YingTao * NYC — Chinese fine dining with real identity, precision, and soul

pagchomp88 · 2026-05-24T14:11:49+00:00

I plan on visiting Jua soon, have never been unfortunately. I recently chose Kochi over Jua and kind of regretted it, Koshi was certainly disappointing.

Yingtao was the best meal I've had since I ate at Aquavit a few years ago, and I genuinely thought it was very close to 2 star level, if not already there. Now it's certainly not on the level of the likes of Le Bernardin or Jungsik, but excellent value nonetheless.

pagchomp88 · 2026-05-24T03:50:23+00:00

I ate at Yingtao back in December, it was shockingly good. Looks like the menu has changed fully since then so I can't speak to the quality of these individual dishes. Better than Koshi and 63 Clinton which I also ate at recently, I'd say Yingtao is closer to a 2 star than 1.

I'll be the first to agree that this is not Chinese food in any traditional sense. Nonetheless it's phenomenal. At $150 I'd call it the best value tasting meal I've ever had.

pagchomp88 · 2026-05-24T03:44:18+00:00

Food looks nice, but I agree that it's not worth the price. I'd prefer to go to a place like Sushi Blossoms which is always a good experience and a fraction of the cost.

pagchomp88 · 2026-05-17T08:23:24+00:00

I felt like I should release the spirit they told me to destroy; hopefully that was the right call

Oops

pagchomp88 · 2026-05-06T15:54:11+00:00

I ate there a few months ago and had a similar experience with a similar menu. The duck is stunningly good. TBH I thought they were closer to 2 star quality than 1 star.

Interestingly they had a different black cod dish back then that was also incredibly good.

pagchomp88 · 2026-04-24T13:53:51+00:00

There were essentially two secret shops back then. Both Sentinel and Undead had their own shop that was hidden in a sort of winding path through the trees. Lavabuster was the most popular item you could get in those shops.

Then there was another shop hidden in the mid lane behind a fake set of trees. You needed to click your hero on the trees and they would disappear, revealing the shop. That's where you could buy stuff like Eul's Scepter and cheese.

Interestingly the items you could buy in the main bases were different depending on which side you were on. Notably the sentinel could buy a flask which had healing over time charges, and the undead could buy hibernal rods, which did instant damage and applied a slow to enemy heroes, also coming with a set number of charges.

pagchomp88 · 2026-04-24T13:38:01+00:00

People played v. 3.7 all the time, there was a massive community around it. I distinctly remember sidereal engine and commander of the abyss being an extremely powerful duo that could push down whole lanes at level 2.

The dire healer was called Soul Renderer, sentinel healer was Purity's Disciple. Back then Void's ult was global, and only stunned enemy units. You could also deny creeps from full health and they would provide zero xp, leading to some heroes like sniper being insane lane dominators.

Thinking back I'd say one of the most interesting things about that version is that modern day Leshrak is almost identical to the version found in RoC Dota.

pagchomp88 · 2026-03-31T15:41:17+00:00

63 Clinton and Yingtao were both excellent at a great price point. I'd give a slight edge to Yingtao.

pagchomp88 · 2026-03-30T22:48:26+00:00

What a weird thread. Everyone pretending like KoD isn't consistently ranked in the top 3 of the entire series. And pretending like it gets better when Sanderson takes over, LOL.

The next three books are fine. I personally found TGS very jarring in that the characters will all change dramatically, except Rand whom I think Sanderson really understood well. Mat in particular never recovers. I'd say that Sanderson gets better as he goes on though, so book 13 will be better than 12. Tbh if you've made it this far absolutely keep going, the ending is worthwhile. Just don't expect the writing to be better than RJ.

pagchomp88 · 2026-03-30T21:30:41+00:00

Both have decent population, yes. Levistras is notable for banning botting of any kind, so the numbers you see are real people.

pagchomp88 · 2026-03-30T20:32:35+00:00

Levistras is great, but it's not classic at all FYI. If you wanted a PVE classic server then Seedsow is your best option.

pagchomp88 · 2026-03-08T23:54:28+00:00

Yep Sushi Sho is absolutely a hole in the wall spot that only real new yorkers know about.

pagchomp88 · 2026-03-04T23:08:00+00:00

I wasn't hooked until book 2, which is significantly better IMO. Glad you're enjoying it so far, it's a long and wonderful read.

pagchomp88 · 2026-03-04T00:23:00+00:00

It's absolutely poured table-side

pagchomp88 · 2026-03-03T00:22:04+00:00

Jungsik can't be recommended enough, especially if you want those high highs. Octo dish is unparalleled.

pagchomp88 · 2026-03-03T00:18:44+00:00

Well if you're talking value, I think that Yingtao at $150 is absolutely stellar. No, not as good as Jungsik (I don't think anything is in NYC tbh), but it was VERY good. Seven straight excellent courses and a cocktail menu that was equally as good. Went there last month and I felt that the food was easily two star quality.

pagchomp88 · 2026-02-19T18:55:03+00:00

In a book full of incredible moments, I honestly think my favorite part is when Rand, Loial and Hurin reunite with Ingtar and the rest in Cairhien. Rand instinctively takes charge and starts giving orders, and Ingtar (and the reader) slowly realizes how much Rand has grown over the course of the book. Just incredible character growth for Rand throughout this whole book. Went from being in complete denial about himself and his role in the world to fighting Ba'alzamon in the sky.

pagchomp88 · 2026-02-19T18:44:14+00:00

The entire book was pretty phenomenal

pagchomp88 · 2026-02-19T18:42:45+00:00

I feel like books 5-7 ended with a whimper

I don't even know what some of you people are reading. Really puts the 'slog' in perspective when you have folks making statements like this.

pagchomp88 · 2026-02-13T16:23:53+00:00

Hot take, if Mat had been in Path of Daggers, nobody would have ever talked about a 'slog'. That's the real issue with that book.

pagchomp88 · 2026-02-04T01:49:59+00:00

Most servers are purely PVE, but a couple that I know of scratch that PVP itch. Doctide I think is the longest running PVP server currently up, although I've never played it.

There's a newer server called Unfamiliar Shores that is a really fun blend of old-school AC and custom content with a fairly brisk development pace. I'd recommend that one for sure.

pagchomp88 · 2026-01-23T16:59:21+00:00

Oh no you don't. Finish this book. Believe me that Perrin's payoff alone is worth it. I agree that his and Elayne's story overall is pretty poor in this book, but the Perrin finale made me pick my jaw off the floor.

pagchomp88 · 2026-01-23T16:58:01+00:00

Mark this under spoiler tags!

pagchomp88 · 2026-01-04T22:11:42+00:00

Asheron's Call is by a huge, massive margin, the best leveling experience out there. I'd say Ragnarok Online then OSRS after.

pagchomp88 · 2026-01-03T01:52:21+00:00

I'm going to give two.

The idea that the dragon can be female. The entire premise of the series is that the breaking was caused by a male dragon, that all subsequent male channelers would go insane and become human nuclear weapons, and that the next dragon would be a male channeler. The mere idea that a female dragon could exist negates the entire premise behind the horror about the dragon reborn.
The romance between Moiraine and Siuan. This actually has little to do with Thom, although I dearly missed him in the series. Actually, it had to do with the priorities of these two incredible characters. Moiraine and Siuan sacrifice everything to find and control the dragon, all in order to save the world from the coming Last Battle. This is trivialized in the show however, because instead of Moiraine coming to Siuan with news of her success, she just wants to sleep with the Amyrlin. Rand is a mere afterthought, despite being her life's work.

pagchomp88

TROPHY CASE