Hong Fat's was known for their great food at cheap prices and the tea in glasses, and waiters that could be so rude that it was funny and worth the price of admission alone. Once - this would have been in the late 60's - I was sitting there eating my chow fun or chow mai fun or curried noodles with pork (that one was good too) and a waiter came rushing out of the kitchen wielding a big cleaver and chasing a hippy out on to Mott street yelling "No tip no tip!' Another funny incident I saw, there were four hippies dawdling over their food in the crowded restaurant and three men dressed up in expensive looking suits walked in the door - they looked like they came from nearby Little Italy - they must have been big tippers - and they were standing there looking for a place to sit - so the waiter goes over to the hippies' table and starts grabbing their dishes yelling, "OK, you done!" Another one I remember was at one of the other noodle joints I mentioned around the corner on Bayard Street, the one on the south side. I was with some college chums and one of them ordered a rice dish but the waiter gave him a noodle dish so he said, "excuse me but I ordered rice", so the waiter said, "That rice!" and walked off. That one cracked me up too. Maybe the waiter was technically correct. Maybe it was rice noodles.
Hong Fat's was known for their great food at cheap prices and the tea in glasses, and waiters that could be so rude that it was funny and worth the price of admission alone. Once - this would have been in the late 60's - I was sitting there eating my chow fun or chow mai fun or curried noodles ...
