with the traditional sugary, sweet syrup that make sticky buns so tasty. What separates an Amy’s Bread sticky bun from any other is the dough. It’s fresh and fluffy on the inside with a slightly firm crust that feels like it just came out of the oven. I think the best way to describe how good it is would be to quote my roommate. I had my co-worker pick up an extra one for him because I knew he would want to try it. After informing him that he wouldn’t be able to get the sticky bun until this next morning he asked me if it was worth walking the 7 blocks back and forth between our offices to pick it up from my desk. I told him that it was probably worth it but that he could pick one up the next morning himself, to which he replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. That thing was worth a walk of 20 blocks. Fantastic.” Enough said. Get there early.

17. Hing Won
48 W 48th between 5th and 6th ave

Hing Won has been profiled on midtownlunch numerous times. I’ve always wanted to try it but can never bring myself to have such a heavy lunch. The pickle pork soup on the TONY list gave me an excuse. Hing Won is a small counter service eat-in / take-out Chinese restaurant with a small by the pound buffet and a fair number of tables for people to get their food and sit-down. Almost all of the menu items are under $6.00. Though hesitant to try a pickle pork soup ($6.00), I was encouraged by the number of people waiting on line to order, and standing around waiting for tables. For those of you wondering about the pickle portion of the soup, I have no answer. I don’t know why they call it this. There are no pickles floating in the soup and there is no pickle taste. There is, however, pork and soup. The pork was pretty bland and tastes like the boiled pork you’d get mixed in with an order of bad lo mein, but the broth was spicy, there were a lot of noodles (granted they were only one step above from cheap ramen), and for a quart of soup with a lot of flavor, spice and noodles there are worse things to get for $6.00 in midtown for lunch. I think they’d do well to keep the broth and the noodles and swap in some roast pork and wontons a la a number of other mandarin soups you can get in the city. The soup was pretty oily but it was good enough to keep me interested and I’ll probably go back to try some of there other items. People that order the same udon from the same place for lunch in midtown would be advised to try Hing Won next time they have the craving.

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