A Wah-tta Food - The World Famous Rice Casserole Dish

Jamie, Thanan, Peter and I met up for a low-key meal at A Wah in Chinatown recently.  Thanan and I arrived early, so we ended up eating most of our food before anyone else arrived.

We shared a plate of roast pork that was salty beyond belief but perfect with

a bowl of congee; the soup was a bit loose, bland, and sparse with bits of preserved egg and mishmash.

We each ordered a rice casserole because it was only $7.  We did not realize the $7 rice casserole can feed a small family.  

Thanan ordered the Chinese sausage, preserved duck and pork casserole.

The dish basically stays freakishly hot the whole time in the clay pot it sits in, and at the very bottom, the rice gets burnt and crunchy and fun to eat.  There's mushrooms in there and some other hodgepodge, but it's fairly unflavorful aside from whatever topping you get.  Add some house special oyster sauce concoction to add a bit of flair to the dish.

I got the roast pork rice casserole.  

The roast pork meat was thick and plentiful, but the skin was gelatinous and gross.  Eat this one if you don't like skin (but also question your priorities later).

Thanan and I worked on our respective claypots for at least a half hour before agreeing that sometimes it's best to share in life, but at least we both had lunch for the next day.

For dessert, we got some fried bread.

You eat it with condensed milk.  We asked for an extra plate of condensed milk.  (Sometimes it's not that great to share.)

Later Peter arrived and ordered some other fried bread thing that turned out to be really flat fish cakes.  Surprises at Chinese restaurants can be so fun !  These particularly fishy cakes would've tasted great with congee also.

The complimentary house dessert is a bowl of slightly warm tapioca rice coconut milk soup with bits of taro.  It's nice.  It's free !

This place had exceptionally good service for a Chinatown spot, with our tea cups being refilled continuously.  I suspect it might be because our waiter was in love with Jamie.  You'll just have to verify if that's true when you go and don't get great service.

Han's Nonsensical Rating: This place is just o-clay - pretty good little bang for your buck.  And word on the street is that if you order this for delivery, they will bring it to you in the the clay pot which is yours for you to keep !  

A Wah
5 Catherine St  New York, NY 10038