COVID’s Impact on Manhattan’s Chinatown

The virus that wrecked the world has also hit my favorite part of the city that I’m slowly beginning to call home. If you’ve read any of my other posts, you probably know that other than my workplace, the Manhattan Chinatown is my most frequented and most loved little portion of NYC. I come for the food and end up staying for hours wandering streets that have been explored dozens of times by now but somehow still never fail to intrigue. From Chinese brekkie, to bakeries, to bubble tea, to little trinket shops— Chinatown keeps me coming back.

Sadly, Manhattan’s Chinatown, like other neighborhoods across the country and across the globe, has really taken a hit from COVID-19. The mom and pop shop restaurants, with those affordable (dirt-cheap, by Manhattan standards) prices I love so much, generally don’t have much financial cushioning to fall back on during hard times like these. I’m worried that some of the smaller restaurants may not be able to reopen when the tide recedes and the restrictions are lifted. It’s a shame that these smaller eateries also tend to be the more old-school traditional establishments that have been here for generations.

We took a trip to Manhattan’s Chinatown when everything was still shut down. Even though restaurants were allowed to remain open as essential workplaces, the vast majority of them were shuttered. It was eerily quiet, a ghost town. I’ve always felt proud to be culturally connected to the wonderful foods and experiences of the Chinese people of NYC — now seeing Chinatown in such different spirits, almost tied down and handcuffed, was painful. It’s so surreal to think that just two months back, we had joined hundreds of others jostling body to body in the streets to celebrate Lunar New Year. In fact, some remnants of streamers trapped in the power lines above and vibrant chunks of confetti ground permanently into the sidewalk below were still visible months after the celebration, after the city was forced to shut down. They lingered there as a haunting reminder of a very different past. It’s just wild how much everything has changed so quickly.

Meandering through the deserted corridors, we finally came across a tiny restaurant with an open sign posted. Only one customer was allowed inside at a time, and the shop owners had erected plastic barriers at the counter to minimize any air flow between client and employee. After ordering, we had to step outside to wait for our food. We ordered too much food for just the two of us, but felt the need to support the restaurant. To be honest, their milk tea was quite meh, but the salted fish over rice and zhong zhi were really tasty!

My heart goes out to the people who live and work in Chinatown – I’m excited for our post-COVID comeback! Believe you me, my stomach and I are ready for it.