The Feisty Foodie

Opinionated Food Critic

  • Around NYC
    • Brooklyn
      • Bay Ridge
    • Bronx
    • Downtown Lunch
    • Long Island Eats
    • Manhattan
      • Chelsea
      • Chinatown
      • East Village
      • Financial District
      • Flatiron District
      • Gramercy
      • Greenwich Village
      • Hell’s Kitchen
      • Lower East Side
      • Midtown
      • Murray Hill
      • SoHo
      • Tribeca
      • Upper East Side
      • Upper West Side
      • West Village
    • Queens
      • Astoria
      • Bayside
      • Corona
      • Elmhurst
      • Flushing
      • Elmhurst
      • Flushing
      • Forest Hills
      • Howard Beach
      • Jackson Heights
      • Kew Gardens
  • Cuisine
    • Africa
      • Moroccan
    • Americas
      • American
      • Argentinian
      • Brazilian
      • Cajun
      • Canadian
      • Creole
      • Cuban
      • Hawaiian
      • Mexican
      • New American
      • Southwestern
    • Asia
      • Cambodian
      • Chinese
      • Filipino
      • Indian
      • Indonesian
      • Japanese
      • Korean
      • Malaysian
      • Russian
      • Thai
      • Ukrainian
      • Vietnamese
    • Europe
      • Austrian
      • Belgian
      • French
      • Greek
      • Italian
      • Lebanese
      • Mediterranean
      • Spanish
      • Turkish
    • Other
      • Fast Food
      • Fusion
      • Tapas
      • Vegetarian
  • Feisty Fun
    • Articles
      • Feisty Bento
    • Baseball
    • BlindBakerNYC
    • Events
      • FF Giveaways
    • Fiction
    • Food Memories
    • Food Services
      • CSA
      • Fresh Direct
      • Ready to Cook
    • Jenn of NEB
    • Product Reviews
    • Project 365
    • Recipe Fridays
    • Serial Thursdays
    • The Beer Boor
    • Tuesdays with TT
  • Recipes
    • Baked Goods
    • BBQ
    • Beef
    • Beverages
    • Breakfast
    • Brunch
    • Chicken
    • Desserts
    • Duck
    • Lamb
    • One Pot Meals
    • Pasta
    • Pork
    • Ramen
    • Sauces
    • Seafood
    • Side Dishes
    • Steak
  • Restaurants
    • Bakeries
    • BBQ
    • Bistro
    • Breakfast
    • Burgers
    • Cheese
    • Deli
    • Desserts
      • Ice cream
    • Pizza
    • Seafood
    • Shabu shabu
    • Steakhouse
      • The Great Steakhouse Tour of NYC
    • Tea
    • Trucks/Carts
    • Wine Bar
  • Stadium Eats
    • Citi Field
    • Citizens Bank Park
    • Nationals Park
    • PNC Park
    • Shea Stadium (Closed)
    • Yankee Stadium
  • Travels
    • Asia
      • Hong Kong
    • Europe
      • England
        • London
      • France
        • Paris
      • Greece
        • Athens
      • Spain
        • Barcelona
      • Turkey
        • Istanbul
    • North America
      • Canada
        • Montreal
      • United States
        • Arizona
          • Phoenix
        • California
          • Los Angeles
          • San Diego
          • San Francisco
        • Connecticut
        • Georgia
        • Hawaii
          • Maui
        • Illinois
          • Chicago
        • Louisiana
          • Baton Rouge
          • New Orleans
        • Maryland
          • Baltimore
        • Massachusetts
          • Boston
        • Nevada
          • Las Vegas
        • New Jersey
        • North Carolina
          • Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill
        • Pennsylvania
          • Philadelphia
          • Pittsburgh
        • Texas
          • Austin
        • Washington
          • Seattle
        • Washington DC
    • South America
      • Argentina
        • Buenos Aires
        • Iguazu Falls
      • Peru

Hop Kee

February 22, 2011 by Feisty Foodie 16 Comments

IMG_7192

Another Lunar New Year has passed, which means it’s time for me to start writing my Lunar New Year posts… Well, first up is the night before Lunar New Year.  This is about the only time of year I ever really pay attention to the Asian portion of my culture; maybe because it’s so food-centric it’s hard to not want to be part of the fun!  A few friends and I decided to meet up and attempt to celebrate what we knew… Unfortunately, I randomly Google’d “Cantonese restaurant Chinatown” instead of forcing them to travel to Queens to Cantonese restaurants I know are great.  So we wound up at Hop Kee Restaurant…

IMG_7195

My Lunar New Year demands are simple: first, dumplings. 

IMG_7197

This arrived when we ordered fried dumplings, accompanied by:

IMG_7198

some gloppy sweet, weird, ketchup-y BBQ sauce type thing.  I don’t know. 

IMG_7202

Depending who you asked, it marginally improved the fried dumplings.  I mean, the dumplings weren’t inedible, but they were fairly boring, flavorless, and oddly textured.  I think they deep fried the darn things.  I just wanted pan fried dumplings.  Ergh. 

IMG_7200

My second request for Lunar New Year was noodles.  Noodles with their length represent longevity… never cut noodles!  (Or break spaghetti, I will yell at you.)  In any case, these were not quite the noodles I thought I’d ordered – I thought I ordered Cantonese lo mein, the thin egg noodles that are pan fried until crisp, then topped with gravy.  These were… not that.  But the sauce was about what I’d wanted, a little on the sweet side with a bit too much corn starch (and therefore gloppy), and the noodles were crisp… at first.  Then the excess of sauce got the best of the noodles and they turned very soggy. 

IMG_7203

Some random green veggies to give the illusion of health… these were probably the only dish that was exactly as we expected when we ordered it.  Cooked crisp, bright green… but still only so-so. 

IMG_7205

Salt-pepper squid. 

IMG_7207

The next dish was chosen by the Beer Boor – salt/pepper pork chops. 

IMG_7210

And one of the dishes that kept popping up every time I did a very cursory search on this place (read: I did not really research): Cantonese style ‘dry’ crabs.  Every single table that night ordered this dish.  We literally saw it on every single other table, and people enjoying them heartily. 

IMG_7211

My first plate: noodles, which I liberally doused in the red vinegar (yum), some pork, which was only okay, the greens… the squid, which was also only okay – a little overcooked – and the crab, which I only had a little bit once Hungry said they were overcooked.  Ick.  Overcooked crab is disgusting! 

IMG_7213

Garlic fried paper-fried-chicken.  The meat was pretty juicy – the one piece I tried – but I thought it wasn’t flavored as well as it could be. 

IMG_7214

The last request I made was a whole fish that we would eat, but not finish, and not take leftovers.  Well, no one wanted to take leftovers because while the sauce was good, the fish was way overcooked.  So bad I couldn’t eat more than a piece or two. 

IMG_7218

The whole table, as we attacked… and were disappointed by pretty much every.single.dish.  This place is awful.  They weren’t even that busy when we sat down – but the food was all overcooked. 

IMG_7219

And then to prove the point that we were in the wrong place, they gave us a bowl of fortune cookies to end the meal.  Seriously?

IMG_7220

And my fortune cookie had no fortune!  Maybe that’s why I’ve been having a terrible year? 

Yvo says: This place is for tourists or white people or something.  The food was just terrible.  Overly sweet, overly cooked, overly… not good.  I have to give it a resounding…
not recommended

Hop Kee Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Filed Under: Around NYC, Asia, By Name, Cheap Eats, Chinatown, Chinese, Cuisine, Manhattan, Restaurants Tagged With: cantonese, lunar new year

« Heineken Dark
Tuesdays with TT: ilili »

Comments

  1. kim says

    February 22, 2011 at 9:50 am

    Happy Belated Lunar New Year to you. 🙂
    Did you go to the Hop Kee on street level? I think the one in the basement is more famous. They offer mostly Americanized Chinese foods, but I heard they do have a ‘secret’ menu (as seen Bourdain’s episode). I love Chinese broccoli and from the glossy coating of oil on the greens, I know that I would enjoy this dish.

    Reply
    • Feisty Foodie says

      February 22, 2011 at 10:16 am

      We went to the one in the basement, and some of the dishes we ordered are “secret menu” items. It was still bad.

      Reply
  2. T.C. says

    February 22, 2011 at 10:06 am

    It was nice having dinner wirh friends despite the sub-par food. We should’ve went to Congee Village. lol.
    Still a cool way to start off the Chinese/Lunar New Year’s eve.
    My favorite dish was the kai-lan/ Chinese broccoli.

    Eh, fortune cookies are an American thing so whatever. It can’t be all broken mirrors, underneath ladders, etc.

    Best Wishes in the Year of the Rabbit!

    Reply
  3. Apikoros says

    February 22, 2011 at 11:03 am

    I kind of like their Sub-Gum wonton, but I prefer Wo Hop if I am on Mott looking for American Chinese food

    Reply
  4. em says

    February 22, 2011 at 11:45 am

    on the night before lunar new year, if any chinese restaurant is not packed to the gills, then it is a big sign that it isn’t very good.

    Reply
    • Feisty Foodie says

      February 22, 2011 at 4:51 pm

      Or not very traditional. Actually, they got really packed about a half hour after we arrived, surprisingly. I say surprisingly because the place was really bad imo.

      Reply
  5. skippymom says

    February 22, 2011 at 11:58 am

    The vegetables looked pretty.

    Yeah, that’s about all I got after your description. Sorry.

    Reply
    • CheeeeEEEEse says

      February 22, 2011 at 12:31 pm

      Try new stuff! Food is fun!

      And if you have a meal that doesn’t cut the mustard, you’ll be hungry in 5 hours or so, and you can try again.

      Reply
  6. Hungry says

    February 22, 2011 at 1:42 pm

    Don’t forget that even thought the dish of crabs was overcooked, there was still a piece that was undercooked. Cue gooey substance. That completely baffled me. How can it be overcooked and undercooked? Was it pre-cooked? Then cooked again to order? I still can’t comprehend it.

    Reply
  7. aimee says

    February 22, 2011 at 1:52 pm

    Well that totally sucks!

    Reply
  8. hnahk says

    February 22, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    i second the wo hop (if i had to choose between wo hop vs hop kee)…and really both choices are more like after party 3am spots for greasy food to counter the alcohol. otherwise, try amazing 66!..or danny eng’s

    Reply
    • Feisty Foodie says

      February 22, 2011 at 4:49 pm

      Originally, I wanted to go to Amazing 66 for their stuffed fried chicken, but they were completely booked.

      Reply
      • Eric L. says

        February 22, 2011 at 5:53 pm

        Wo Hop is pretty similar and greasy, but they do make some dishes that were really popular in the 70s and you can’t really find anywhere else in Chinatown anymore (Hop Kee might make them too considering how similar they are, but only ate there once)

        Wor Shu Duck- deboned pounded breaded duck that is deep-fried and then covered in a delicious brown sauce and served on a bed of lettuce

        And a shrimp appetizer (forgot the name)- butterflied shrimp battered in scrambled egg with a piece of bacon laid on top. A sort-of breakfast version of surf and turf. delicious!

        Reply
  9. BeerBoor says

    February 22, 2011 at 8:10 pm

    I thought the salt and pepper pork chops were perfectly fine. I’d order them again. Nyah. Pretty damn salty though, and I wasn’t impressed by anything that evening, food-wise.

    Reply
  10. Daniel says

    August 14, 2020 at 2:32 pm

    Thank you.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Recent Posts

  • Springtime Fun: Wildgrain
  • Hello from Chicago!
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2020
  • Easy Ways to Ease into Becoming an Eco-Friendly Household
  • It’s been a while!
  • Top 5 Luxury Hotels in New York City

Recent Comments

  • Stephanie on Easy Ways to Ease into Becoming an Eco-Friendly Household
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2020 — The Feisty Foodie on Holiday Gift Ideas
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2020 — The Feisty Foodie on Nesting Like a Mother – Slow Cookin’ Up a Storm (Mostly)
  • Lisa on It’s been a while!
  • zizi on Banh Mi Cart
  • Feisty Foodie on It’s been a while!
  • Xerlic on It’s been a while!
  • Daniel on Hop Kee

Tags

365 Bakeries banh mi BBQ Beef beer Blackboard Eats Breakfast Brunch Burgers Chicken Chinese cocktails contest dessert Desserts DLS drinks dumplings Feisty Bento feisty family fried chicken fries giveaway Ice cream Michelin stars noodles One Pot Meals Pasta Pizza Pork press event Ramen Recipe Fridays salad sandwiches Sauces Seafood Steak Sushi tacos trucks/carts TT Vegetarian wings

Copyright © 2025 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress