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Grand St (B, D)
Bowery (J, M)
Delancey-Essex Sts (F, J, M, Z)
"I discovered this dim sum oasis after seeking refuge from the nearby canal street. Service was very fast and friendly and the food...well,…" read more »
Well there are already a mixed group of reviews here, so probably should bring out another perspective. Egg Tarts are the key point here, and in the morning as people are going to work, there can be a line, so expect some time to wait, but like all the other Chinese bakeries, service is very fast, and usually dependent on the customer whipping out their wallet to purchase their goods.
Service is as you can expect in a Chinese bakery. So take it with a grain of salt.
In the morning also, there is a small selection of breakfast goods for purchase, so if you miss going to the Egg Custard King on Mott Street, go to this one or the Brooklyn version.
I don't know if I went to the right place, but I went to 271 Grand Street; which is the address listed on yelp. It had a different name though... I forgot what.. but, it was a person's name... anyways. It was just a regular chinese bakery. But they do have the egg tarts with different flavors. I wasn't as adventutous. I only had the regular ones and the almond one. it was okay. But, their crust was super flaky. It was good. Plus, I have never seen different flavored ones. So A+ for creativitiy.
What pompous bakery would ever proclaim that they are KING of something, unless they were REALLY THAT GOOD? Also, Honeydew, Banana, Portugese, Strawberry, Egg White egg tarts? At first, I was appalled at the bastardization of a traditional Chinese pastry, both eaten during breakfast and during snack time.
Ordered:
-Portugese Egg Tart ($0.90) - just came out of the oven, freshly baked, had to get one, flaky, crusty, if given a choice, this would probably be my last snack before I die, YES, IT'S THAT GOOD!
-Iced Tea w/ Milk (16oz/$1.50) - way too creamy, but flavor was good, Mei Lai Wah Bakery still kicks its ass
-Tea/Coffee blend ($1) [hot] - this was OK
Total came out to $3.45 after everything
Pics: http://www.meetup.com/...
For those of you who thought Chinese pastry was ruled by a Communist regime, you are wrong. It's a monarchy. Actually a duarchy since this is their 2nd branch. They seem nice, though, so if a Tibetan donut shop opened next door, I think they'd let them bake autonomously.
They've got savory items but I have a thing where if a place is named after a dessert, I stick to dessert. (That includes you Cheesecake Factory!). I went with the egg custard tart which is like 90 cents. (Here's a picture/explanation if you don't know what one is http://en.wikipedia.or...).
Granted, fruit tarts look more appealing since, despite eggs being in most desserts, the only dessert as blatantly egg-y as an egg tart is the Cadbury Creme Egg. But these egg tarts are very good. The egg custard is sweet but not Cadbury sweet and the tart is really flaky. These are comparable in quality to those @ Fey Da which has three Chinatown locations.
So worthwhile stop if you're in the 'hood (right near B/D Grand St. stop).
the egg tarts here are OK, but no match for Golden Gate Bakery Dan Tat in Chinatown SF. but i like the fact that theres a different variety of egg tarts at Egg Custard King!!! must try all of them whenever i come back to NYC.
While most people come here for the egg custards, few know of the 3 buns for $1 deal every night. It used to be that at 7:15 pm, a huge line will form for the sale starting at 7:30 pm. The sale has now been earlier - 6:30 or 7 pm, depending on when they decide to start.
Decent bakery goods for cheap. I like the blueberry cake slice. The ladies behind the counter could be nicer and more efficient though...
I've just come back from my umpteenth encounter with this place, and I can't resist writing a review for an under-rated and not very thoroughly reviewed.
My first time at Egg Custard King Cafe, I tried their egg tarts. All of them. My friends and I ordered one of each and split it. The banana was a little too intense and tasted a bit like the banana flavored Runt candies that everyone leaves for last and then discards. Strawberry and Melon were all right, but the original pastry was as always, excellent! Warm and not too runny but not too firm, with a just-right flaky crust, this place is the end all of egg tarts in Manhattan Chinatown.
But it doesn't stop there! ECKC also does a very surprisingly wide variety of GOOD pastries and buns. I have yet to sample their delectable cake display, but their Chinese buns are all moist, fluffy, and have the proper fillings. Their Gai Mei Bao (literally: cocktail buns) are probably the best I've had from C-town, but the most pleasantly surprising thing that I've found here are their Gee Bui Dan Go (paper cup sponge cakes). It's my point of comparison for every bakery, and most of them make overbaked cakes that very barely resemble cake. but ECKC's cake is eggy and spongy and moist. Really, the best I've ever had.
Their drinks are also tasty! On a hot day, consider paying a bit more for their iced HK Milk tea (as opposed to regular milk tea), as it's got a bit more gritty complexity than the regular milk tea.
For a place that really only advertises their egg tarts, they are surprisingly competent at much, much more. A few tips on ordering-- 1)if you're looking to get a collection of breads, someone will get them for you. They don't like strange paws in the bun boxes. 2) order drinks after you've gotten your breads. Then you can pay together. 3)If you want egg tarts, order them after your breads as well. 4) Yes, service is terrible here, but really? You expect more from Chinatown?
Don't come here! Go to the original Egg Custard King on Mott St.
They have like 4-5 women standing at the bakery counter - and there is still a line of maybe 3 people waiting to have someone take their order...
I ordered take out - baked portuguese chicken with spaghetti... they told me it would take 20 minutes, it ended up taking over 40 minutes.. i asked at the 30 minute mark where it was, and they yelled at me and said it takes time.. i was like its been 30 minutes, they immediately asked the chef upstairs.. it came down they wrapped it up.. i went home
the whole dish was burned - the top was brown, and the bottom spaghetti was burned crisp.. fortunately i lived close enough that i could go back.. i yelled at them and asked how the cashier could possibly package this up for me when she could see that the top is brown.. she just said to me "its baked, its supposed to be brown"
there was no real apology, i asked for my money back and they gave it..
if you want this type of food, go to XO Kitchen - the service is much better and the food is amazing!
I've been to both the Mott St. location and this one. Grand St. wins hands down! You can taste the freshness here, and it is spot on. The Mott St. tarts are a bit off. When they are having an off day, their tarts can be a bit stale and a slight hair under the desired sweetness. So far, I have not had this problem with the Grand St. one.
Egg Custard King has the best egg tarts in NY! I always order the original flavor, but the Portugese Egg Tart is a close second. I have yet to find a better place that serves these flaky-crusted, sweet yellow centers of joy. That is essentially what an egg tart is supposed to be, and don't you forget that!
I may be biased since this was the first of the two locations that I did visit, but it is definitely the better of the 2... the egg custards seem more fresh and than the Grand Street location which always seem code and sitting there for awhile.
The thing I don't like about this place is it is cramped, small, and difficult to maneuver in. The claustrophobic in me wouldn't want to eat here!
I honestly haven't tried anything other than the egg custards. My favorite is the almond egg custard. You really get a good almond smell and taste from this one. My 2nd favorite would be the Portugese one that is like creme brulee with sugar burned on top. I've had better but this is not bad.
The strawberry one tastest so artificial and candy like. And finally we have the honeydew egg custard. This has to be the weirdest one I've tasted and again is very artifical like.
Best egg custard I've had in a Chinese bakery. Get the ones that look a little burned on top.
The Hong Kong style fast food they serve here is a nice bonus, but as the name states, the egg custards are the reason to go here. Eating one while it's still warm is something you don't want to miss.
WORST Egg Custard King EVER. Compared to the one of Mott St., this is the worst. I ordered just some french fries to go and I waited nearly 20-30 minutes...and there wasn't a lot of fries either! What the hell? My mom and I were just going to walk out the door when they were like, "You can't walk out now." and saying it was "almost" ready. So, I waited about 10 more minutes until it finally came, and they weren't cooked well, which pissed me off..bad customer service, attitude and slow on cooking. Give me about 10-15 minutes, and I'm done cooking that shit on peanut oil.
This Egg Custard King Cafe location is quaint, larger than the first, and overlooks a park. They have several different types of egg custards available, but we were more thirsty than anything else and ended up getting drinks.
Apparently the staffer behind the counter didn't speak enough English (or I didn't speak enough Chinese) so ordering was an amusing exercise involving lots of pointing and repetition. She was nice, and even brought me a bathroom key so I could wash my hands. (In the bathroom, there was a handwritten sign in Chinese on the wall but no translation - is there something I should know?)
We shared a decent mango mousse that was freaking cheap ($1.75)! $3.50 got me a refreshing, light lychee smoothie that wasn't super sweet. When it came out, I was given a spoon. "What for?" I thought, then dug around and uncovered a few lychee buried in the smoothie. Good times!
this place gets an extra star for the EXCELLENTLY NICE lady who mans the bun station. WTF? this is chinatown?
the buns are the usual fare, i enjoyed the flaky pastry chicken bun but it is a bit different from others because it contains a lot of potatoes (not bad tasting, but i'd call it a potato bun and not a chicken bun), the coconut creme has a great creme to bun ratio, and surprisingly good was the chicken cutlet sandwich for $1.75.
I plan to go back to try the chow fun.
Got a plain egg tart and a Portuguese egg tart. Both were pretty good, I preferred Portuguese but I usually do anyway. Nice crust and filling. Not the best I've had, but it would do when you have a craving for egg tarts. I didn't try any of the funky flavors, mostly because a woman behind the counter couldn't explain what flavors they were. Next time I'll try the almond one.
This newer location of the Egg Custard King on Grand seems to out-duel the Mott Street location for a number of reasons. Unlike the claustrophobic basement on Mott Street, the place is larger and above ground. With a less touristy location there are less crowds and there seems to be greater variety here in terms of egg tarts and overall pastries.
Another thing that makes it easier to eat here is the fact you have an opportunity to sit down and people watch out of the windows. This should be the flagship bakery of the two kings.
Egg Custard King is really the king of Chinese egg custards. The crust is made perfect here, the custard is just firm and at the same time, just soft enough. AND they have multiple flavors for their egg custards. When you come here, don't bother with their other bakery items (they're not that great anyway..), just start pointing at all the custards you've always dreamed of eating!
Even though table service at BOTH Egg Custard King's is so awful, I am a big fan of this place, and will brave the 30-40 minute wait at the table (while the servers idle around giving you their 'tude) to chow-down on their delicious HK-styled dishes. Everything is SO good and so cheap. This place is really a quality restaurant masquerading as a small pastry shop. There must be some kind of magical kitchen in the basement because the dishes come up on these little elevators and are always so yummy. Their black bean garlic chicken and their curry "beef stew" are my favorites. They also have these cute HK lunch specials that include strange snacky things like ramen noodles, shrimp balls, and boba tea, all in the same meal. I really adore this place, even though it gets minus a star for the almost non-existent service.
This place is great in a pinch....Their food is mostly fresh, and the service is acceptable. Cheap prices (although I haven't yet had anything with custard inside, so take my review with a grain of salt..), but everything else I've had, including the hot tea drinks, little cakes, and other assorted truffles, has been more than sumptuous.
A friend and I were enticed into the Egg Custard King while on our way to an event in the area. However, I cannot comment to whether the pastries are good because after waiting at the counter for approximately 5 minutes, unacknowledged (although several Cantonese speaking customers walked passed us to be served), we decided that the establishment had very poor customer service and walked out. We will not be going back!
one of the best portuguese tart outside of macau. other tarts were pretty good too. fast and friendly service. other pastries were very affordably priced.
yummy egg tart custards. they came out warm and were just right. flaky pastry. they had different flavors there but i didn't try them since i didn't recognize the chinese descriptions. looks yummy tho. i could definitely see how this place would have bad service if you don't speak cantonese. i spoke mandarin and still felt like they didn't understand me. that's when you just point and nod. =)
All You Can Eat & Drink $31.95
Neighborhood: Upper East Side
Peking Duck Lunch Special
Neighborhood: Midtown East
Neighborhood: Two Bridges
Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: Chinatown
Category: Chinese
Neighborhood: Lower East Side
Category: Bakeries
Neighborhood: Lower East Side
Category: Ethnic Food
Neighborhood: Chinatown
Category: Chinese
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