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“Xing”

Occasion:	Cuisine:	Area:	Cost:	Rating:
Night Out	Asian	Midtown	Moderate	Great

of eaters.

Our GNO dinner was a Chinese Banquet of riches—platters of crispy egg rolls, baskets of glistening dumplings, steamy bowls of fried rice—washed down with endless bottles of wine. One tip—make sure you go hungry because you will want to have room for lots of Josh’s Greatest Hits, because indeed (for the most part) they are GREAT.

Our banquet feast began with golden, utterly greaseless Egg Rolls ($3) stuffed to steam pipe size with shredded vegetables and pork, with a sweet and sticky duck sauce, and a platter of slender Shrimp Rolls ($6) delicately filled up with whole sweet shrimp and veggies, served with lettuce leaves, fresh mint and cilantro. Tuck some herbs in between the lettuce leaf and the shrimp roll, wrap it up, and dip it in some sweet and sour sauce and you pretty much have the perfect edible experience—the hot, crispy wonton skin, the sweet and juicy shrimp, the cool lettuce, and the refreshing flash of herbs.

The table was then assaulted with a wow-worthy Chilled Green Bean Salad ($8)—fresh, crisp, snappy beans showered with fresh toasted garlic. Next came Peking Duck Rolls ($9) with rich hoisin sauce. While I loved the crispy skinned slices of Peking Duck inside, the rolls were wrapped up a few too many times, so that the wrapper to duck ratio was off: too much wrapper, not enough duck. Sadly, I wasn’t really impressed with the Shrimp Hargow ($6) either. The glistening oval dumplings were fine, but they were sort of flavorless, and they were impossible to eat with Xing’s fancy shiny black chopsticks. These chopsticks may look cool, but they are too slippery. They don’t give you a grip on the dumplings—so those suckers just slip right through onto your lap, or if you are lucky, the plate in front of you. (They landed in my lap.) So to eat the dumplings, you’ve got to use a single chopstick like a harpoon and stab the thing, or just pick them up with your hands. Note to Xing: lose the fancy chopsticks.

But there were no complaints about the Crispy Shrimp ($12) with sweet pineapple mayonnaise. These flash fried shrimp—plump, moist, and hot—are plated on a creamy sauce made of condensed milk, mayo and pineapple juice. While I don’t know if I would ever combine the aforementioned ingredients, I am glad Josh had the brilliant foresight to do so. You will want to eat these with your hands and then lick your fingers and t ... [more, click below]

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Posted: March 20, 2005

Other restaurants in Midtown :
+ Lever House   + Aquavit   + RM   + Joseph's (formerly Citarella The Restaurant)   + Town   + Artisanal   + The Oyster Bar   + Geisha   + David Burke and Donatella Restaurant   + Riingo   + Amma   + Cafe Sabarsky   + The Stone Rose Lounge   + BLT Steak   + V, The Steakhouse-- Closed   + Bar Masa   + Cafe Gray   + The Bar Room at The Modern   + The Cafe at Aquavit   + The Cafe at Aquavit   + Bistro du Vent-- Closed   + Shaburi   + Xing   + The Modern   + Bar Americain   + Alto   + Park Blue   + Mainland-- Closed   + Nobu 57   + Quality Meats   + Dona-- CLOSED   + Daisy May's   + 7Square-- CLOSED   + Amalia   + Fireside   + Anthos   + Patroon   + BLT Market   + Toloache   + Mia Dona   + Park Avenue Summer   + Convivio   + The Oak Room by guest reviewer Julie Besonen   + At Vermilion by guest reviewer Elaine Weiner   + Lunching at Inakaya, by guest reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Marea, by Guest Reviewer Susan Kane Walkush   + Le Bernardin   + New York Central -- A Reason To Eat at the Grand Hyatt Again   + Pampano Botaneria by Dara Pollak   

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