When we moved from rural New Hampshire to the Greater New York City area in June, the idea of taking the kids into the city seemed a bit daunting. But I’ve discovered that the key to taking kids into the city is being prepared and organized!
Two weeks ago, we successfully visited Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Last weekend, we decided to treat the older kids to a tour of Chinatown!
There are three things you should know before venturing into Chinatown.
1. There are virtually no public restrooms anywhere, so make a pit stop before you go!
2. No matter when you go, there are a ton of people walking around, so prepare to be jostled. If you are bringing a little one, consider a front or back carrier over a stroller.
3. Bring cash, because almost no one takes credit/debit cards.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way…
From any given point in north NJ, there are commuter bus and train stops that go into the city, but the roundtrip price of tickets for our family was going to cost at least $65. We decided that we could probably find parking for much less, and we did using http://nyc.bestparking.com/ – a website that lets you enter a part of the city and then finds the cheapest parking. We simply entered “Chinatown” and found a dozen places to park ranging from $10-$18 – what a deal! Make sure you read the restrictions carefully though, because we discovered that taking our minivan instead of the sedan would have been an additional $10. Also, some parking spots require you to print a coupon.
Once we had our parking plan in place, it took us about 45 minutes to drive 15 miles into the city. A detour took us a bit longer than usual, but it was a pleasant and easy ride. Once in the city, we easily located our parking site, left our keys, and walked about 10 minutes to Canal Street. Once your enter Canal Street, you realize that you’re officially in Chinatown. There are street vendors everywhere, hawking everything from tasty tiny mini-cakes (15 for $1!) to fresh fruit and seafood, and small animals made from straw and grass. Venders can be aggressive, bargaining is expected, and cash is king.
As we made our way down Canal Street, I was glad we had left the girls at home. There is no way we would have been able to get a stroller down these sidewalks. One things the girls would definitely miss though, is the food! The smells emanating from restaurants as we passed them made us hungry. We decided to go off the beaten path a bit and walked down past the Manhattan Bridge to Eldrige Street. There, we found the Super Taste Restaurant. The small restaurant has a limited menu, and nothing like what you see in a Chinese restaurant back home. My husband and I ordered the house special, a bowl of handmade noodles with beef and spinach. My youngest son ordered the noodle bowl with eggs and the oldest ordered it with dumplings. We also ordered a side of dumplings to share and some Chinese iced green and black tea. The food was amazing. The dumplings were steamed perfectly and the noodle dishes were so good we drank the broth afterwards. I can’t wait to go again to try the duck noodle bowl! Lunch for four people, was less than $30 (cash only). What a deal!
With our tummies mostly full, we ventured back down Canal Street to the corner of Bowery and took a peek at the Buddhist Temple. There were services going on, so we didn’t get a chance to take a peek at the huge golden Buddha housed inside, but we will on our next trip! We continued down Bowery Street and poked around a few shops. There were a wide variety of trinkets available, but we just looked. We were on a quest to find the popular Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. We hung a right onto Bayard Street and saw a huge line sticking out of a small storefront. We had found our destination, but were wary about waiting in the long line. With the temperature nearing 100 degrees and flavors like Black Sesame, Green Tea, Avocado, Taro, and Zen Butter, we decided to take the risk. We were glad we did! The line moved fast and once we were up front, we got to taste a few flavors before deciding on Almond Cookie. The ice cream was delicious and a bit pricey at $4.00 a scoop. And yes, it’s cash only.
Buddhist Temple on the corner of Canal and Bowery.
There was one more food item we wanted to try while we were in town: the famous Bubble Tea. If you haven’t heard of Bubble Tea, it’s a cold iced tea drink served with large tapioca pearls at the bottom. A big straw sucks them up as you take a sip of your tea. Chinatown is littered with tea bars offering this delicacy served in a variety of ways. My sons opted for the green apple tea and my husband and I tried the Thai iced bubble tea. While we definitely thought the tea was interesting, it wasn’t anything I’ll be rushing out to get – especially at $3.50 each!
While we finished our tea, we popped into the venerable Fay Da Bakery to get some goodies to take home. We sampled coconut buns, sweet rice rolls, and coconut raisin bread. Yummy! We also grabbed some dragon fruit and lychee from street venders for home.
After spending the afternoon eating our way through Chinatown, we decided to call it a day. By now, we were full and desperately in need of finding a bathroom. The only public restroom in Chinatown is the McDonald’s on Canal Street. Of course, because of this, the line to get in is about a mile long. So we decided to hit the Starbucks near the place we parked the car. That was a good call. We walked the rest of the way to our car, and then hopped on the highway for the ride home. We all had a great time and can’t wait to go back. There were so many other things to do and see that we didn’t have time for: Columbus Park, the inside of the Buddhist Temple, and of course – more food!
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