囍烧腊

I saw this place recommended on TikTok before travelling to NYC from the UK. We stopped by for lunch and ordered the 2 roast meat combo with rice (roast duck and honey glazed pork). WOW. I couldn’t believe the size of the 2 portions and the quality of the food for just $25! It’s easy to see why it is so popular! We visited at midday and the place was rammed with orders for takeout. In fact, we were one of the last customers to get the roast duck before it sold out! You can dine-in but it only fits about 7/8 people so we ate ours at a local park instead. It’s a great find and would 100% recommend - especially if travelling on a budget!

The food is really good, my favorite is the roasted duck. You can dine in but seating is limited. If I remember correctly, they only accept cash, so make sure to bring some before coming. The toilet is super clean. Sometimes it’s busy during lunch/dinner time, but most people tend to order takeout.

Taste test of this popular Hong Kong style BBQ spot in NYC Chinatown: Hay Hay Roasted serve roasted meat rice boxes starting at $10.25 (one topping), or you can grab a whole box of char siu for just $14. What I really liked is that you can customize your meat cut — fatty (肥), lean (瘦), or half-and-half (半肥瘦) — depending on your preference, just like how we do it in HK. Pro tip from a HK local: ask for ginger scallion sauce (薑蓉) to go with your rice. It makes everything taste even better! ＊Three Selection Rice Combo 三拼飯 $12.25 SO WORTH IT. The box was fully loaded with meat that you could barely even see the rice underneath! I went with char siu, scallion chicken (蔥油雞), and roasted duck (燒鴨). The chicken and duck were a bit bony, but you can always substitute them for leg if you prefer. The sweet baby napa on the side balanced out the greasiness of the meat. ＊Char Siu (Honey BBQ Pork) 蜜汁叉燒 $14/lb Decent price for the quantity! The char siu was well-marinated and flavorful even without any soy sauce. The seasoning was spot-on, not too sweet or salty. I asked for half-fatty, half-lean, and it had the perfect balance of both. I took the leftovers home and made char siu fried rice and slippery egg with char siu. ＊Crispy Skin Roasted Pork 燒肉 $14/lb It had a nice fat-to-meat ratio and crispy golden skin. It was too salty for my taste, but my friends all loved it. So I’d definitely recommend enjoying it with rice. ＊HK Style Milk Tea 港式奶茶 $5.5 - surprisingly authentic. ＊Lemon Ribena 檸檬利賓納 $5.25 - such a nostalgic drink! I haven’t had it in so many years.

The service here is great — the workers are really nice. Today I decided to eat here and ordered a two-meat over rice and the honey-glazed chicken wings. First, I have to say the honey-glazed wings had absolutely no flavor. The sauce was only on the outside of the chicken, and the inside had no taste at all. Secondly, for the two-meat over rice, I paid about an extra dollar for the duck. As you can see in the picture, they barely gave any duck — it was thinly sliced, full of bones, and definitely not worth the extra charge. I didn’t pay extra just to get bones.

I have had this place saved for almost two years on my social media. I thought it would be amazing from watching the videos on tik tok. Especially the ones promoted by themselves. The food was AWFUL. We bough the two meat combo and it was diabolically awful. One bite into the duck it was insanely greasy. And the pork was just all fat. We had asked for a mixture of meats so lean and fatty but it was all fat. Also 80 percent bone? Do not even attempt to tuck in straight away or you will lose a tooth from the bone. I took one bite and spat it out. Truly awful i can only compare it to eating a sponge that has been sat in vat of grease for 24 hours. We ended up chucking it away as it was truly that awful. edit To preface we have had Cantonese/ Chinese roasted duck and pork. Below I have attached a picture from our meal. After the first bite we realized that there was bones in which I personally haven’t had in any other Chinese/ Cantonese restaurant. The meat as said was all fat after asking for a mixture & equally the skin of the pork wasn’t crispy and duck was soggy and oily. One bite and the oil just pooled in your mouth. Ot was nauseating. It was the worst culinary experience ever. Below are pictures were though let’s take out the bones from meat to see how much meat well fat were left with.