The Chinese scallion pancake is a staple of most Chinese restaurants. It doesn’t vary much from restaurant to restaurant. Usually, they’re round, fried flour pancakes with scallions. But Golden Corner Noodles makes fresh Chinese scallion pancakes differently.
The fried pancake is stuffed with ground pork, pickled vegetables and marinated dried vegetables. It’s a style of pancake unique to a Southern Chinese region called Wenzhou.
When Queens residents like Albert Lin want food that tastes like home, they turn to Golden Corner Noodles in Flushing. “They got authentic Wenzhou food, some food you can’t get from other places,” said Lin, who is of Wenzhou heritage.
The southern Chinese region of Wenzhou sits near a river and is very fertile. Most Wenzhou food relies on the seafood, meat and produce for flavor. The soup is water with flavors from boiled produce, meat and seafood. There are no added spices.
The flavor tends to be sour because vinegar is an integral part of Wenzhou cooking. Naturally, Golden Corner Noodles features a squeeze bottle of vinegar on each table, next to the Sriracha, chili oil and soy sauce.
For many Chinese, Chinese food is easy to find — but finding regional specific food can be harder. “I’ve ordered a lot, almost everything,” said Vicki Qu, a local Queens resident. “It’s hard to find this kind of restaurant in New York. There’s only two or three Wenzhou places and this is the best.”
According to All Peoples Initiative, a Christian organization, there are estimated to be 50,000 to 100,000 Wenzhou people in New York. Wenzhou people make up nearly one-eight of the 812,410 population of Chinese.
Wenzhou Chinese food tastes very different than what is commonly associated with Chinese food. It’s more sour than oily.
“Wenzhou food is very healthy, it’s pretty light and has natural flavor,” said restaurant co-owner Sharon Ye. The eatery opened after Sharon Ye and her husband immigrated to New York.
The restaurant features many traditional Wenzhou dishes. “Everything we have, we make it all ourselves,” Ye said. Food is cheap, within the $2-$10 range. The menu features noodle soups, meat and fish.
The most popular noodle dishes are the $6 beef noodle soup and $6.50 spare ribs noodle soup. Another prominent dish is the $4 Wenzhou style garlic and vinegar noodles.
Fish ball noodle soup is $5.50. It features filleted fish that is cut and rolled together with scallions and farina, served with a light soup, pickled vegetables and, of course, vinegar.
Another popular dish is the $4 wonton soup. In Wenzhou style, the wonton’s vinegary bone broth includes dried seaweed, small dried shrimps, and meatfloss. Meatfloss is a dried, shredded pork product with a woolly texture.
Wenzhou-style chicken feet, marinated in garlic and sesame oil, is also very popular. A small container goes for $4.50.
In the beverage refrigerator, $1.50 fresh soy milk, $1 fungus tea and $1 chrysanthemum tea sit next to $1 soda and $1 water. The restaurant only accepts card payments for orders of $20 or more.