From The Facebook:
To the Jing Fong family, friends, and loyal fans from all around the world:
First and foremost, THANK YOU everyone for the endless support this past year, it truly means a lot to us and we really appreciate each and every one of you all, from the bottom of our hearts. We are heartbroken to announce that our Chinatown location at 20 Elizabeth Street, will be permanently closing its indoor dining operation on March 7, 2021 at 8:00pm. We will continue to operate from the 2nd floor kitchen for our outside patio, take-out, and delivery until further notice.
Please, join us safely for one last meal inside as we look back on all the memories we had here together. If you do not feel comfortable dining with us yet, no worries at all. We will continue to post memories shared with us on our stories. This is not the end for us, here at Chinatown, as we are actively looking for a new location to move into as soon as possible. We will keep you all updated as we figure out the next chapter for us.
Chinatown Daily Hours until March 7, 2021: Monday – Sunday 10AM – 7:45PM
Jing Fong Upper West Side will not be affected by this closure and will continue its normal operations.
Thank you all again! ?
*** end of statement ***
Piercing Ken Thoughts: Historically speaking I have only ever been to Jing Fong’s famed and as you can see by the visual, massive dining room once in my life. It was for a Chinese Wedding and I was the emergency “date” for a friend who was invited to an affair at the place. I was told that said original date cancelled the night before and since I don’t mind helping a friend or having a good meal I said yes immediately. My friend insisted on our meeting there so I complied and dusted the suit off, hopped the train and then began the interesting journey to find the place since Chinatown is very easy to get spun around in. This is before the days of a hand held GPS mobile device and getting to places easily. It took some doing but I made it and then I waited for my always tardy friend. We had some time so that was good. Now my interest was primarily because I had never attended a Chinese Wedding before and while I knew the food would be great, it would not be like the quick take-out that we get from the favorite place in our own neighborhood. Here’s some more personal recollection on it all.
Our table was a mixture of the brides friends from work and everyone seemed nice. The food that I remembered coming out would follow a traditional Chinese Wedding banquet and this would be the first place that I ever got to sample both jellyfish and shark fin soup. Everything was served family style and placed right in the center of the table for the guests to have at it. I remembered a fish platter, some chicken but honestly the two main things that remained in my memory were the jellyfish and shark fin soup. I am happy to report that I ate and enjoyed both of them. I didn’t remember eating much of the fish since I am generally tough on that dish. As the meal was drawing to an end was when the noodles and fried rice came out and when I asked someone at the table why this was the case they told me the symbolism behind it all. It had to do with longevity and healthy marriage or something along those lines. It was a great experience and I feel that if this had happened to me over the last couple of years that I would have a series of photos along with some video for a lifestyle blog post. That’s just where we all are these days.
Sorry if I veered off course but I thought some of you would find that interesting. I am not sure I’ll be paying a visit to sit down and eat but I might brave the world outside my block for some takeout. Stay tuned to see if I manage to do that in the time that is left and we wish the very best to all the staff who kept their customers fed for so many years. I hate seeing anything in my city close but these are strange times and we still have a way’s to go in this pandemic.
Facebook Official: https://www.facebook.com/jingfongny