Cantonese Cuisine at Congee Inc. In New York

Congee Inc., at 98 Bowery between Grand St. and Hester St., specializes in a variety of Fuzhou delicacies for diners. The restaurant is easily accessible via the B, D trains at Grand St. or the J, M at Bowery. This is one of the older Cantonese establishments in Chinatown, and it has built its reputation around an authentic Chinese dining experience. The main dining room is lively and can be crowded around dinner time, but they also have quieter tables for larger groups downstairs.

I admit that I am not a fan of Cantonese food, despite spending almost four years in Guangdong province-I prefer the spices of Sichuan, Hunan, and Xinjiang provinces. The times I've eaten Cantonese food, I found it to be rather bland.

There were very few dishes that I enjoyed in Guangdong, and I didn't expect much from my dining experience at Congee Inc. However, I was pleased with the resulting dinner. I enjoyed a selection of dishes from the restaurants enormous menu-they have over 200 dishes listed.

I was fortunate enough to take in the ambiance of Congee Inc. with a group of former expats in China, many of whom enjoyed Cantonese food and knew what to order. Having a large group is beneficial in any Chinese restaurant as it allows everyone to sample a large number of dishes. In our case, we had 13 people and ordered 20 dishes (many of the dishes are small). The restaurant is surprisingly reasonable considering its location and popularity-we only spent $12 each for a dinner that lasted two hours and left everyone satisfied.

The specialty of Congee Inc. is, of course, congee-a rice porridge with meat and/or vegetables. Diners have a choice of 27 varieties of congee ranging from plain to snail and frog (neither of which we ordered). As someone who has never liked congee, I was impressed by the chicken with mushroom and crab congee, though I would have enjoyed it more with some hot sauce.

For those on a budget or who would just like to stop in for a snack, the restaurant offers a selection of dim sum at very reasonable prices, especially for New York. They also serve some dishes that aren't Cantonese, like Singapore fried noodles and General Tso's chicken (which is not really a Chinese dish). To save time, it's best to check out their menu online before arriving-it takes a while to browse all the dishes Congee Inc. offers.