Hwa Yuan Szechuan - by John Henry Campbell
On Lunar New Year, me and some friends decided there would be no better occasion to mark our first trip to Chinatown. The first day of the Year of the Ox coincided with the first day of indoor dining reopening, which further emboldened us to take a leap into this relatively overlooked part of the city. Chinatown was vibrant and brimming with activity days before for their annual Lunar New Year Parade, undeterred by the pandemic. The vitality of the celebration was inspiring, and it functioned as a clean slate for the people and businesses in the neighborhood who in many ways bore the brunt of the economic hardship imposed by the pandemic, especially in its early stages when New York was branded as the “epicenter.”
Hwa Yuan has a rich backstory as well as a slightly upscale vibe that separates it from most casual eateries in Chinatown. Their most famous dish, cold sesame noodles, was divined by its visionary chef and founder, Yu Fa Tang, who immigrated to America from Taiwan in the 60’s and was locally known as “Shorty” in his heyday. In 1967, his restaurant, originally named Hwa Yuan Szechuan Inn, set up shop on East Broadway, and for years maintained its status in the top echelon of restaurants representing the eponymous region of China before its unfortunate closing. Fast forward a few decades later, and an exciting revival had begun for the restaurant, as Tang’s son Chien Lieh Tang retained his father’s recipes and reopened Hwa Yuan in the same location in 2017.
Arriving on East Broadway I took in a dazzling scene, with rows of colorful lanterns strung above the street and storefronts with oversized Chinese characters dwarfing any semblance of English you’ll find in the area. Enjoying the privilege of strolling through a restaurant interior for the first time in months, I observed Hwa Yuan’s palatial space and was impressed if not a bit overwhelmed. To my immediate left on the first floor was a cavernous bar that also included several dining tables, where guests nibbled on whole fish entrees and other foods that you would be hard-pressed to find outside of Chinatown. Our group was seated on the second floor of the three-floor space, and I instantly felt an authentic vibe that radiated from the ornate decor on the walls, as well as the table settings that included elegant ebony chopsticks with a holder for each guest and china with the restaurant’s logo subtly imprinted in gold.
We stuck to a family-style form of dining as was the norm at Chinese restaurants; we ordered several shared small plates to start including sautéed Brussel sprouts with chile pepper, drizzled in a dense glaze and bursting with heat and sweet and savory flavor. This dish was certainly a highlight, as were the famous cold sesame noodles, which had a nutty, slightly sweet flavor that was understated enough for the chile to shine through; the fact that the dish was indeed sharply cold served to further accentuate the unique flavors. However, the notion I had that this restaurant could deliver an A+ dining experience was unfortunately misguided. Me and my friend ordered their pan-seared dumplings, which never came, something that made a lasting impression that aligned with our later determination that the restaurant was not outstanding, but merely mediocre.
The fried rice that we ordered as a more substantial main course was decent, but not outstanding. It was “Kung-pao” style, with the inexplicable inclusion of peanuts and generous amounts of Chile and Sichuan peppercorns, that certainly makes for an interesting if not totally palate-pleasing flavor profile. The next dish we got, Chicken with Chinese broccoli, was confounding in how much it differed from what we had visualized, and in its generally bland appearance. The chicken was pale and had no sauce, but was instead bathed in a sort of broth along with cumbersome stalks of broccoli, that altogether was far from appetizing. It didn’t taste too bad, but it more or less tasted like chicken soup; the tough broccoli wasn’t the easiest to eat with either the chopsticks or fork we were provided with.
Despite the slightly underwhelming food, Hwa Yuan gave me an interesting and insightful introduction to Manhattan’s Chinatown and how their establishments differed from the innumerable Chinese takeout options I was accustomed to. Chinatown’s restaurants will always surpass the city’s Americanized takeout options in both localized flair and authenticity, but on most occasions I’d take the reliability of my lo mien order from my neighborhood spot over leaping into the unknown and trying to find a good meal amid Chinatown’s foreign landscape and menus sprawling with options. However, this won’t be the last time I visit Chinatown, as it’s still a charming neighborhood with a lot to offer for people who embrace its unique character and spirit.
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