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^^^^^ I’m not Chinese, but I have Chinese relatives (aunts, cousins, etc.) on both sides of my family. The older ones immigrated from China but the younger ones were born here in NY. They all prefer Flushing over Manhattan Chinatown as well. They’re all from and/or live in Queens though if that matters.
I still love Manhattan Chinatown though. Not just for the food but for the neighborhood itself too, with the narrow winding streets, the water, and the bridges. Also great Fuzhounese food in the Eastern part. They can be some of the cheapest but also most delicious meals you can find in Manhattan.
Also for Sunset Park the N train is express in both Manhattan and Brooklyn. I actually think it’s more convenient than the 7 express since the 7 only has one-direction peak express + only on weekdays while the N is express in both directions all day. The D train too is also express and nearby.
I do love the 7 train though and I really think the neighborhoods that it serves are the best in all of Queens with arguably the best food in all of NYC.
Well now I know what I’m eating next time I’m in Philly!
Yes I think people do display bias if they live in Queens, especially if they're not Cantonese/Fujianese. But I was talking about a strong preference to the point of hating Manhattan Chinatown, not just simply preferring Flushing.
A ton of young Chinese and Chinese-American people hang out in Lower Manhattan so it's not like young Chinese people don't care about Manhattan Chinatown/LES.
And I love Manhattan Chinatown too! It's like a more intense version of the LES. Although my favorite part is the area by the Grand St and East Broadway stops, which doesn't have those really narrow winding streets.
For Chinese food:
1. Vancouver
2. Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver
3. Fill in the blank with any other suburb of Vancouver.
4. Still somewhere in Vancouver.
5. Honorary mention: San Francisco.
Well now I know what I’m eating next time I’m in Philly!
Check out the area on Washington between Broad and like 5th. Lots of different Vietnamese places. There's even an entire shopping center on Washington/6th that's all Vietnamese grocers and stores and restaurants and boba places with Vietnamese iced coffee. Pho Ha was my favorite for pho.
NYC - Just the sheer amount variety and types
Chicago - Same as NYC
New Orleans - Love their unique food
Miami - Love the latin food you can get down there
Montreal - Love their local as well other places to eat.
Yes I think people do display bias if they live in Queens, especially if they're not Cantonese/Fujianese. But I was talking about a strong preference to the point of hating Manhattan Chinatown, not just simply preferring Flushing.
A ton of young Chinese and Chinese-American people hang out in Lower Manhattan so it's not like young Chinese people don't care about Manhattan Chinatown/LES.
And I love Manhattan Chinatown too! It's like a more intense version of the LES. Although my favorite part is the area by the Grand St and East Broadway stops, which doesn't have those really narrow winding streets.
Manhattan Chinatown is a very interesting place, and I like being there in parts for the interesting streets, architecture, etc. The food for Fujian and Cantonese is pretty good, but not much else beyond that on average. I still like hanging out there, but it's not my #1 place to get Chinese food unless we're talking about something like dim sum (there's a few great places there - better than Flushing).
There are people who have never been to Flushing though, and have no idea it even exists. This includes Chinese people. My fiancee made me remember meeting a couple last summer from Hong Kong who had just moved to NYC a few months prior. They'd been to Manhattan Chinatown many times and were clueless when we mentioned Flushing. They got very excited when they were shown pictures of the food. A lot of my fiancee's friends don't actually live in Queens. A lot actually live in Brooklyn, New Jersey, or Manhattan. Some of the ones in New Jersey if they have a lot of time actually go all the way to Flushing and we meet for food. If they don't have all day, we'll meet at a good place in Manhattan so they can get back to NJ easier. They all work in Manhattan though and we've met many times to eat in Flushing at night, and they are OK with going all the way back to NJ because the food they like to eat is that much better in Flushing.
I don't think there's a bias at all. In all honesty, I think amongst non-Chinese people (actually from China), there is more of a bias of thinking Manhattan Chinatown is the best place for Chinese food. I've heard it a lot from non-Chinese friends and coworkers. A lot are surprised by it. It's the same type of mentality that people think Little Italy in Manhattan is the absolute best place to get Italian food in the entire city. Just like Chinatown, this might have been true at some point, but in 2019 I don't think ti's true anymore at all.
Also Sunset Park - we should hang out there more. We've been there before, but last time was the first time we spent several hours hanging out multiple places. My fiancee remarked "if anything, this is much more of a Chinatown than Flushing or Manhattan because there's literally almost nobody else here except Chinese." Very true on that...
Manhattan Chinatown is a very interesting place, and I like being there in parts for the interesting streets, architecture, etc. The food for Fujian and Cantonese is pretty good, but not much else beyond that on average. I still like hanging out there, but it's not my #1 place to get Chinese food unless we're talking about something like dim sum (there's a few great places there - better than Flushing).
There are people who have never been to Flushing though, and have no idea it even exists. This includes Chinese people. My fiancee made me remember meeting a couple last summer from Hong Kong who had just moved to NYC a few months prior. They'd been to Manhattan Chinatown many times and were clueless when we mentioned Flushing. They got very excited when they were shown pictures of the food. A lot of my fiancee's friends don't actually live in Queens. A lot actually live in Brooklyn, New Jersey, or Manhattan. Some of the ones in New Jersey if they have a lot of time actually go all the way to Flushing and we meet for food. If they don't have all day, we'll meet at a good place in Manhattan so they can get back to NJ easier. They all work in Manhattan though and we've met many times to eat in Flushing at night, and they are OK with going all the way back to NJ because the food they like to eat is that much better in Flushing.
I don't think there's a bias at all. In all honesty, I think amongst non-Chinese people (actually from China), there is more of a bias of thinking Manhattan Chinatown is the best place for Chinese food. I've heard it a lot from non-Chinese friends and coworkers. A lot are surprised by it. It's the same type of mentality that people think Little Italy in Manhattan is the absolute best place to get Italian food in the entire city. Just like Chinatown, this might have been true at some point, but in 2019 I don't think ti's true anymore at all.
Also Sunset Park - we should hang out there more. We've been there before, but last time was the first time we spent several hours hanging out multiple places. My fiancee remarked "if anything, this is much more of a Chinatown than Flushing or Manhattan because there's literally almost nobody else here except Chinese." Very true on that...
I wasn't referring to just thinking that Flushing has better food, but thinking that Flushing is the center of the universe. There's a Chinese guy on the NYC forum who is constantly boosting Flushing and saying how he doesn't know. He also seems to have an anti-Cantonese bias. There are a ton of young Chinese and Chinese Americans who hang out in Manhattan Chinatown/LES, so it is clearly acceptible enough for many Chinese. Manhattan Chinatown also has a lot of non-food advantages over Flushing in my opinion, and I would much rather live in the former.
Though, Little Italy is really not comparable to Manhattan Chinatown because Little Italy is a tiny little area where Italians don't really live anymore (ditto Belmont).
I think lower Manhattan will eventually be able to compete with Flushing food wise if the trend of more regional Chinese restaurants opening up in the EV continues.
I wasn't referring to just thinking that Flushing has better food, but thinking that Flushing is the center of the universe. There's a Chinese guy on the NYC forum who is constantly boosting Flushing and saying how he doesn't know. He also seems to have an anti-Cantonese bias. There are a ton of young Chinese and Chinese Americans who hang out in Manhattan Chinatown/LES, so it is clearly acceptible enough for many Chinese. Manhattan Chinatown also has a lot of non-food advantages over Flushing in my opinion, and I would much rather live in the former.
Though, Little Italy is really not comparable to Manhattan Chinatown because Little Italy is a tiny little area where Italians don't really live anymore (ditto Belmont).
I think lower Manhattan will eventually be able to compete with Flushing food wise if the trend of more regional Chinese restaurants opening up in the EV continues.
Hm, I think you are understanding wrong on multiple levels.
A lot of the Chinese you see are from Guangdong in those areas, or maybe Fujian. Some are from elsewhere, but there's a lot from those areas living there. Manhattan Chinatown are good for these, so it makes sense that they live there.
However, when you're dealing with mainland Chinese outside of these regions, they often times don't live in Manhattan Chinatown but elsewhere in Manhattan or they don't live in Manhattan at all.
Also, this thought in your mind that we're advocating that they think Flushing is the center of the universe is completely and utterly false. Every one of my fiancee's friends loves hanging out in Manhattan. A lot of them who don't live in Manhattan would love to live there. They hang out in Manhattan at cafes, bars, etc. However, if you ask them - the ones from the mainland - to show you an area with the best mainland food (not Cantonese or Fujian), they will direct you towards areas like Flushing instead. However, they will direct you towards Manhattan if you ask for good Cantonese food, but they aren't from these areas and the extent of their understanding of the food usually stops around Dim Sum (which Manhattan Chinatown is good for).
In no way do they think Flushing is the center of the universe. That's an incredibly absurd statement. They do think however it is vastly superior for mainland Chinese food to Manhattan Chinatown. After having my fiancee's homecooked meals for 4+ years, her family, her friends, etc home cooking plus multiple visits to mainland China myself - there's no question in my mind that Flushing is hugely superior for mainland food. Anybody who knows authentic mainland food who's been to both of these areas enough would never rate Manhattan Chinatown above it. However, this thought that they think it's the center for everything is so naive it's laughable. I suggest you go out and maybe make friends with people from various parts of China instead of assuming these things.
Also, just for fun, here are the changes by borough in NYC between 2010 and 2017 for population of people born in China (table B05006 of the ACS):
1. Queens: +37,293 people born in China (+27.8%)
2. Brooklyn: + 26,170 people born in China (+23.1%)
3. Manhattan: +8146 people born in China (+12.8%)
4. Staten Island: +4779 people born in China (+62.8%)
5. Bronx: +349 people born in China (+7.4%)
Hm, I think you are understanding wrong on multiple levels.
A lot of the Chinese you see are from Guangdong in those areas, or maybe Fujian. Some are from elsewhere, but there's a lot from those areas living there. Manhattan Chinatown are good for these, so it makes sense that they live there.
However, when you're dealing with mainland Chinese outside of these regions, they often times don't live in Manhattan Chinatown but elsewhere in Manhattan or they don't live in Manhattan at all.
Also, this thought in your mind that we're advocating that they think Flushing is the center of the universe is completely and utterly false. Every one of my fiancee's friends loves hanging out in Manhattan. A lot of them who don't live in Manhattan would love to live there. They hang out in Manhattan at cafes, bars, etc. However, if you ask them - the ones from the mainland - to show you an area with the best mainland food (not Cantonese or Fujian), they will direct you towards areas like Flushing instead. However, they will direct you towards Manhattan if you ask for good Cantonese food, but they aren't from these areas and the extent of their understanding of the food usually stops around Dim Sum (which Manhattan Chinatown is good for).
In no way do they think Flushing is the center of the universe. That's an incredibly absurd statement. They do think however it is vastly superior for mainland Chinese food to Manhattan Chinatown. After having my fiancee's homecooked meals for 4+ years, her family, her friends, etc home cooking plus multiple visits to mainland China myself - there's no question in my mind that Flushing is hugely superior for mainland food. Anybody who knows authentic mainland food who's been to both of these areas enough would never rate Manhattan Chinatown above it. However, this thought that they think it's the center for everything is so naive it's laughable. I suggest you go out and maybe make friends with people from various parts of China instead of assuming these things.
Also, just for fun, here are the changes by borough in NYC between 2010 and 2017 for population of people born in China (table B05006 of the ACS):
1. Queens: +37,293 people born in China (+27.8%)
2. Brooklyn: + 26,170 people born in China (+23.1%)
3. Manhattan: +8146 people born in China (+12.8%)
4. Staten Island: +4779 people born in China (+62.8%)
5. Bronx: +349 people born in China (+7.4%)
I know Flushing has a better selection of Chinese food, though I don't think Manhattan is a slacker here. My point was really just that that plenty of Chinese and Chinese American people seem to like lower Manhattan as a place to eat and hang out. Even if every last one of them is of Cantonese or Fujianese descent, they are just as Chinese as people from anywhere else in China (and as you know, Guangdong and Fujian are part of mainland China)
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