Chinatown, Manhattan · restaurant
Cash only, candy-apple-red server jackets, and complimentary fried wonton strips hitting the table before you’ve opened the menu. Hop Lee still runs on old Chinatown rhythm. The seafood is the reason people return: honey walnut shrimp lacquered in sweet mayo and whole steamed bass in black bean sauce built for loud, crowded round tables and shared plates.
Salty, oily black bean sauce over a whole fish—the definitive Hop Lee order.
Tender, juicy Cantonese duck—shareable and also a crowd fave.
Plump fried shrimp doused in a sweet mayo hoisin. The crowd favorite here.