Mee Sum Cafe

Mee Sum Cafe will remind you what downtown Manhattan was like before there was a Zara every few blocks. Open for over 50 years, this minuscule Chinatown restaurant has a fluorescent-lit dining room and a straightforward menu of breakfast and lunch items like congee, dim sum, and various combos served over rice. Grab a stool in front of the old-timey cash registers at the front of the narrow space and order a little box of rice topped with salted chicken, Chinese sausage, and a fried egg. It’ll cost you about $6, and the person behind the counter will relay your order to the kitchen through a PA system that sounds just as old as the restaurant itself.

photo credit: Bryan Kim