Fortune (Cookies) with a side of Boba at Xing Fu Tang

I was in Chinatown in Flushing, Queens for work today, which towards the end included a visit to Xing Fu Tang to grab some boba for the ride home. The boba was very highly recommended by my Chinese collagues, and It was fascinating to watch them make the Boba fresh from outside the store. The real treat however is what happened while waiting inside for the Boba where I discovered a really fun Chinese alternative to fortune cookies.

While waiting for the Boba, my colleague reached inside what looked like an umbrella stand full of sticks, and walked across to a cabinet full of little drawers and pulled out a small piece of paper. He then read out what sounded like a fortune. I was really confused till he explained this was the equivalent of a fortune cookie, and each stick inside the holder had a number that has a corresponding drawer in the cabinet on the wall, which is your lucky fortune.

My fortune was surpisingly accurate given the reason I was in the store was to get a sweet drink, though I’m not sure about the bitterness or the “Average Middle Luck”.

Here are some of the other fortunes that were pulled by our group. The last one was ironic as it was pulled by a married colleague, and not any of the single people among us.

All in all it made for a very memorable visit to Chinatown in Flushing.

#gottalovenewyork