Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Fuleen, a seafood restaurant in the remote eastern reaches of Chinatown, isn't flawless.

When I described it to a friend who declined to join me there, he accurately responded, ``Sounds like a place where a man can't get a good bottle of wine.''

And there you have it, a compilation of the negatives.

If you want to eat Chinese food, I recommend it. If you want to eat seafood, I recommend it. If you want to eat late, I unconditionally recommend it.

The restaurant is open until 3 a.m. and, unlike almost every other Manhattan restaurant serving post-midnight cuisine (I've checked out dozens of them), I noticed no decline whatsoever in the quality of the cooking when I arrived late.

Fuleen has been around for almost a dozen years, and while I get the impression that everybody has heard of it, hardly anybody has been to it --- unless he's Chinese. Most of the patrons are. One evening I heard no English at all, but for a few halting words from the exceedingly accommodating wait staff.

That's another thing. If you want eager (although not polished) service, I recommend Fuleen. How often have you heard service mentioned as a virtue of a Chinese restaurant?

The place is a miniaturized version of a Hong Kong dining palace: crystal chandeliers, white tablecloths, cloth napkins and a red-velvet back wall decorated with a dragon, a phoenix and a double-happiness sign. Plates are garnished mostly with sliced cucumbers. Fish tanks up front contain impending food and beloved pets. The pair of arowanas is there for admiring because a feng shui master said they'd bring good luck. Occasional requests from patrons (always the round-eyes) to have them steamed are refused.

Crunchy Wontons

The cuisine is classic Cantonese, with a few exceptions, the best of those being the Chinese-American standard, fried wontons. They're hot, thin, crunchy and filled with a nice chunk of shrimp. Another fine way to begin a meal is with the startlingly economical clam soup, a tureen of spicy chicken broth overloaded with green peppers, sliced onions and fresh clams. I calculated the price per bowl at about $2.

I also admired the shrimp with a typically spicy Sichuan sauce. To be honest, almost any dish made with shrimp is good, the exception, oddly enough, being the live shrimp from the tanks. Our waitress informed us of the price, $24 a pound, by writing ``24'' on our tablecloth.

Perhaps that's Fuleen's second flaw, at least if you're the laundry service.

Salty Chicken

The shrimp are fresh and crunchy but almost tasteless -- I tried them twice. The only other dish of the dozens I ordered that I didn't admire was salted baked chicken, too acrid for me. I suppose, given the name, that I shouldn't have been surprised.

A few of the dishes you might not be inclined to order are among the best. They include the Hong Kong classic of shrimp with creamy, chive-accented scrambled eggs; and fluffy, delicate, fried rice prepared with dried scallops (flavor) egg whites (lightness) and diced broccoli stems (crunch).

The tastiest and most complex preparation is called ``harbor style,'' the fish dry-sauteed with dried shrimp, garlic, jalapenos and more. Dungeness crab from the tanks prepared in this manner deserves to be Fuleen's signature dish. The topping, piled on, adds flavor without masking the sweetness of the crab.

There is Peking duck, of course. It's not Cantonese, but it seems to have become the requisite luxury dish of every Chinese restaurant. The version here consists of skin, fat and meat, all still attached, served on a steamed Chinese bun with hoisin sauce and scallions. Add a few slivers of the cucumber garnish and you have an avian replica of the legendary Momofuku pork bun. Of course, Fuleen's came first.

Short List

The wine list consists of two bottles. I had the white, a clumsy, overly tropical 2005 Hess Chardonnay ($28), and after that I brought my own. The Fuleen bonus: No corkage charge.

There's no such thing as a Chinese brasserie, but if there were, this would be it. Most of the tables are oversize (one seats 16) and most of the patrons come casually dressed, to be sartorially kind.

One admiring friend dining with me at 8 p.m. remarked, ``If the food is this good when you're sober, imagine how good it must taste at 2 in the morning when you're drunk.''

The Bloomberg Questions

Cost? Prices range from $1.95 for a single-serving soup to $40-$48 for a 2.5- to 3-pound Dungeness crab. Banquet meals for 10 are $388-$568, but these menus are only in Chinese.

Date place? Better for a harem than a couple.

Inside Tip? Don't expect too much from the fortune cookies. They're the substandard kind that proffer inane proverbs (e.g. ``Swimming is easy. Staying afloat is hard'') rather than encouraging predictions of your fate.

Special feature? Hot hand towels are offered so often one of my guests complained of pruned fingertips.

Private Room? No.

Lunch? Yes.

Will I be back? Of course -- this is probably the best late-night dining in New York.

Fuleen Seafood Restaurant is at 11 Division St., near Bowery. Information: +1-212-941-6888. No Web site.

(Alan Richman is a restaurant critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

To contact the writer of this story: Alan Richman at thecritic@optonline.net.

Last Updated: November 14, 2007 00:04 EST