Hi friends, welcome back! Jon and I recently joined another food tour and had such a great time! Scott from Ultimate Food Tours reached out to see if we’d be interested in joining one of his tours and it was an easy yes! He created Ultimate Food Tours in 2019 and now offers six tours including: Chinatown, Iconic Foods of the Lower East Side, Famous Jewish Foods of the Upper East Side, Broadway Bites and Famous Sites, Koreatown, and a Soho Desser Tour. The tours cost $90, going rate in NYC, and run about three hours. In addition to food tours they offer cooking classes that would be perfect for corporate team building or other larger groups. To learn more about Ultimate Food Tours and Scott’s story, you can check out his webisode of CNBC’s Making It. You never know where life will take you!
Jon and I chose to attend the Chinatown tour, and it was unique from other tours we’d joined because it featured one cuisine. We live about a twenty-minute walk from Chinatown, so we were looking forward to exploring more of the neighborhood too. We met at 11am on a Sunday and funnily enough the father daughter duo from a prior tour were also participants, but this time they brought the rest of the family. We had eight people total, including Scott, and it was the perfect amount. Our guide started the tour with a history of the neighborhood, and then before we had each dish, he explained the region of China it’s from and the unique flavors of the area.
Our first stop was at Shu Jiao Fu Zhou for some peanut noodles. It’s such a simple dish, but so delicious! We’ve heard this place is very popular so make sure you come early or there’ll be a decent line. We beat the lunch crowd so we didn’t have to wait for our food or a table for the whole group. Off to a great start!
We then headed to New Spicy Village and this stop was the favorite of the group. We had the most refreshing cucumbers that we all loved and wished we could recreate at home, and some soup dumplings. The dumplings were so flavorful especially with a little chili oil.
Scott said the next place was a hidden gem and he wasn’t joking. We went in the unassuming East Broadway Mall and in the basement was WZW (Fu Zhou Wei Zhong Wei Jia Xiang Feng We on Google Maps). I never would’ve known about this place if not for the tour. We had their perfectly fried dumplings and man were they good, especially with their special sauce!
We made a quick stop outside Dim Sum Go Go for a duck spring roll and it was so flavorful with a nice crunch. This restaurant is Michelin rated for having good quality, good value cooking.
Next we sat down at Szechuan Hot Pot Cuisine for some delicious green beans and the spiciest Fish Ma La Tang (fish soup). I think I’m going to order that the next time I’m congested ha!
We ended the tour on a sweet note at New Kam Hing trying a variety of sponge cakes. The butterscotch was my favorite of the ones we tried. They were so light and a perfect way to end the tour.
I liked it all, but my favorite stop is a tie between the peanut noodles and soup dumplings. Jon’s favorite was the soup dumplings then the peanut noodles. The tour lasted about three hours but felt like it flew by. Scott made the experience seamless, so we were never waiting around and always had plenty to eat. He said he has a problem overordering and that was music to our ears. I’d highly recommend joining a tour with Ultimate Food Tours! If you’re interested, you can use the code Lyssy10 to save 10% off on any tour taken through the end of August 😊