Chinatown Flushing: NYC’s Real Chinatown

They say New York's real Chinatown is in Downtown Flushing. That's because it's been the neighborhood of choice for thousands of families from China, Korea, Southeast Asia and Taiwan since the 1980s.

As the center of the most recent wave of Asian migration, its traditions and cooking feel fresher than in Manhattan's Chinatown, which was established decades earlier.

That large Asian community means an enormous range of excellent, cheap Chinese restaurants, plus plenty of other exotic food destinations. If you want to eat authentic Chinese food outside of Asia, Flushing's Chinatown is the place.

Where to eat in Flushing's Chinatown

There are Asian restaurants on pretty much every street in Flushing's Chinatown, but the most popular ones cluster in the neighborhood's commercial heart: the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue.

Honestly, you can just follow your nose and let yourself be surprised by the exotic dishes, the smells and the low prices of the most authentic Asian food you'll find on this side of the world.

Here are a few recommended restaurants in Flushing's Chinatown:

• Tianjin Dumpling House. 41-28 Main St.
  Dumpling heaven. The owner did so well she opened a more modern spot serving 100 varieties of Chinese dumplings (Dumpling Galaxy). But this tiny stall in the basement of the Golden Shopping Mall is where it started.
• Kum Gang San. 138-28 Northern Blvd
  Traditional Korean food. Open 24 hours.
• Udon West. 137-80 Northern Blvd. at Union St.
  Famous for its udon noodles.
• Joe's Shanghai Restaurant. 136-21 37th Ave.
  The buns and dumplings here are fantastic.
• Sentosa. 39-07 Prince St.
  Malaysian specialties.
• White Bear. 135-02 Roosevelt Ave.
  Just five tightly packed little tables in a tiny space, but it's worth being squeezed in for a while to enjoy the famous wontons in chili oil.
• Ten Ren Tea and Ginseng. 135-18 Roosevelt Ave.
  An Asian tea room serving the trendy hot and iced teas with tapioca pearls.

The Golden Mall in Flushing

The Golden Mall (41-28 Main St, Queens) deserves a special mention. It's been a culinary landmark of Flushing's Chinatown since 1990 and a pioneer of the food hall model that's so common today.

What makes it special is that this food hall is devoted entirely to different Asian specialties. You'll find everything from classic noodles and dumplings to more sophisticated dishes like sea bass meatballs or cumin lamb burgers.

Along with stalls serving genuine Asian home cooking, the Golden Mall also has outposts of well-known chains like Xi'an Famous Foods, KungFu Kitchen, Laoma Malatang and Lanzhou Handmade Noodles.

The food is so good, and so affordable, that over the years figures like Anthony Bourdain and chef Eric Ripert have recommended it as a place to eat.

Nearby attractions

Like everything in this city, Flushing is a neighborhood that has changed a lot. Up through the 1970s the Italian and Greek communities dominated, but as I mentioned, today it's home to the largest Asian community in New York.

Keep in mind that Flushing is one of the Queens neighborhoods farthest from Manhattan, but the trip is worth it for the excellent food and for a few other very interesting places nearby.

Take Flushing Meadows Corona Park, full of spots worth seeing, including the Queens Museum, which has a huge scale model of New York, and the Mets stadium.

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Getting there

Subway line 7, Main Street station