Peachy Picks China Spice

SO DELICIOUS AND HEALTHY YOU WILL HARDLY BELIEVE YOU ARE EATING CHINESE CUISINE!


China Spice first was featured in Terrific Takeout:
http://www.whomyouknow.com/2010/12/terrific-takeout-china-spice.html


Peachy Deegan thought China Spice was pretty nice so then they graduated to Tasty Tidbits:
http://www.whomyouknow.com/2011/02/tasty-tidbits-china-spice.html


We are pleased to announce they have soundly graduated to Peachy's Picks.  They are the only Asian restaurant to be recommended other than Geisha of the Serafina Group and they earned their star with us with the fabulous non-greasy cuisine that is several steps above your local takeout, the friendly service of the Wong family, and the pristine dining area which has been totally renovated since the last tenant.  You should all be thanking God that Jessica had a baby in New York, which is what made her parents, Chef Peter Wong and Hostess with the Mostess Susan Wong, leave their established Boston restaurant and transition to New York.  China Spice has been open for two months so far.

Carnivore Peachy just had to start off with the BBQ Spareribs.  She has loved these since childhood and they are absolutely fabulous at China Spice.  Terrifically meaty and with minimal grease, you will become quickly addicted to this appetizer.  Actually, if fitting into her cocktail dress would never be an issue the truth is she would probably eat a pile of these every day...

Peachy carries the rib addiction to the rice, which is not greasy and absolutely phenomenal.  This is a staple of Chinese food to Peachy and she has not had any better roast pork fried rice in New York.  During the meal, Scott White was attentive and did an excellent job.

For her entree, she chose the Triple Jade delight which she loved because it combined her love of seafood with her obsession for the color green.  You should keep in mind she IS competitively Irish.  The Jumbo Prawn, sliced chicken (and it is important to note they use PERDUE chicken which is very important to us not only because it is great chicken but also because Mitzi is a total peach and you ought to read her book; read our review ) and scallops sauteed with broccoli, snow peapods, and string beans.  We also ordered a side of string beans and the hottest vegetable around: pea shoots.  You should know you can order in levels of spiciness, you should know that their curry has a great reputation as Chef Peter makes it from scratch, and you should know that if you don't want to have a heart attack by age 40 this is where you should be ordering your Chinese from.  And the desserts were total standout winners!  But don't just listen to Peachy alone, she brought her fabulous panel and here's what they had to say:

Every New Yorker knows that when it comes to Chinese food, there are endless options in Manhattan! How to make the decision as to where to dine?  Easy, thanks to China Spice!  This delightful new restaurant on the Upper East Side features an excellent menu with a wide variety of options and has been completely gutted and remodeled by its new owners.  It is sparklingly clean and provides a pleasant atmosphere for dining in, although when we dined, their takeout/delivery service seemed to be doing a brisk business as well!  I was impressed not only by the cleanliness of the restaurant and the warm, friendly staff, but by the freshness and quality of the food.  Everything there is cooked in vegetable-based oils (no nuts), which gives food a lighter feel than a lot of other Chinese food I’ve experienced in the city.  To start, I had the hot and sour soup, which was absolutely delicious.  It was the perfect combination of spicy and tangy, and the tofu and the vegetables were all perfectly tender.  

For my main course, I had the tropical mango chicken, which was lightly pan-fried and then simmered in a tangy mango sauce.  The chicken (all white meat) was beautifully cooked, and was served with fresh bell peppers, mango, and onions, all of which were served in the delectable mango sauce – it was a wonderful combination of flavors and a quite satisfying meal.  As good as the entire meal was, the surprise hit of the night was dessert!  All of the desserts are homemade, and one of my fellow panelists and I opted to split the cappuccino truffle, which was cappuccino gelato with a creamy espresso core, covered in coffee-flavored meringue flakes.  It was beautifully presented and even better tasting! Sweet, but not cloyingly so, it was the perfect end to a terrific meal.

Peter Wong's China Spice restaurant, tucked neatly on York Avenue on the UES, is a refreshing take on Chinese food in NYC.  Its remarkably clean, simply decorated interior coupled with its extremely friendly staff makes it a welcoming destination.  Unlike many Chinese restaurants in NYC, China Spice prides itself on using "the freshest ingredients combined with Chef Peter Wong's homemade Asian sauces that have been perfected over the years."  Representing fish-eating vegetarians, I ordered an array of dishes suitable to my needs.  I started my meal with steamed veggie homemade dumplings, which consisted of very finely chopped vegetables inside light, somewhat gooey dough.  Although a bit salty for my taste, the dumplings had a nice, mild flavor, and the ingredients definitely seemed pure.  For my main course, I ordered one of the Chef's Signature Specials -- the Shrimp with Honey Walnuts.  This dish consisted of shrimp with pineapple in a fresh mango sauce topped with crunchy honey candied walnuts and broccoli, and came with a choice of white or brown rice on the side (I opted for the brown).  The sweet mango/pineapple flavor used in this dish was extremely unusual and tasty -- it could almost be desert!  The brown rice was perfectly cooked and the candied walnuts and broccoli complimented the sweet shrimp quite nicely.  Finally, for dessert, I ordered the Exotic Bomba, which was hands down the best dish of the night.  China Spice offers a wide range of non-Chinese deserts, and the Bomba, in my opinion, was the best dessert at the table and Peachy agrees; it is pictured below.  It consisted of mango, passion fruit and raspberry sorbetto covered in white chocolate and drizzled with dark chocolate, which was placed on top of a wonderful passion fruit sauce.  The mixture of white and dark chocolate with the various sorbetto flavors and passion fruit sauce was absolutely fantastic!  To conclude, China Spice is a great choice if you are looking for fresh and pure Chinese food with unusual and pleasing flavors -- and wonderful dessert!

It was very refreshing to walk into a restaurant in NYC for dinner and find your party are the only ones in the restaurant. This only seems to happen when you eat at odd hours or the place is yet to be discovered – or, in this case, both. The ambiance was un-invasive. A clean décor, with some traditional Chinese prints on the wall and uplifting classical music playing at a perfect volume set the stage for enjoying food and conversation without distraction. Regarding the food, I must preempt by stating I am a particularly fussy eater. I am vegetarian and I try to avoid fried food, onions, garlic and an excess of sugar or salt. I do not prefer Chinese food on the whole as I find it too heavy and full of things my body struggles to digest. However, I was nicely surprised. For an appetizer I shared the “Asian Salad” and the Dumplings -steamed. It is important to note the Wongs are totally accommodating to whatever your dietary preferences are. The salad was pretty basic: Iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and soft and crunchy noodles. (Onions were not mentioned on the menu and avocados were, but when I alerted them to this they happily produced a quarter avocado.) The dumplings were filled with very fresh, crunchy veggies although I found them too salty for my palate.  For my main course I decided to live on the edge a little and stray from the safety of steamed veggies & brown rice. I ordered the “Drunken Noodles.” My drunken noodles were very wide and thin and deliciously tossed with red and green peppers, jalapenos and egg - more ingredients than stated on the menu, which I was happy about, and with a special request for no added salt. We were informed the food was cooked in vegetable oil rather than the heavier, more traditional peanut oil, which made the food unusually clean and light. The deserts, of which we shared three between us (another rare undertaking on my part!) were about as Chinese as Peachy Deegan! The Molten Chocolate Cake could have been more “chocolatey” – (it seemed more like chocolate flavored,) the Espresso Truffle was my personal favorite – like Café au Lait on the outside, with a dark shot of espresso in the middle. Lastly the Exotic Bomba was as you’d expect – sweet and tangy. All were wonderfully presented and with all the sweetness one would crave after a salty meal and thus, duly satisfying! Over all my experience was a good one. As a careful eater, I am always thankful and loyal to restaurants that will accommodate me. I would recommend China Spice as a well-priced, good, clean place to eat with fresh food, good service and a friendly family-style atmosphere.

1588 York Ave
New York, NY 10028

            212-535-5223      
            212-535-5233      
FAX: 212-535-5204
http://chinaspicenyc.com/