Sunday, December 11, 2016

New Restaurant Review: The Bund

Forest Hills finally has a basic, go-to Chinese restaurant that's actually good. It's been a long time in coming. As I've posted earlier, we have a ton of other Asian places - Thai, Japanese, Asian fusion, sushi - but for some reason a simple Chinese restaurant that was actually really good had been beyond our reach. These other places are great, but sometimes—God damnit!—you just want a freakin' egg roll and pork freakin' fried rice and don't want to pay through the nose to get it!

We've ordered in from The Bund, the new Chinese restaurant that opened in the former Knish Nosh space along Queens Blvd., enroute to Rego Park, a few times and I find their food to remind me of the excellent Chinese food I grew up eating on Long Island: Reasonably-priced (actually dirt-cheap compared to the 'fancy' Asian places we're already brimming with), filling and delicious!

Now, Long Island Chinese food wasn't the more "authentic" Chinese you find in Chinatown here in the City or in Flushing, but for dishes that satisfy that American Chinese food craving - spare ribs, egg rolls, fried rice, Lo mein, Chicken and Broccoli, Kung Pao - you know what I'm talking about - the places on Long Island and other NYC suburbs, just couldn't be beat. Sure, they were devastating to the waist line, but sometimes you just gotta say what the hell!

Anyone looking for THAT kind of Chinese food, old-fashioned, authentic NY-style, should be pleased by the basics at The Bund. I found the choices mentioned above all excellent, and pretty much stuck to the flavors and style that I grew up with. The only difference I noticed was when it came to the egg rolls, which had an interesting slightly peppery flavor. I can't vouch for the more complicated offerings on their menu. But if you try them, let us all know.

The one drawback I found was in the Hot and Sour Soup. I find this issue with so many Chinese restaurants in the City today: these soups are always kinda hot (if not just plain salty) but there's barely any "sour," unless you go to a more pricey place. Why is that? The same thing at The Bund. Don't forget the sour in your Hot and Sour Soup!

Grade: A

The Bund is located at 100-30 Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills. They are open Sunday - Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Friday - Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. And, they deliver to central Forest Hills!! (718) 275-8000

The Bund's Kung Pao Chicken, pork fried rice and egg rolls - full calorie, indulgent and delish! ENJOY!

12 comments:

  1. The next time you go, you need to try their Shanghainese specialties. The lion's head meatballs and pork belly stew, for example, make it stand out from what else is in the area.

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  2. Nice to know they deliver! I wasn't sure!

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  3. I have ordered from The Bund through Seamless at least 4-5 times in the past couple weeks. When the only option for Chinese food delivery in the neighborhood has been a place called King Wok, The Bund is a welcome relief. Now that we have East Ocean for dim sum and The Bund for Shanghainese...I hope we get a good Korean restaurant in the near future!

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  4. Those look like spring rolls, not egg rolls.

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  5. Do they have a good crunchy fried noodles that come on the table at old school long island chinese places?

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  6. Solid food but service is rough around the edges. There was a guy in a baseball cap hanging around the counter and in/out of the place which was a bit annoying. Don't know if he's the owner, server or what? Not quite professional caliber of service.

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  7. I've eaten there 3 times now and enjoyed it each time. I second the suggestion of trying some of their Shanghainese specialties.

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  8. Are you planning a review of the new vegan/kosher/organic place on Metropolitan?

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    1. Maybe. Not sure next time I'll be down that way though....

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  9. I miss the Peking Duck Forest.

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  10. Great review! We have gotten take out from The Bund a few times and the food was excellent. However, there is a new Chinese delivery lord in town. 4 words my dedicated pupils -- MING GARDEN CHINESE RESTAURANT. It puts a smile on my face that Ming's competitors still cook their D league food, very cute. Reminds me of when as a child I would put shaving cream on my face and pretend to shave when my father would shave in the morning. Ming is the one eyed man in the land of the blind. All praise Ming.

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