Zing’s Awesome Rice
“It's my late night go-to and my favorite afternoon snack.”
“The flavor felt like a combination of Chinese and Thai, especially since the tomato soup had coconut milk in it.”
“I tried the seared white rice but am looking forward to trying the "purple" rice next!”
Zing’s Awesome Rice
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
7 reviews
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EXPENSIVE RICE. When I was stumbling around drunk on the LES, looking for late night grub and checking Yelp, I wish I saw the prices. By the time I got there, it was too late to turn back. After tax, my shrimp fried rice cost about $15 after tax ($13.99 initially).
However, it's expensive because it's HIGH QUALITY. Not greasy – you could taste the difference – they obviously use quality oil. The veggies were crispy and it tasted healthful overall.
Still, it wasn't that amazing. Not amazing enough to pay $15 for. The shrimp was very tiny and some had poop veins still. I would have honestly preferred the cheap, delicious, greasy fried rice esp. in my drunk state. I guess this place is great if you are trying to eat healthy but really miss the joys of Asian fried rice….and also don't care about $. Not for me.
The restaurant was very cute (with some minimal inside seating) and the staff was friendly.
TIP – check in on Yelp and get a FREE tomato bisque.
I was in the LES and wanted to get dinner there because I'm rarely in the neighborhood. I remembered I had this place bookmarked and had high expectations. It's a small place with a few seats. There really isn't a kitchen–just a counter and a stove. It was really quiet. It was just the owner, two employees, and no music. If you're Chinese, you're familiar with this type of rice. I ordered the bacon seared rice. It was good, but way too oily. When I got to the bottom of the container, there was just a puddle of oil. I'm sure I can get better at a real Chinese restaurant, but I like the concept of this specialized takeout place that's meant for late-night eats.
Also–I asked for the free hot chocolate with the Yelp check in. I don't recommend. They just use packaged hot cocoa and microwave hot water in a bowl–not good at all. I took a sip and threw it away.
An appropriate name for this tiny operation serving fresh cooked fried rice made in front of your eyes.
They have a couple appetizers (Quail Eggs, Tofu, Cucumber Salad), but it's all about that awesome rice, which make up the rest of the menu options. You can pick either white, brown (+ $1) or purple (+ $2) rice to accompany one of the several choices of proteins (sausage, chicken, bacon, shrimp, tofu or "surprise", which was ham on the day I went).
Purple rice is apparently the healthiest, as well as having the lowest calories, so it of course doesn't taste as good as the plain old white rice, which is the way to go, unless you are really trying to tell yourself you ate a healthier meal. It is good too, but just not as tasty as the higher calorie alternative.
Get the Sausage Seared Rice with White Rice ($13) for an excellent, very satisfying meal. Several people are complaining about how pricey it is. While $13 is a good deal of money, it is totally worth it because you get A LOT of rice. You know it's high quality and fresh too, as they prepare it in the open kitchen just a few feet away from the register. It's more than enough for one meal, so it ends up being a decent value actually.
It's a tiny spot with a few stools around the sides and a small table in the middle for eating. This is not a problem, as the Chinese takeout containers the rice is served in make it a perfect, portable option to take on the go.
I wanted to like this place more. The rice isn't bad at all, and it is indeed very different from conventional fried rice.
The problem is that the prices are nutty. I had one container of sausage forbidden rice and the quail egg and olive skewers, and it ended up costing me $15 (I also had a free shot of sake through a Yelp coupon– thanks Yelp!). Now I know this is the LES, but $15 for a 3/4 container of fried rice and a small appetizer? It's just too much money for what you get.
The rice is good though– if they could figure out a less onerous pricing structure I'd feel really good about this place.
Finally made it to Zing's for a quick bite after work with my brother and I'm mad at myself for waiting this long! My date and I ordered sausage with brown rice and shrimp with purple rice. Oh boy, is this rice fantastic. Perfectly seared, bursting with crunchy veggies and egg and a very generous portion of protein.
They now have a liquor license (as of 1/13/15), so we enjoyed a few sakes – olive sake for me, and cherry/plum sake for my date. Both rices and 2 sakes came out to $25.
Additional non-biased side note – I know Zing personally and she's the sweetest chick you'll ever meet. She's there everyday and puts in a lot of work into this little shop. Make sure you say hi!
I've had the Surprise Seared Rice and the Bacon Seared Rice, both with white rice. It looks like Fried rice, but it's not. I like that it's not greasy and oily. It has a lot more substance to it.
It's very flavorful. I've not tried the Brown rice or Purple rice, because I'm just not into it and I'm not sure they'd taste good as seared rice.
The order is a large quantity and is more than enough for 1 person and the veges are fresh and plentiful.
I hope this place stays around, it's a tiny hole in the wall but it's ok because I always get take out.
My expectations may have been too high, after reading about it in the NYTimes, but I found the fried rice itself pretty pedestrian (I got chicken, my buddy got shrimp). I wonder if it's better when Zing is in the house?