He Nan Hui Mian

HENAN CHINA

[UPDATE: Name has changed from Henan Feng Wei to He Nan Hui Mian, seems the same]

I had never eaten at a Henanese restaurant in New York, until now. Beneath the sidewalk on 41st Avenue in Flushing was born a small, humble, counter-service operation that puts out a limited but full menu of delicious items.

The place is very casual, a relaxed informal dining room. Grab a menu or read the wall, place your order at the register, and they'll call you up as each item is made. He repeated my orders back to me in Chinese as I said them, as if we mutually did not understand each other, but photos and menu numbers were enough as everything came out correctly.

We started off with an enormous plate of dumplings ($5, below), which probably could have filled two people up sufficiently on their own.

The lamb ramen ($5, below, large) seemed too tasty to pass up, and was an interesting mixture of noodles. It contained clear rice noodles, peeled noodles, and something a bit similar to actual ramen noodles, a nice fatty broth and a few chunks of tough lamb.

Finally, we also over-ordered and had the beef casserole ($8, below), which was the tastiest dish, full of flavor and packing a terrific punch. The meats soaked up their seasonings much better in this dish.

FLUSHING Queens
136-31 41st Avenue