Chao at Cong Ly and a Noodle Stroll to Super Taste and Sheng Wang

It was a weekend of heavy eating with the gang.  On Saturday, we dabbled in a few Chinatown soup shops.

We started off at Cong Ly, a respectable Vietnamese place on Yelp with four stars.  

We tried their chao long, a Vietnamese rice porridge, similar to congee, but more flavored, with an assortment of meat bits like pig intestines, chunks of pig blood and chicken.  The soup was okay, a bit too MSG / salty for my tastes and leaned more on the side of congee (mushy rice) than chao, which typically has discernible granules of rice.

Jean has been having cravings for nem nuong, Vietnamese pork meatballs, as well, so we ordered a plate that came with a side of vibrant lettuce leaves, sliced cucumbers and carrots.  Again, the plate was a disappointment.  As is the problem with much of the Vietnamese places I have frequented in Manhattan, the food tasted musty.  

We finished up those plates to venture onward to Super Taste, to try their handpulled and knife-cut noodles.  We shared bowls of Mount Qi beef, roast duck knife-cut noodles and sliced chicken and mustard green noodles.  Everyone's favorites varied, though I enjoyed the spiced Mount Qi in particular and the chewy. but somewhat gummy, knife-cut noodles.

We continued our ragtag adventure across the street to Sheng Wang, which serves their noodles in metal bowls.  "These look like dog bowls," someone noted.

Sheng Wang's beef tendon soup

While, I found the Sheng Wang's broth lacking in as rich of flavor as Lam Zhou or Super Taste, I did enjoy the seafood provided on their noodle plate.  The shrimp was nice and fresh, though Emily and I did not care to peel them by hand. Thanan exhibited his strong, manly ways and stressed that we should just pop the whole thing in our mouths and chew.

All in all, a fun little food crawl with lots of comforting options, but nothing particularly exciting or standout to note aside from the great company!

Cong Ly
124 Hester
New York, NY

Super Taste
26 Eldridge
New York, NY

Sheng Wang
27 Eldridge
New York, NY