Lee How Fook

I began patronizing this eatery over twenty years ago when I discovered it doesn't serve dessert; it has no liquor license; it accepts no credit cards (its prices are the most reasonable in Chinatown); and it's as if being in Shanghai in the late 1950's. A fabulously authentic meal can take hours to prepare, and then consume.

Plan an early arrival, never later than 6:00 P.M., especially on Sunday. With luck, your final fortune cookies will be presented at 8:30 P.M. Food is served casually and purposefully, and for good reason. Mr. Fook starts your order virtually from scratch and imbues in each entrée brilliant nuances of flavors that cause mental sensations of déja-vu. You can almost, but not quite, identify the tastes circulating upon your tongue, appearing and disappearing until you swallow. Mrs. Fook says most lawyers are "too full abalone."