Its walls covered in family snapshots and business cards, some dating from the restaurant’s founding in 1938, Wo Hop prides itself on knowing its faithful customers - and their kids - by name, a testament to the sense of community on offer here. “I count myself among the Wo Hop regulars who know that walking down the funky steps at 17 Mott means entering old-school Chinatown dining in a 10-table restaurant that will never be replicated. Grace Young, Author of Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge and The Breath of a Wok, and Producer of Coronavirus: Chinatown Stories We don’t know each other by name, but we know each other through the expression of food.” “The waitstaff has worked there forever, and there is a certain unspoken bond we hold with them they know what we want to order how our mood is often offering a bad Cantonese joke if they could sense you were having a rough day.
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They also give you free soup, usually bone broth Chinese restaurants have been serving this for years before it ever became a millennial trend. Our absolute go-to is the salt and pepper squid over rice with a runny egg.
“We go to the upstairs, and we just about always order the same dishes. Jennifer Tam + Victoria Lee, Founders of Welcome to Chinatown They serve their egg foo young on a pedestal - like this silver platter that is literally elevated above all the other foods - and I think it’s just so special.” Wo Hop does an incredible brown sauce that is best expressed over their mushroom egg foo young. And everyone chalks it to up Chinese American food being sweeter, but it’s not just sweeter it’s like the set of techniques and the approaches are a little different. It’s similar to Hong Kong cooking, but it’s a little different. Maybe it’s because I’m foreign but Chinese American food is so, so interesting to me. “I know a lot of Chinese people who don’t like Wo Hop. The waitstaff here seem gruff at first but they actually love to chat, and the clientèle is definitely not hipster - it’s a mix of Chinese and what look like working class, outer-borough New Yorkers, who also seem like they’ve been coming here for decades.” “Old-school Cantonese places will always have a complementary soup as an appetizer and a red bean soup for dessert if you ask nicely for it. It’s not a place for delicate, subtle cooking. On the side, we order the fried dumplings, which admittedly are fried to a crisp and then drizzled in heavy oyster sauce. White rice is the perfect companion to soak up the tasty oiliness from the fish and vegetables. The flounder is glistening and flavorful, with the perfect amount of crunch. “We order the pan-fried flounder cubes with choy sum underneath. It only works for two people, which is why my husband and I don’t like to share with our kids, haha. I grew up going to Wo Hop Upstairs and have eaten the exact same meal every single time. Don’t trust anyone who says they like both. “There’s a Wo Hop Upstairs and a Wo Hop Downstairs and anyone who’s a Wo Hop devotee definitely has a preference. Joanne Kwong, President of Pearl River Mart
Here are what five Wo Hop regulars had to say about this mythical institution, a shrine to a bygone era. “I bet 115 people are going to say Wo Hop,” said Lucas Sin, the chef at the New York-based homestyle Chinese chain, Junzi Kitchen.
Yet when we quizzed a number of Chinatown patrons on where they loved to eat, Wo Hop came up repeatedly. In a city that has recently seen a boom in regional Chinese restaurants from Yunnanese to Hunanese, one might relegate Wo Hop and its Chinese American menu as a relic of New York’s culinary past.
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