Ken’s Asian Taste

Really good, fresh dim sum and excellent prices, amazing really. My husband speaks Cantonese so that helped but the servers were willing to show English speakers what were in the steamers. I think the service was pretty typical for Chinatown– NY, SF or LA. Dim sum servers are busy people. Get over it!

Used to go here but no longer. Women with the dim sum carts are NOT friendly and look unhappy to be serving anyone. Place is crammed with tables back to back and you feel rushed even though the service (what service?) is terrible. Food used to be tasty but has gone downhill-​most dishes are lukewarm at best. Overall, a very unpleasant dining experience.

Came here for dim sum on a Sunday morning and it was great. Service in Asian establishments are usually non-​existent and this one was no exception. The servers aren’t rude or anything, but they don’t make it a priority to be attentive. That aside, the food was pretty good. They have the usuals like rice noodle roll stuffed shrimp, chicken feet, siu mai, egg custard, etc. Can’t really go wrong with anything when it comes to dim sum.

My favorite Cantonese food in Chinatown and great service. Def would recommend! The fried eggplant and beef tendon hotpot is very tasty and good!

Came here for dinner with the family. Food here is pretty good. The place wasn’t too crowded, however it was labor day and the last nice weekend of summer so that might have contributed. For the price, it was actually pretty cheap considering we were all full and we had two tables.

Bad service and serves lukewarm dim sum. The service staff does not care about good customer service. My mother said to the server that the dim sum was not hot (and it was not), the server insisted that it was! She didn’t care for our complaint and said to us «then order something else!» as she took the dim sum away. But she had already stamped our receipt, to which I literally laughed out loud.
That’s typical of Chinatown restaurants but I thought this incident really deserved to be reviewed on Unilocal.Needless to say, I’m never going back to this place again.

Bf and I were craving dim sum after our Cronut outing. We were actually waiting for 15mins next door at Sunshine27 (our normal dim sum restaurant) when we decided to just go next door.
We immediately got a table downstairs. No wait at all!
I believe most of the dim sum were $ 2.50 each and higher for the specialty dishes.
Since we were seated downstairs, there were no ladies pushing the carts. We told her what we wanted and she brought it to us.
All of the main staples were good: shumai, hargau, cheungfun, chive and pork seared round dumpling.
When we heard that the kitchen was making durian pastries, we immediately asked the dim sum ladies to bring us one. She smiled at us probably thinking that it’s nice and unusual that young ppl like durian. For those who don’t know what durian is, it’s the fruit that looks like a pineapple, but smells really bad to ppl who have never tried it, or had and dislike/​hate it. It’s either a love/​hate relationship with this fruit. Another waiter brought down a couple of dishes asking around for who ordered it, and my bf said Ours! No one was taking our pastries! The durian pastry was twice the size of the ones from other restaurants. It was warm from the oven, but since it was so big, the inside was a little cold. But that’s ok, since it tasted like the textured of custard
Overall we spent less than $ 20 w/​tip for the meal.

Ken has really good taste in Asian, that’s for sure.
I’ve been meaning to come ever since my fellow Chinatown expert recommended their dim sum on the weekends. I finally stepped in last weekend, and his recommendation followed through with a superior experience.
First off, there was no wait. Yes, there was no wait for dim sum on a Saturday at 12:30PM. We walked right in and were eating a minute later. The restaurant was a little small and carts didn’t have the best time navigating, but they were able to have full coverage and I never felt a lull in service. They would sometimes take single lunch trays around to tables to distribute last pickings of an earlier cart.
The quality wasn’t mind blowing, but it was definitely on par with the Jing Fong’s and Golden Unicorn’s. One note that my friend mentioned that could be true: they tend to have a better early dim sum. Some of the dishes we received were on the verge of getting cold; if we arrived any later, I would’ve skipped some of our choices.
Lastly, the prices were baffling. We ate enough to be satisfied, not necessarily full, and including tip it was only $ 7 pp. What a steal! I will definitely be back and move Ken’s up my list of dim sum go-to’s.

This is a place to go to if you want to have Dim Sum but in a not so crowded place and in addition want excellent lunch specials where the portion is generous.
Seafood dinner is also great as this is a seafood restaurant after all. No hanging barbecued items in this restaurant, but if you’re not in the mood for that, thats why you’re here instead.

I haven’t gone to a Chinese Dim Sum restaurant in a long time and when I finally did, I wasn’t disappointed. The service was average and nothing special but the food was delicious. The dim sum was on point and the waiters weren’t rude which is always a good thing at a Chinese restaurant.
I’ve also ordered takeout from the front desk and the ladies there were so friendly and helpful, which is quite rare. The takeout tasted just as good as it was in person if you were eating there so the quality surpassed my expectation.
I remember having dinner here a while back, although the dishes were smaller than what I was use to the flavors and taste were pretty spot on. They cook up really well Canton dishes that other Chinese restaurants can’t do in Chinatown. So if you want to show off to your friends, take them here for some real Cantonese style dim sum and dinner.

Majority of the customers are speaking Cantonese and are local residents, jackpot!
Menus are in English so no excuse on ordering your favorites or be adventurous and order anything ending in «feet» or «organs».
TV’s turned on with the USA/​Portugal FIFA game, everyone cheering with mouths full of rice, good food, low prices and a nice festive atmosphere, who knew Chinatown was so into supporting the USA team.

Yeah, just two stars for what is one of my most frequently visited Chinatown restaurants for brunch. My friends and I come here because on Sundays we are too hungover or too lazy to decide on another restaurant. We also can’t deny that it’s dirt cheap and service is fast. Our game is to guess how little we can get away with spending on dim sum each time. :D
Ken’s dim sum is served the old fashioned way, by women pushing carts and pushing you to sample their wares. It’s almost as if they are on a quota system or can’t go back to the kitchen until their cart is empty. It’s all part of the dim sum experience, bartering, pointing, looking underneath the covers, trying something you’ve never had, and still not quite knowing what you just ate. The dim sum is ok. Nothing special stands out in my mind. I guess the chicken feet are tasty. We normally order a bunch of dim sum dishes and then one or two lunch rice plates to fill us up. Advice: We ALWAYS order the sautéed fish filet with vegetables. It’s under $ 6 and comes with a bowl of rice. I think it’s the best-​tasting dish at Ken’s, and one waitress always knows what we want when we sit down!
P. S. Our cheapest group dim sum lunch was a little over $ 6 but we normally spend *gasp* $ 8 – 9.
P. S.S. BYOHCG. Bring your own hand cleaning gel instead of using their downstairs restrooms.

Until recently I never consider getting dinner at Ken’s Asian.
I been here many times for lunch and for dim sum the idea of dinner escaped me.
There are 43 items on their Dishes On Rice list!
The most expense is $ 4.95 and you get a small bowl of Soup of the Day.
So for a quick & cheaper dinner, supper, late lunch or lunch won’t go hungry!
So far I am only ¹⁄₃ through their Dishes On Rice list and my favorites are–
Roast Pork with Pan Fried Egg on Rice; ⁴⁄₅.
Diced Pork with corn on Rice; ⁴⁄₅.
Shredded Pork with Pickled vegetable on Rice; ⁴⁄₅.
Braised Fish with Bean Curd on Rice; ³⁄₅ (a little greasy)
Note: so far everything tastes fresh.
I will try a sit down dinner soon.

Thanks to Judy F for organizing a UYE here. Dim Sum here is pretty good taste-​wise… but for the average price of $ 2 per plate, it’s worth the money. Between 12 Unilocalers, we had 41 plates of dim sum and a large plate of noodles to share for a total of $ 102.
Dim Sum Food Rating: 3.5

I can’t believe I’ve never notice this place before. I mean, I have been in Chinatown for a while (I just realized a Wyndam Hotel where the old movie theater used to be). When I walked in, it was rather small and the air conditioning wasn’t working as well as I would like, but I like the fact that the atmosphere was unpretentious.
The same few carts circulate over and over again with regular dim sum classics (har gow, siu mai, rice rolls, turnip cakes, beef tripe, chicken feet, etc). The quality was decent, the food was plenty, and there was never a moment where you wonder where the cart ladies were. The only think that irked me a bit was when a cart lady thought we were ordering too much.
When the bill was calculated, we were actually very surprised at the price. Why was it so cheap. I finally took a look at the menu. All small, medium, and large items were $ 2 each. Wow. I wonder if the dim sum lady thought we were eating them out of business. Just a thought.

Ken’s is in the rotation for our weekly sojourns to Chinatown for dinner with the folks. My sister usually does the ordering getting a variety of fish, meat and vegetable dishes. We’ll have the pan-​fried flounder or steamed buffalo carp (ask for the nom or belly for the best part of the fish with the least bones). The home-​style eggplant is pretty good also. Ask what vegetables are fresh for the day, like snow pea pod leaves, baby bok choy or water spinach.
Last week Judy F set up a UYE with about a dozen Unilocalers at Ken’s for dim sum. This was my first time here for dim sum and I was suitably impressed. I have to say that my fellow Unilocalers are NOT bashful about their food. Everybody tried a load of different dim sum and had a great time. Favorites were the ol’ standbys like shiu mai, har gow, ngau cheong (beef rice rolls) and fung jow (chicken feet, Chris Y’s favorite apparently). We even ordered a shredded pork chow mein which Tony C graciously served up Chinatown waiter style! Shout-​out to Sally W, GM of Ctown! (sat across from me)

Judy F set up a Dim Sum UYE today at Ken’s Asian Taste. Lesie pointed out that the Chinese business name said «Three Brothers»…so if there are 3 brother’s why does Ken get to have his name on the English business name, doesn’t seem fair.
You got your typical grumpy middle aged women pushing the carts but the workers at Ken’s will not announce what is on the cart. Which makes it hard because how are the customers supposed to know what these ladies have on the steamer carts when all the steamers are covered??? The cart ladies just gave us blank stares when we asked in Chinglish what was on their carts.
So if you can’t figure out what is on the cart, most of the time I just have them show what is underneath the steamer covers and I point to what I want.
Because I grew up in Chinatown. I know just a little bit about dim sum. Here is a dim sum guide to at least what we ordered and most dim sum places with have the following typical dishes also.
Anyways, we had almost everything that came by on the cart:
1. Shumai (steamed pork dumplings that looks like a top of a flower without a stem!)
2. Har Gow (steamed crystal shrimp dumplings)
3. Fung Zhao (literally translated: «Phoenix Talons») is chicken feet
4. Ngau Pak Yeep (tripe-cow’s stomach)
5. Haam Seio Gauk (literally translated «salty water dumpling» It is shaped like a small little football. It is a deep fried sticky rice flour mochi type exterior that is slightly sweet and salty at the same time and the inside is a savory stuffing. It’s usually very greasy and it’s not for everyone. I personally don’t like it but doesn’t mean it’s not good. It’s just a preference.
6. Paai Gwat (Steamed Spare Ribs) were sooo yummy! The ribs are coated in corn starch then steamed with fermented soy beans until they get a moist, slippery texture. They’ve got bones, so careful when you bite down!
7. Sin Zuk Gyun (steamed pork meat (?) with chopped up bamboo shoots wrapped in a dried tofu skin that has been rehydrated. It is very soft and very tender texture.
8. Lau Baak Go (Turnip cake) which has mashed daikon radish mixed with bits of dried shrimp, pork sausage and rice flour that are steamed and then cut into thick slices and then pan-​fried.
9. Ma Lai Go (Malay Steamed Sponge Cake) which is a soft steamed yellow sponge cake. YUM
10. Chiu-​Chao Fan Guo (steamed dumpling with a mix of pork, shrimp, cilantro, jicama and peanuts) I thought I saw it on the table but I didn’t try it.
11. Steamed vegetarian dumplings-​I didn’t try either.
12. Jiu Cai Bau (Fried wheat starch skin dumplings with chives)
13. Cha Siu Bao (baked barbecue pork-​stuffed buns)
14. Shrimp and beef Cheong fan (rolled rice noodles) One of my favorite dishes. It’s fresh steamed rice noodles that are rolled around beef or shrimp. There are other fillings but we ordered beef and shrimp. It comes drizzled with a sweet soy sauce.
15. Jin Deui (fried glutinous rice balls) Is made from glutinous rice flour (?) It has a stretchy, chewy sticky texture similar to Japanese mochi. These balls get coated with sesame seeds and deep-​fried until they puff, and are then piped with a sweet filling like lotus paste or red bean paste. I didn’t have it so I am not sure which filling Ken’s Asian Taste uses.
If you read all of this, thanks!
Dim sum is served early for breakfast, brunch and early lunch. Try to get there before 12pm for best selection.
11 of us and the bill came up to be $ 102.90 with tip it became $ 11 each!
Sally, Godmother of Chinatown. :)

Been here for dinner as well as dimsum multiple times.
2 stars for dimsum, and 3 stars for dinner.
Dimsum:
— they provide the standard experience with carts, grumpy cart-​ladies, shared tables, and a loud environment.
— however, it is not a huge restaurant so you won’t be sitting in a massive banquet hall like you do at Jing Fong/​Golden Unicorn/​88 Palace.
— not impressed with the quality of dimsum dishes here; even the steamed dumplings seem overly greasy.
— the one great thing here is the steamed roast pork buns [make sure to get the steamed, not the oven-​baked buns (the white ones, rather than the yellow/​brown ones…)]
Dinner:
Definitely some hits and misses —
— the hits were the fried and battered Japanese tofu (delicious — couldn’t have enough of these crispy, golden round tofu pieces), the stir-​fried lobster dish, and the Peking style pork chops (a little too fatty for my taste, but that’s what you expect from this dish, I guess).
— the misses were the roast squab (awful… did not have crispy skin or good flavor) and the fish in three ways dish (includes a fish soup).
Overall, a slightly above average experience of the traditional Cantonese family-​style dinner.
Language is a problem here — so it’s best to bring someone who speaks at least a little bit of Cantonese.

Authenticity matters. It really does. Cantonese Chinese food requires so much attention to detail and there’s so much competition from many restaurants in the many «Chinatowns» in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Elmhurst, Flushing, and, increasingly, Forest Hills/​Kew Gardens. The largest Chinese infrastructure in New York City is now Flushing, but that doesn’t mean that the oldest hub for Chinese food, Manhattan’s Chinatown, is going to take that without putting up a fight. Ken’s Asian Taste is one of Manhattan Chinatown’s responses to the ever-​growing Flushing Chinatown.
Food (for dinner): this place offers an array of different things, some of which actually cater to the tourists who come, so be careful what you order! I have found the fish dishes to be made from very fresh fish, the fried pork chop to be very good, and the egg with shrimp to be excellent. Oh, by the way, Dim Sum in the mornings (9 a.m. until about 2 p.m., is also quite good).
Service: full disclosure: the managing server and his colleagues here have known me since my «one month banquet» (digression for cultural background information: this banquet is a Hong Kongers’ thing where a banquet is held for a child who has reached the age of 30 days… apparently relatively rare in most of the rest of modern China). Anyway, the service has always been exceptional.
Décor: this place is very «old school» Cantonese, so it’s generally clean, but that’s about it, nothing really special or fancy on the walls =).

Ken’s Asian Taste is located at a place full of history because upstairs is the an Association for the Deng family and I happen to be a Deng. That’s right, it’s run and owned by family and passed down through ancestors. Anyway, I came to Ken’s Asian Taste with my family a few times. We decided to come here for my mother’s birthday a few weeks ago. The waiters and waitresses were very kind to us especially since they knew my parents very well.
For soup, we got our usual Fish Maw soup that came with a plate of vegetables, fish, mushroom, and tofu. I always love this soup because it has a bit of creamy and milk taste to it. I don’t like fish and the idea of fish soup is disgusting, but this soup is very tasty and a family favorite. I’ve been on clam binge lately, so my dad got a plate of clams with black bean sauce. Nothing goes better with clams than black bean sauce!
My parents decided to get T-​Bone Steak. For some odd reason, my parents don’t like to eat meat that still has some pinkness in it. I think they’re just paranoid. The steak was absolutely divine. I haven’t had Asian steak in so long and it always has an interesting taste to it compared to Western cuisine. I sure had a lot of steak that night, since no one wanted to finish the tip of it, so I did.
My dad ordered the Salty Fish with Chicken. This is probably one of my favorite fried rice and although it has somewhat of a pungent smell, heck it tastes good especially when the salty fish has a crunchy texture from being fried. I love it! We ordered a few additional stir-​fries as well.
Overall, a great family dinner experience. Great restaurant to come to for a small family dinner with excellent quality in food!