Deluxe Food Market in Chinatown...Cheapest To-Go Place in Chinatown?

If you are in Chinatown to shop for groceries, make sure you stop by the Deluxe Food Market by Elizabeth St. (between Hester and Grand).  This place is insanely packed, especially on weekends, but the foods that are on sale are amazingly cheap!  The food market stretches from Elizabeth to Mott St, and sells a huge selection of prepared hot foods.  They have quite a selection of , baked goods, meat and seafood, and frozen goodies as well such as dumplings.

What attracts me to the market is the amazingly cheap and huge variety of hot foods being sold for cheap, and about half the price of many other Chinese markets.  A tray of veggies is ONLY $2.50.  Just be careful with what you pick and take a close look at the dish since some of even the vegetable dishes, such as the some of the stir fried dishes, can be quite oily.

Fish and seafood dishes are also sold and cost more...pictured here is a container of fried shrimp for $6.47 and fried fish for $5.50.

Roasted meat dishes, such as roast pig and pork, roast duck, or soy sauce chicken is also cheaper here than other markets.   A container of roast pig can be $3 to $5, depending on how much is in the container. The quality of the meat dishes are pretty good as well.

One of the things I often buy is the poached "Chef's Chicken", which consists of three chicken leg quarters, poached, and sliced.  It's very flavorful and only a cheap $3.50!

This box of chicken curry only has smaller pieces of chicken and more potatoes, but it's still flavorful and is only $2.50!

Ok, this might be more of a Fear Factor moment for some...but here goes....On one trip I saw an actual pig's head (as part of a roast pig) that was on display by the cash register for the cheap cheap price of guess:
FIFTY CENTS!  It was half a pig's head, which is actually a bit of a delicacy, on sale for a cheap fifty cents!!!

The meat and skin on the pig's head was texturally different from the rest of the roast pig, but still very flavorful.  Fifty cents very well spent hahaha.

Note that if you stop by later at night, the dishes go even cheaper!  You can get meat dishes for about $2 to $3 a box.  The meat dishes have always been OK when I got em, but just be wary of some of the stewed veggie dishes (like sometimes the stewed radish) that have been sitting out all day.  You might get them for like $2 but they start to not taste fresh if you keep them for several days more in the fridge.  It does pay to brave the crowds and head there early in the day when the food is freshly made.


Deluxe Food Market
79 Elizabeth St
(between Grand St & Hester St)
New York, NY 10013