Hidden Little Noodle House in Midtown

Advice taken from www.cheapassfood.com I went to this noodle house and was a little iffy because their menu had a lot of things that I wanted to eat but there was meat in it.  I had to try something that was meatless on their menu or ask them to modify the ingredients.  

Men Kui Tei 
60 W 56th St (between 5th & 6th ave)
212-757-1642

In all the "gourmet" deli's, the upscale restaurants, the dinners and everything else you see in NYC a place like this gets missed.  Well I'm glad for the CAF website.  I consider this place one of those "hole in the wall" places where the food is just good.

It was 2pm when I got there and I expected to miss the lunch crowd, but apparentely there's such a thing as a lunch crowd here, it seems to be crowded all the time.  I got in and was a little intimidated with all the craziness going on, but a hostess/waitress greeted me and I ordered.  They thought it was for take out but I corrected them and they seated me at the counter right in front of the kitchen where you can see the cooks cooking your food.  The only thing I ate was the fried rice, but had them make it shrimp only with no other meat.  I got my food in less than two minutes.  Added some soy sauce and I was off to the races, the fried rice was really good!  I sat there and tried to take my time eating it as I was watching the cooks cook the orders in record time.  

The fried rice had this homely taste to it, not like the regular Chinese food restaurants that I usually go to.  I'm going back to this place when I can eat meat and try some of their other dishes which sounded really good.  

Total damage here was $10 for the fried rice which filled me up ($8) and $2 for the tip.

Taste : 8.5 
Price : $ out of $$$ 
Restaurant : 8 (the crowdedness of the place and the kitchen added to the meal) 

+ mon