A Must-Have Dish From a Chinatown Icon
Teochew ducks hang in the window of Bo Ky.
Bo Ky is currently owned by Hung Ngo, whose father founded the restaurant around 1990, at 80 Bayard Street, near the corner of Mott Street. Its faded white facade, with Chinese and Vietnamese lettering, is a landmark.
Bo-Ky is among the Teochew-owned Chinese restaurants in New York. The Teochew are a Han Chinese subgroup with their own language; they’re associated with a seaside region in southeast Guangdong that’s centered on the city of Chaozhou. After a period of unrest centuries ago in the coastal regions of China, many Teochew left southeast Guangdong laying the path for a centuries-long diaspora in Southeast Asia. The diaspora communities have since developed foodways that merge several cultures.
New York’s Chinatown has long supported a Teochew community, whose restaurants are often identified by a mixture of languages on the facades. Teochew (or Chaozhou) cuisine is a delectable hodgepodge, and the menu at Bo Ky offers Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Malaysian dishes, as well as the more purely Teochew.
Bo Ky, a Teochew restaurant, lies in the heart of Chinatown.
Bo Ky’s interior.
On the menu there’s deep-fried shrimp rolls featuring a shrimp mousse inside a tofu-skin wrapper, wrinkly and wonderfully squishy. A fish noodle soup with noodles made partly of fish is also on the menu.
Teochew duck is the standout, with birds that hang in the window attracting passers-by. With their marinated chestnut-brown skin, they look different than the bronzed ducks hanging in other Chinatown windows. It is a recipe sometimes associated with the hawker stalls of Singapore.
Teochew duck is served with pickled vegetables and a vinegar dipping sauce.
Described on Bo Ky’s menu as country-style duck ($18 for half), the difference is clear at first bite. The skin is pleasantly rubbery, and the flesh is moist and full of lacustrine flavor. While the ducks in other restaurants (such as Beijing duck, for example) are prepared in a multi-step process that can take three days and results in a bird with a lacquered skin, this one is braised in a thick soy sauce with star anise and other spices. While roast duck varieties often emphasize the crisp exterior, the Teochew braised recipe maximizes the flavor and a softer textured flesh.
The country-style ducks come sliced, accompanied by sweet-pickled vegetables, and with a small saucer of vinegar laced with fish sauce. There’s so much duck in a half bird, you can share it with three or four friends. Now, I can’t pass the corner of Mott and Bayard without craving it.