Mission Chinese Food, NYC - Mission Accepted!

I had been dying to try Mission Chinese Food since I read about it in New York Magazine about a month ago. From then on, every time I read anything about food, it seemed that Mission Chinese was mentioned. It was even rated by Zagat as one of the best new restaurants in the world! There was so much buzz going that I really wondered was this all just hype? I had to find out for myself...

The one thing that I kept reading everywhere was to expect at least a two hour wait, and I was not too thrilled about that so I decided to go really early on a Tuesday night. When I walked up to the restaurant, I saw that everything I had read about the "curb appeal" was in fact true. It looked like a complete hole in the wall! But looks can be deceiving. They open at 5:30pm for dinner, and I was there by 5:45pm and was told I could be seated immediately, the only problem was that my fellow foodies had not yet arrived. I put in my name and phone number, and I assured the hostess that they would be here soon, and to please hold our spot. By the time the girls arrived, we probably only waited another twenty minutes, so over all this went pretty smoothly. And we got free beer from a keg at the entrance while we waited!

When our turn came to be seated, the hostess led us down a narrow hallway past the kitchen into a small room with red lighting and a huge paper dragon hanging from the ceiling. I have never been to China, but in my mind this is what it would look like. The three of us were squeezed into what should have been a two top, but we made it work. As for the menu, I had been scoping it out for days and reading all about the favorites so I had some ideas on what to order, and of course I let the girls pick some as well. We ended up ordering:

Fresh Rice Noodles - peanut sauce, preserved mustard stems, yuba, cucumber, chili oil

The noodles were thick ribbons cut short and would stick together so you'd end up with a big chunk of noodles, but the peanut sauce was delicious, not too thick or overwhelming. I am so glad we ordered this dish because it was a mild one, and the fresh cucumber really soothed my burning tongue.

Spicy Scallop Sashimi - Hokkaido scallop, quince, crispy sweetbreads

This was another one that provided some comfort to our burning mouths... It was a small dish and very delicate. I wish I would have tried this before all the spicy ones because the scallop taste was lost to my now senseless tongue.

Kung Pao Pastrami - peanuts, celery, potato, explosive chili

Wow was this hot! I had high hopes for this dish as I read it was one of the favorites, but it wasn't mine. The flavors were great, don't get me wrong, the crunchy peanuts with the raw celery in the tasty brown sauce were amazing, but the pastrami itself I wasn't too crazy about. It was almost lost in the rest of the dish. It was cut into very small pieces, and too chewy for my taste. And I didn't see any potatoes in this dish (though it was listed as an ingredient).

Fish Fragrant Eggplant - celery, sunflower seeds, basil, fried garlic

This was a delicious surprise for me. I hadn't seen many reviews on this one, but it was my cousin's pick and the flavors were just brilliant. I am a big fan of garlic, and I love it with eggplant. The eggplant was very tender without being too mushy, and the sauce was so rich and delicious I put it all over my barley rice. Also it was pretty mild for Mission standards, and was quite enjoyable.

Chongqing Chicken Wings - explosive chili, crispy beef tripe

Daniel Bowien was not exaggerating when he listed explosive chili as the first ingredient. I love spicy food, but these wings made water come out of every orifice on my face. But that was not going to stop me from eating them! The wings, in addition to being incredibly spicy, were also scrumptious. The meat was tender, and coated with dry spices instead of the spicy wings we are used to which come from the sauce. The flavors were truly embedded inside the wing and left a lasting impression - on my tongue, lips, and all over my mouth!

Egg Egg Noodles - soft hen egg, ginger, scallion, Chinese sausage

This was probably one of my favorites, which is not surprising because I love my noodles! I loved the presentation with all the ingredients arranged on top of the noodles including the hen egg, which you have to burst and mix yourself. The egg was smooth and creamy and made a delightful sauce with the egg noodles. The Chinese sausage was in little bits and seemed to be fried. I honestly didn't even realize it was sausage while I was eating it.

Barley Rice

It was your run of the mill steamed rice with some barley in it, but it became our life saver after the hot dishes. One bite chicken wing, one bite barley rice, one bite Kung Pao Pastrami, one bite rice...
Smashed Cucumbers - salted chili, sesame paste, garlic (OK we didn't actually order this one, but somehow it ended up at our table and so we ate it)

I'm so glad this accidentally ended up at our table because it was very refreshing and a nice juxtaposition to all the heavier meaty dishes. And again I love garlic!

And yes, we did eat all of this food and yes I did say there were only three of us! I wish I could do a better job in describing it all, but it was so full of exotic ingredients, flavors, spices and seasonings that it's rather difficult to put into words. It's just something you have to experience for yourself in order to understand. I do think all the hype was worth it, and I will definitely go back to try more of the menu. However, I would do a few things differently, and I recommend you do the same - first, make sure to balance the hot dishes with mild dishes. If we hadn't had that, we would have probably died! Secondly, try all of the mild dishes first so you can savor those flavors before losing sense in your tongue. But make sure to save some for when you are eating the spicy dishes (as the dishes come out in no particular order). Lastly, when you eat the wings, do not lick your lips!

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