[Lively Music]
- My name is Prez and I work at Thrillist.
Around these parts I'm known as
the $5 lunch guy.
'Cause in a city where money goes fast,
you gotta make every penny count.
Every episode, I'm gonna put you guys
onto the very finest New York
grub for $5 or less.
Here we go. Let's see.
The mission's in, and it is Chinatown.
Chinatown? That's it? Just Chinatown?
One word, no hints, no nothing?
There's like 5,000 joints in Chinatown
alone I could go to.
What am I gonna do? How do I decide?
I know. I'm gonna phone a friend.
I'm gonna hit up my homegirl Khushbu,
who's the senior editor at Thrillist.
[Phone Ringing]
Yo Khushbu.
- Hey, what's up?
You gotta make it quick, 'cause I
got another meeting to get to.
- So, my mission is in and I am
going to Chinatown today, and I
only got five bucks, where should I be eating?
- There's a place called Wah Fung No. 1
and for $3.75 you can get a giant
order of pork over rice.
- Oh yeah.
- There's a line, but it's totally worth it.
All right, see you soon, bye!
- Thanks.
So the thing about Wah Fung No. 1
is it's actually pretty well known,
but I've never been there.
So I'm pretty excited to try the food.
So these are the rules of
Operation Five Buck Lunch:
Its gotta be good, 'cause nobody
wants bad food for lunch.
No big chains, 'cause that's just too easy.
It's gotta be $5 or less.
And whatever I don't use today,
rolls over into the next episode.
Got it?
Good.
[Lively Music]
Where would you go for $5 food?
Like if you have to eat something
for $5, where would you go?
- I'd probably go to a West Indian joint.
- West Indian joint.
- Yeah [Laughs].
- Where's the best West Indian joint?
I need one, I've been living in Brooklyn,
I can't find one.
- Rogers Avenue, man.
- Where's that?
- Rogers Avenue.
- Rogers Avenue?
- Yeah.
- So it's called Rogers Avenue?
- No, it's called--
- It's Rogers Avenue, what's it called?
- It's called Mary's.
- Mary's
- Yeah.
- OK and then like are they Jamaican
are they Trinidadian, or--
- I don't know the island, they're West Indian.
- West Indian. What do you usually get?
- Stewed chicken.
- Stewed chicken, ah yeah.
- Oxtail.
- There ya go, that's my guy right there.
Guys we have to transfer one more stop;
we are about to get on the B train,
and we are out.
We are in pork food heaven.
[Lively Music]
Chinatown, Grand Street, but not
just anywhere in Chinatown.
Sara D. Roosevelt Park, which is my
favorite place in the entire joint.
You come here on any given day
you gonna get your ass busted.
Some of the best players you've
never heard of come here.
Internationals fly here to come play games.
Steve Nash has charities here.
I once played a game here against
the Chinatown Soccer Club and they
got this guy named Kang.
He's about 70 years old, no lie.
Look him up, Google him, whatever,
Kang, Chinatown Soccer Club.
Yo. Dude is old. Dude is a beast.
But the craziest thing about that
is, that's probably an upgrade from
anything that the US National team has right now.
I mean, you been under a rock,
you probably know we didn't qualify
for the World Cup 'cause we
lost to Trinidad and Tobago.
Like, what?
[Lively Music]
Look at this.
A line. Out the door.
A line out the door.
Look, right here, world-famous
roast pork over rice.
Four bucks. All day. Every day.
With vegetables or noodles, bang.
Can't go wrong.
Like, what else are you gonna ask for?
Why is this place so popular?
- Because of the roast pork.
- The roast pork, what about the roast pork?
Is it like homemade or does it
taste like something familiar or
- It's professionally made, it tastes
like your regular roast pork, but it's
like a little sweeter, and they have
a little bit more fat on it.
- OK and like if you didn't get that,
what else would you get, what else could you
get here for like under five bucks?
- I would start with the duck or
the roasted pig like you see the pig that's
hanging up there with the crispy skin.
- That's some good stuff, that roast pig.
I got it.
- That roast pig, that's what you would cop?
- I came all the way from Prince
- Yo what?
- I walked my half an hour meal, yes!
- But that's the thing, though.
Good food--
- I walk here, yes
- Good food is good food, don't matter
where you gotta walk from.
- I don't care.
- I don't care. Exactly.
- Especially when you have a line here, too.
- Exactly. That's the thing though.
- It's worth it, man.
- Yo, it's worth it, yo.
- It's not the price, it's the taste.
- Exactly. They cosign, we goin' in son.
[Lively Music]
This is the moment of truth.
Operation Five Buck Lunch, we're
gonna find out if it's really worth it.
Can I please have a pork over rice, small?
- Three?
- Pork over rice, No. 1, yeah.
Have you ever fallen in love before?
I think this is what it feels like.
Look at it. Look at that.
[Background Noise]
Steaming. Beautiful.
Look at the chops, bro.
Boom, boom, boom. Sorted.
[Banging]
Thick pieces of pork, bro.
They don't mess around here guys.
Look at that.
They pack it.
[Background Music]
[Banging]
[Background music]
Aw and that sauce.
Yes, yes.
[Background Noise]
There it goes, five bucks gone.
One buck back -- thank you.
- Thank you.
So Operation Five Buck Lunch is a success.
Gave him a five, got $1 back,
which I can use on the next episode.
What a lucky guy I am.
Six bucks on the next episode.
Who gets that?
There it is. Oh my God
look at this food.
Oh, this is like four or five
pounds of food for like four bucks.
You can't beat it.
Look at this meat, it's marbled
it's together, it's not like falling apart.
The sauce seems to stick to the meat.
I mean, they have like nice little smoke rings.
It's beautiful, dude.
This is quality food, dude.
And here we go, first bite.
Yeah, damn.
Gimme one second, let me think about this.
OK, here we go, here's what I got for you guys.
This meat is so damn good.
It's sweet, it's a little bit savory.
It kinda has this little bit salty.
And it gives you a hint of smoke,
which is really good.
And this rice, is cooked perfectly.
Like it's, I don't know, can you
use al dente for rice?
I don't know it just feels like
perfectly cooked rice, like
you can't really complain about it.
Now, the thing that brings this
whole piece together is the cabbage.
Now you wouldn't expect cabbage to bring a meal
together, but the steamed cabbage is actually --
it works like a kinda like a palate cleanser.
You know what I mean?
But it's also a bit smoky as well,
which is a little bit weird.
And the cabbage like sauce kind of falls
into the rice which kinda brings this
whole trifecta of food together.
This is really well made, simple food
from two guys across the street who are
kicking ass in the cheap food game.
It's damn good.
Everybody we spoke to said the same thing.
I 100% cosign on this meal.
Guys, definitely get it.
Damn.
Here we go.
[Lively Music]
- I can't say it enough.
Today has been a success.
Wah Fung No. 1, Operation Five Buck Lunch,
a match made in heaven.
Now, when I first got this mission this
morning, I only got one word in that message.
Chinatown.
Didn't know what to do, didn't know where to go.
Thank God I had Khushbu.
She laid me with this gem, and I am so pleased.
Guess what we get to do next time guys.
We get to eat more cheap food.
Where should I go?
Let me know in the comments below.
#5bucklunch -- comment, like, follow, subscribe.
Peace.
[Lively Music]
What's up guys?
It is Prez, the Five Buck Lunch guy.
If you like what you see below
and you wanna see more of my gross eating face,
comment, like, follow, subscribe,
and I'll see you guys next time.
Peace.