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Canteen 82
- Canteen 82
- Closed
467 Columbus Avenue (82nd Street), Upper West Side; (212) 595-4300.
For a restaurant as affordable as Canteen 82, a new dumpling-and-noodle specialist on the Upper West Side, a great deal of thought goes into the food.
Someone picked out those fat-headed shrimp before dousing them in a flavorful chili broth with egg noodles; someone thought to pull the Chinese broccoli off the heat while it was still snappy; someone watched the pot stickers to make sure they were golden brown where they bond with the wok.
It’s tempting to call Canteen 82 a Chinese teahouse, because much of the food — house-made Shanghai soup dumplings ($11 a dozen); soft pan pan buns ($6) stuffed with roast pork or duck; blistered scallion pancakes ($3.50) — is squarely in the dim sum family, and delicious.
But in fact there isn’t any tea except for the kind in bags; the espresso machine churns out excellent $3.20 lattes, and locals stop by for Malaysian-style curry puffs ($1.50) or Thai noodle soup ($10 to $12).
Yeh Ching, an owner, is Chinese-American, via Malaysia, and her partner, Alan Lee, is from Hong Kong, so they come by the Asian-fusion menu honestly. Their appetizing slow-cooked beef is a relatively traditional Malaysian braise of beef in tea and star anise, served with rings of fresh red chili, a bright green like bok choy or asparagus, sweet carrots and a hard-boiled egg; it’s the best-balanced $10 dinner in the neighborhood.
The menu is still in flux (coming soon: more roasted meats), and the Thai dishes are a weak link, but any of the dumplings is worth a trip.
Vegetarians will be particularly grateful for savory vegan fried dumplings ($5.50) and a simple eggplant appetizer ($4), covered and flavored with finely chopped fresh ginger and rings of fried scallion.
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