Golden Monkey

1367 First Avenue, Manhattan NY
(219) 535-7530
Open seven days a week from 11:30 am to 11 pm

Established in Flushing, New York in the borough of Queens, Golden Monkey flourishes in pan-ethnic Queens having received many enthusiastic reviews, including particularly glowing praise from the honorary chair of ISACC, Flavor and Fortune's parent organization, Ken Hom. When they opened their second restaurant, this time on the Upper East side, they learned that breaking Manhattanites' addiction to faux Chinese foods with sweet, thick sauces would be a challenge.

A bright yellow flag boldly announces Golden Monkey's "Original Szechuan Style," but a chat with the manager reveals that the staff is actually Taiwanese, "so we serve the best dishes from all regions of China." They excel when it comes to strongly flavored beef and pork dishes. Thinly Sliced Beef Tendon is a smooth-textured cold appetizer with a glowing flavor that lingers long after the plate is cleared. As a main course, beef tendon is cubed and sauteed in a rich brew of soy, ginger, fresh hot pepper, and scallion.

Sliced Beef with Peppercorns is Golden Monkey's subtle and elegant best-selling entree, but it is outdone by the primordial hunk of Pork Shoulder (stewed) in Brown Sauce, or the Steamed Rib Tips on a spiced bed of sweet potatoes. Da Lu Noodle in Thick Soup is the biggest and best meal north of Canal Street. It consists of fat Shanghai wheat noodles anchoring a hearty broth laden with tomato, strips of pork, mushroom, chunks of bamboo shoot, green vegetables, egg, and more for only $4.50.

Ken Hom is right about the Vegetable Roll with Hot Sesame Sauce; it is juicy, pungent, and properly salted as he says, but does he really think that each bite is a "psychedelic experience?" Well-prepared casseroles are hard to find outside of Chinatown but I'm waiting for further explanation before attempting Golden Monkey's $29 Hot, Hot Pot; or trying the $33 1/2 and 1/2 Hot Pot.

Golden Monkey's staff tries their "doggonest" to help Westerners through the maze of authentic dishes including Sea Cucumber with Shrimp Caviar Sauce, Duck Tongues with Basil, or a vegetarian dish that should delight PETA activists, Bean Curd as Bear's Hand. Nonetheless, miscommunications abound, such as the time a waiter circled and recircled the dining room, vainly searching for the party that had ordered beer. It was finally determined that they had said "brown rice," not Budweiser.

Although Golden Monkey draws a lot of all-Chinese parties, most customers are part of America's "Shrimps in Lobster Sauce" set. They love old standbys such as Sizzling Salmon Filet, Beef with Broccoli, and Sesame Chicken, but shrink back at the thought of trying something new.

If only more Western customers could trust the staff once in a while and venture into uncharted waters when a dish called Oyster with Crispy Bean Fluff is recommended. Unlisted on either of the original menus, the crispy bean fluff known as tosu in Taiwan, is a soy product with a texture and flavor not unlike wheat germ or texturized vegetable protein. Originally created as an inexpensive way to flavor rice during wartime in Taiwan, the crisps combine with oysters and fresh bean curd to make a triply-textured and inordinately succulent platter.

How Special Steamed Egg with Dried Scallop is another starter of merit, and Golden Monkey is one of the few uptown spots that serves chewy dense and filling Chinese rice cakes sauteed with salted vegetables; a real steal at $4.95.

A final event occurred in mid-1997 to help focus this review and response to Imogene's article. I had the extra good fortune to be invited to a home-cooked birthday banquet for my Sichuan-ese cousin by marriage. Among the dazzling array of slow-sneaking Sichuan flavors was a disarmingly simple dish that I could not stop eating. I though it was pork with ginger and scallions, but it turned out to be a hometown favorite, a platter that every self-respecting Sichuan housewife serves at least three times a week, Twice Cooked Pork. There were no squares of green and red bell peppers, there was no thick brown sauce, and the pork was still on the bone. Redolent of the freshest ingredients, this was the real deal, an honest-to-goodness Chinese dish all about texture and flavor. It was very different than that which I had previously accepted as authentic Twice-Cooked Pork. There is another dish called Thrice-cooked Pork, but I didn't dare ask.

I'm Jewish but love many non-kosher items like pork and shellfish. Then again, I love Gefilte Fish while other Jews abhor its glutinous gel. Imogene's right again. Being of a certain race "does not give one a genetic predisposition to enjoying the cuisine of one's ancestry." Japan is evenly divided between lovers and haters of natto, a fermented soybean breakfast food that makes the scent of blue cheese seen positively rosy. Guessing that a Shanghainese guest at my cousin's birthday banquet would be unable to enjoy the spicy Sichuan fare, our hostess prepared a mild dish of Shrimp and Green Peas. It was the only dish out of the fourteen choices which this Chinese man truly enjoyed.

Golden Monkey is intrepid in efforts to break new ground, and they are to be commended as much for their fine cuisine as for their courageous attempts to reach out to Americans. Granted, they don't serve home-cooked meals, but that's not their job. Nonetheless, Westerners need to sample a bit of every style if we are to form true and balanced opinions about Chinese culture and cuisine. As Imogene says, it's all about "survival, adaptation, and community." That's the key. There is great promise in our increasingly pluralistic society, so come on everybody, go for it, take the plunge, be a challenger. We can all profit by trying something new from another culture and sharing something old from our own.

Hasten to Golden Monkey at 1367 First Avenue, in Manhattan; call for directions; their phone number is (219) 535-7530. They are open seven days a week from 11:30 am to 11 pm.