Ming River Side Walk House

Fujianese is one dialect that I don’t understand and it’s so frustrating because I have so many questions about the menu and dishes.
We are hooked on their soup — ones w/​Chinese herbs w/​different kinds of neat. Here, we chose with pig feet and stomach. While it looked disappointing– it was rich and flavorful. Loved that two pieces of the pig feet were of the toes!
Also had the stir fried rice noodle w/​pig intestines — again, looks blah but simple and delicious with Napa cabbage and eggs.

Authentic home cooked meal. I used to come here during college whenever I get home sick. Nowadays, I come here to reminisce the summer days I spend in China.

I was pleasantly surprised by this restaurant when I visited Philly. Being a native from Fuzhou, I am always on a treasure hunt for authentic Fuzhou-​nese food when I travel to a different city in the U.S. Fuzhou food back in Boston is a joke compared to this one. I had the best fish balls (they area all hand made in the store!) and oyster pancake since I left home, and dare I say much better than some of the places back in Fuzhou. I am in love! :)

Authentic Fujianese cuisine. Came here numerous times before. The food is good but can be a hit or a miss depending on what you order on the menu. The menu is huge. Lots of the things you may be surprised about in terms of weird eats. Also, lots of variety in terms of taste… The restaurant is very small and located around the middle of 10^th street towards Race.
Check the place out for yourself.

DISCLAIMER: When in Chinatown, it would be a pretty good idea to bring a Chinese friend, or at the very least, somebody who understands how to read Chinese. Not doing so could be considered foolish. That being said, I’m evaluating this restaurant on those merits, it being a Chinese eatery in a Chinatown.
The food? Unquestionably Chinese. If you’re used to takeout and Americanized food, expect something different. You might not hate it, but at the same time, you shouldn’t expect it to taste like Americanized Chinese. It would be sorta like eating at Taco Bell all your life only to realize on your trip to a Mexican restaurant in Mexico that they don’t really do tacos and burritos. That being said, the quality of the food is well worth what you pay for, and very delicious.
The service is actually pretty darn good too, albeit a different type of service than most would be accustomed to. Don’t let the staff that speaks in sometimes broken English fool you: They understand English well enough to take your order if you use plain language. From then on out, they’ll concentrate solely on getting food out to you as quickly as possible, without regard for the order that the food comes out in or whether or not you run out of water. If you run out, don’t expect them to refill it for you without you having to ask. This also means that sometimes your entrée may arrive before your appetizer. Because of this, I’ve gotta dock them half a star.
Décor is plain, but clean. Because of some of the disclaimers in the first two paragraphs, and also because even though their food was great, but failed to blow me away, I sadly have to round down this place to four stars. I really wanted to give this place five stars, because it doesn’t deserve the current rating it has. I hope they can change up a few things so that can change my review to five stars the next time I stop by!

The food may worth 2 stars. but the owner is rude and decides to give himself a good tip.
I know quite a few people from Fujian and I do understand what I ordered. This side walk house won’t survival anywhere in Fujian.
The «Guobian» is really disappointing.

Sometimes I just eat things out of nostalgia. On this day, I was craving some Fuzhouese food and this was the perfect solution. Would recommend the bian rou (wontons) and the guo bian hu (rice noodle soup) with some seafood. The ban mian (noodle with peanut sauce) was just OK. Overall, cheap and decent. It would be a little difficult to communicate here if you didn’t speak Mandarin or Fukienese, but should be fine if you don’t have any specific requests. Just look at their Chinese/​English menu and take a risk. Go get yourself some soup!

Great place for a quick lunch bite!

I was actually disappointed though I don’t know if I could blame the restaurant entirely. As it happens, I’ve walked past this place not a few times, most often after procuring groceries and finding myself somehow lost again in territories that I should have already known. So, never really happening upon the right time to stop in, I’ve sort of built this place up in my own mind. Having grown up in Taiwan and then Southern California, I’m always on the hunt for that authentic hole-​in-​the-​wall experience when it comes to Chinese food (and «ethnic» food in general, though I fancy myself more of an adequate judge when it comes to Chinese/​Taiwanese food), so I kept making that mental note to come to this place.
When a boring Saturday noon actually presented the opportunity, we made our way in. We ordered the marinated pork tongue, yang zhou fried rice, and mutton noodle soup. The menu selection was limited, which was a good sign, since it usually means they know what they’re good at. There were no 3 pages of snow bubble iced tea and whatnot to distract people from the quality of the food with. All the signs were a-​go and I was excited to get my food. As it turns out, the fried rice was mediocre, the pork tongue was sub-​par in flavor and texture, and the noodle were fine, though they sat in a broth that was a little Chinese herb-​y (if you’ve been forced to take Chinese medicine of any kind, you know what I’m taking about) for me, and reminded me unpleasantly of things that are not, food. In addition, the mutton pieces were few and small. The pieces that were present did not have great texture, even the fatty skin were not melt in your mouth and actually quite chewy.
I feel like because I am so stubborn I would probably come back and try something completely different to see if I’ll hit on that great item that keeps them in business in their competitive surrounding. I guess we’ll have to see.

My new favorite chinatown place! Unique food on the menu, some flavors you won’t find (at least on English menus) in other places in Chinatown. Very reasonable prices. Every time I’ve come here, it’s all been locals eating here, and half the time, the cook takes your order. Don’t worry about the language barrier, just point to what you want on the menu, and you’ll be fine.
I can see why some people may not like it here; its not «hip», there aren’t bright flashy lights, it’s not a trendy hang-​out for twenty-​somethings. But, to me, it seems like one of the more «authentic» (as opposed to Americanized) Chinese restaurants in Chinatown.

Good food, rude people… won’t be back

The only place marked for «Pure Fujianese Food» in Philadelphia since Ming River is one of the major rivers running through the Province of Fujian. Ming River will deliver a strange meal experience because everything is so unorthodox if your past experiences of Chinese food are limited. Personally, I visit Ming River whenever I have no idea on what to eat because I know I’ll never be too off with Ming River.
Aside from the platters and the appetizers, you’ll get to choose the «meat/​seafood» you want with your stir-​fry. For example: Clam with stir-​fry noodles, or shrimp with stir-​fry rice cakes. If you don’t specify the special «meat/​seafood», you’ll get the basic which is pork slices with your food.
Recommendations:
1. Fried Rice (Great deal with several different choices to choose from)
2. Stir-​fry Vermicelli (Authentic stir-​fry rice noodles)
3. Fried Taro Cakes (These go very well with salt and pepper)
4. Vermicelli Soup
5. Fried Dumplings (These are handmade dumplings that are pan-​fried at your order, and the fillings are tasty!)
Above-​Pars:
1. Aromatic Parts (Order this if you can eat crunchy pig ears)
2. Pork Ribs with Rice (Fried pork ribs and taro over rice, with a special sweet soy sauce)
3. Fried Noodles
Sub-​Pars:
1. Stir-​fry Rice Cake (Too watery, making the rice cakes too soft)
2. Clam and Egg over Rice Platter (Flavor-​less)
Ming River makes some food Asian moms would make, no big varieties and most of the stir-​fries will taste similar if you come here often. But mixing the way you order here, you «might» find something good and worth you paying $ 5 for.
To conclude, a great place to get a meal under $ 10. Not a good place if you don’t know any Chinese though.

Get the pork dumplings and the noodles in peanut sauce called ban mien. These are tasty snacks in Fujian. Then get a full dinner at your preferred spot. For lunch I like their fish fillet with rice which has a light sweet and sour flavor. Please note that Fujianese food emphasizes light broths so don’t expect spicy or too salty. They have aromatic meats or pig parts served cold which go well with beer.

Venturing out from our normal lunch spots, a friend and I decided we would just try out a random spot that we haven’t been to before.
Ordered the stewed oxtail, this wonton soup appetizer, and a pork dish — all of which were pretty disappointing.
Maybe we should have Unilocaled what to order ahead of time instead of guessing at what might be tasty. Everything we ordered was so so terrible. Oxtail was sad — just pieces of meat floating in flavorless broth (definitely not what I expected), wonton soup tasted like rice paper dipped in water w/​a hint of seasoning, and the pork dish just reminded me of the corner store sweet and sour pork.
I wont fully dismiss this place, but for now I would consider it a definite fail.

Oily and alittle wet… Those are qualities I shouldn’t look for in Beef Chow Fun. Shouldn’t order something that no one ordered on the restaurant. Beef was tender. Didn’t feel like a beef or pig internal soup today. However the Beef Chow Fun had great flavor! Next time I should order what everyone eats.
Since the place isn’t a Cantonese restaurant, I guess that’s as bad as ordering a pizza in a Chinese restaurant.

We stumbled across this place and had a chance to look at the menu posted on the window. The selection of aromatic pig parts intrigued me and made a note to try it next time we are in Chinatown.
A week later, here we are. After the first taste of our order, my girlfriend deemed this place to be like a true Chinese family dinner, quoting that it «tastes like something my mom and dad would make.» That comment alone made me believe this place was authentic and boy did it taste authentic.
We ordered the aromatic combination which included pig ears, stomach, and other throwaway parts that I adore. They were served cold and marinated in a tangy soy-​sauce based liquid and was really tasty. We finished our lunch with the pig feet and stomach noodle soup with thin noodles. I was surprised about how thin the noodles were, but the texture was delightful. The broth was clear, really light, and clean. Don’t expect something super flavorful like phở (Viet noodle soup), but do expect something healthier. That’s the real charm of Ming River Sidewalk House, a good family style meal.
For a place that barely has one review, it definitely needs some more recognition. It is true that they barely speak and Chinese, but that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying one of Chinatown’s more humble and delicious spots.

Their food tasted authentic. Dumpling was very good. But it was hard to communicate if you don’t speak any variety of Chinese. I will try other food as well.