These photos were taken outside of the Sung Tak Buddhist Association, a gorgeous old building that was once a synagogue.
We went inside and quietly observed activity much like you see in this photo (which we did not take.) I greatly enjoyed listening to the bells and the chanting but after a while had a near asthma attack from all the burning incense.
Do you like going into odd-to-us-non-Asian grocery stores when visiting Chinatown? Of course you do. It’s one of the best things to do there. But, oftentimes, these stores are tiny and you can find yourself getting claustrophobic — particularly if there are live crabs snapping around at your feet. We suggest getting your butt over to the Hong Kong Supermarket on Pike Street between Henry and East Broadway. It is nearly an entire block long. And it is awesome. These photos just barely scratch the surface.
Eldridge Street still between Canal and Division Street features a monumental Synagogue (perfectly preserved as a museum piece only); a few odd looking offices with wooden, swinging doors that, I think, are hiring halls for day laborers; and tiny places to get noodle and/or fish ball soup.
Ann wisely went with the dumpling soup. It featured beef noodles (which are not beef, but are cooked in the presence of beef) and mustard greens.
I ordered “the special.”
It featured beef noodles, mustard greens, slices of beef, oxtails, some chunks of cartilage that may have been a) bits of oxtail light on meat or b) just for flavor, tripe (not too much, thank God) and, yes, a fried egg.
I didn’t eat it all. But what I did eat I enjoyed.
