CNTME_Dummy_1 Sept 9 2013 | Page 160

34 ‘Americanised Oriental’ at Mission Chinese Food 154 Orchard Street, Lower East Side (www.missionchinesefood.com) $ From the outside, Mission Chinese Food resembles any nondescript Chinese Restaurant—until you notice the throngs of people waiting for a table. Inside it’s like a party, with a keg full of beer for waiting customers and a dining room packed full of people eating super-spicy food like sizzling cumin lamb and thick-cut bacon spiced with every kind of pepper there is. Owner Danny Bowien at his restaurant Mission Chinese Food. Opposite: Diners at Mission Chinese Food photographs: andrew rowat NYC 50 best MeAls 173