Why Come Here? Playful Chinese Fusion, Unusual Eats
Since Mission Chinese opened the floodgates a few years back, there has been a rush of upscale Chinese fusion restaurants popping up all over town. As Chinese is one of my favorite cuisine types, I’m all for seeing chef’s work their magic with the ingredients of the Orient. So much so that I felt the need to check out two newcomers in the past week. First up was Kings County Imperial, a “Central Chinese” restaurant located basically under the BQE in Williamsburg.
While the place overall is great, it’s also almost comically what you would expect a Chinese restaurant in Williamsburg to be. The space has exactly nothing to with China, but it’s about as quintessentially Brooklyn as it gets. There’s dim lighting, brick walls, a tin ceiling and a random assortment of books at the bar (good news for hipster solo diners!)
Then there’s the whole “Cuisine of Central China” thing. When you read it you think “wow new type of Chinese cooking to explore!” Of course there’s no real definition of Central China, and it turns out theirs basically includes Sichuan and all the regions you already know about. Luckily they’re also the delicious ones. And hey, good marketing tactic!
They also have soy sauce on tap. From what I could gather, the main benefit of this seems to be the cool tap that sits at the bar (please tell me artisan soy sauce isn’t about to become a thing). Or maybe it’s just playing into the trend of putting everything on tap. You better believe there’s wine on tap too. I’m just waiting for someone to put up a sign for “Water on Tap” and start charging for it.
Perhaps I jest too much though, as dining at King’s County is a actually very enjoyable experience. The staff is friendly and helpful, the music is good and there’s a nice little garden in back you can use in six months. The playfulness of the ambiance also continues into the kitchen where it is nothing to joke about. There are a lot of twists on traditional dim sum, noodle and stir fry dishes that make this place a worthwhile trip. It is a little pricier than your typical, Chinese but portions are substantial and it’s actually a pleasant place to hang out. If there’s one knock I have, it’s that a lot of dishes rely too much on garlic, soy sauce and chili oil. But most dishes were really good. If you enjoy places like Redfarm and Mission Chinese, you’ll be very happy here.
Below is what we tried. As you can see the lighting isn’t very photo friendly, which is probably why they haven’t been blowing up your instagram.
Soup Dumplings 
Soup Dumplings: If they’re on the menu, I’m going to order them. So I’ve sampled quite a few in my day. These have a slightly lighter and less salty broth than the standard in Chinatown/Flushing but also a little thicker skin. You won’t regret starting your meal with an order.
Mock Eel 
This seems to be a signature dish here and I have to say I’m a big fan. The “mock” eel is actually made of mushrooms which I prefer to eel anyway. It’s crispy and pretty heavy on the soy sauce, but makes an awesome snack to kick things off.
Cold Sesame Noodles 
Served with cucumber in a peanut sauce, it’s a refreshing change of pace from many of the the soy sauce driven dishes.
Crispy Garlic Chicken 
The garlicky soy sauce (from the tap of course) is great. But I found the chicken a little on the dry side and a battle to strip off the bone. It’s enjoyable, but the potential is there for it to be a lot better.
Ants Climbing a Tree By the time this guy arrived, it was clear we had ordered too much food and I barely got into it. But it was quite tasty as a cold leftover the next couple days. Inside you’ve got some sticky bean thread noodles with ground pork, mushrooms and a good heaping of chili and garlic. I’m not sure I ate enough of it fresh to give it a fair rating so maybe another 1/2 star is warranted.
Right Amount for 2? 3-4 dishes
Kings County Imperial
20 Skillman Street (Union & Lorimer)
Brooklyn, NY
