ace52387's Profile
Cumin Lamb at Golden Garden, Belmont
I just had this dish yesterday and I can't say I'm in love with it. I like a lot of the other food there, including the garlic vinegar cucumber salad, the dumplings and the shumai, particularly the dongbei style shumai.
The carrots really don't belong in this dish in my opinion which isn't a big deal since you can ask for it without the carrots, but the cut of lamb they use is on the lean and mild side. It was a bit dry and stringy. I think a fattier, gamier cut would make it much better.
Chinese food for my non-Chinese food eating wife
I agree with most of the posters here in recommending Jojo Taipei and Shanghai Gate. If you go during the weekend for brunch, Jojo Taipei has Taiwanese style dimsum along with the regular menu. When I last went they carried small dishes around, including salted, roasted peanuts and pickled cabbage.
I would also get the soup dumplings, because who doesn't like soup dumplings. Actually, any dumplings would probably be good choices, as well as their stuffed pancakes and noodles.
While I enjoy the eggplant with basil and the 3 cups chicken, it's a bit sloppy, thickened with cornstarch. It's not as gloppy as most of the chinese food in Chinatown, granted, but it may not be palatable for your wife.
Kung pao chicken is a little spicy but it might be a good choice? My relatives seemed to like it much more than Chinatown versions when they were visiting. It's definitely salty so eat rice accordingly.
Shanghai gate also has soup dumplings on the weekends (though they aren't as good) and I personally prefer it overall to Jojo. I would definitely DEFINITELY advise against listening to the suggestions of the servers. Stir fried rice cakes (really, just thick cut, somewhat chewy noodles) with pork, lions head meatballs, steamed fish, fish in brown sauce (I think that's the english name. It might be Hong Shao fish on the menu, or if it's not, you can say it and they'll understand). There are bones, and usually there's a head but it doesn't sound like she should have issues with that since trout is often served whole. All of these dishes are really good and not gloppy.
Penang is technically not a Chinese restaurant but it has many Chinese dishes along with malaysian curries that may be more familiar to your wife. Hainan chicken is an interesting chinese dish now much more associated with singapore.
-----
Shanghai Gate
204 Harvard Ave, Allston, MA 02134
Which is your fave Korean spot in Allston?
I just looked at the menu and it looks like chung ki wa has bossam also. How are these dishes there?
Do you by any chance know of a good place to get soondaegookbab?
Which is your fave Korean spot in Allston?
In general Korean Garden is a good choice. I've had the Jabchae, bibimnaengmyun, haemul Jungol and a lamb jungol, all of which were pretty good. If your party is big enough, they have a large array of banchan but the service isn't always the greatest. They don't really tend to refill water or banchan unless you ask.
I've never been picky about ddokbokki but I tend to like the one in color as it seems to be thicker, heavier on the gochujang and not so much on the ketchup (nasty). I hate the one at Korean Garden which is just the opposite. Color also has nice bokkum dishes, like soondae gopchang bokkum, and the kimbab isn't bad.
Gamja tang at hanmaru has got to be my favorite dish overall in the area, but Myung Dong has a bunch of stuff that you can't find anywhere else.
Bosam, pork belly with slightly fermented cabbage and a salad of radishes and oysters in a spicy dressing is awesome. I feel like the pork belly should be grilled? but I could be wrong on that. This version is boiled, cold cut. The oyster salad is absolutely amazing though. I had something similar with apple slices in korea that was unbelievable and this is the closest thing i've found to that.
They also have jokbal, pigs feet served in slices, and it comes with samjang and this fermented shrimp sauce that is devilishly salty but also totally delicious if you only apply a little. Haven't seen these dishes anywhere else.
-----
Korean Garden
122 Harvard Ave, Allston, MA 02134
has anyone done the L'espalier RW lunch yet?
I agree with Hamster about the service being a little aggressive. I had the salad, salmon and the brownie desert and it was pretty underwhelming. The salad was pretty small, and had a very basic vinaigrette and some slices of rubarb. The cheddar was nice and sharp enough to balance all the acid though. The salmon and the desert were just so mediocre. The beurre blanc on the salmon was nice, but the fish itself was dry on the edges, and while not severely ammoniated, the fishy flavor was detectable and a little unpleasant. I tried a little bit of the pickled and peppered cabbage on top of the pork belly which one of the DC's ordered, which was pretty hard to swallow. I liked the heavy handed pepper flavor, but combined with the excessive vinegar it was just too much. The gateau chocolat was indistinguishable from a good, but not exceptional brownie you could find at any bakery around town.
Any recs for a good dumpling place?
I like the pot stickers from taiwan cafe. Like most pot stickers, the skin is reasonably thick, but not quite as doughy or dense as standard peking ravioli's you might find at more westernized chinese places. The meat is not red w/ soy sauce, there's a fair amount of juice, and the cabbage inside is not mushy, which is rare.
Jo Jo Taipei report
I love the eggplant with basil here too! I prefer it to Taiwan Cafe's version, which is goopier, and tastes much stronger of sweet and sour. I loved their three cups chicken as well. It is cooked just a tiny bit over what a normal chinese poached/braised chicken would go, which I don't mind, and the flavor is awesome. I think their XLB are very good as well, small, without too many scallions like what you'd get at canto dimsum, laced with soy sauce unlike the shanghai version, and maybe this is my poor palette when it comes to XLB, but I think it was about as good as ding tai feng's in taiwan (I had the plain pork).
I tried their cong bao yang rou though, and that was pretty bad, and from what I hear, their cumin lamb is no good either, so I might stay away from stir fried meat dishes.
I love, LOVE taiwan Cafe's dumplings where the cabbage isn't cooked completely to mush, and I was wondering how the dumplings here compare.
Spices on the cheap?
cool, I don't know any of the grocery stores, mind recommending a few?
By the way thanks for all the suggestions. Arax sounds great, as does harvest co-op and I will have to hit those up.
Spices on the cheap?
Anyone know of a cheap place to stock up on spices preferably around brookline or west roxbury/roslindale? The supermarket prices seem a little high.
Dim Sum Tomorrow- Hei La Moon or Windsor?
I think picking dim sum places is very item to item. Winsor's fen guo with ground pork, peanuts and water chestnuts I think is bad, a little funky, but their shumai is pretty good with less shrimp than most other places. I like China Pearl best for dim sum because I've never really disliked any of the items I usually order there, (steamed noodles, shumai, chicken's feet, fen guo) but I've had problems at least once or twice with all the other dim sum places in chinatown.
Chinatown: Crown Royal Bakery, Xinh Xinh
I just had it today and it was kind of like pulled pork. The sauce was definitely not as thick or red as most char siu bao's at dim sum places, though it's been years since i've ordered one in a bakery. I feel like the sauce is still sweet and sour, with mostly the same flavors, but they use a different cut of pork that's braised or roasted until it is like pulled pork, does that match up with what you were talking about? I agree that it's definitely one of the best char siu bao's I've had, but I'm still not super fond of it.
I do love big buns, but the only one I have experience with is Maxim's, and I think I will try crown royal's next time.
Chinatown Closings
Was it actually good at KFG? I've always been afraid to try. The brookline one seems to have the same dumplings, but the scallion pancakes (which i've never had at the c town location) are nothing like what has been described. They were thin, fried to hardness, nothing like the homemade doughy, pastry like scallion (breads really) that I've had at every chinese, but non-cantonese household.
The dumplings definitely didn't blow me away. The skins were really thick, and the cabbage in the filling lacked any character, almost like the frozen dumplings I can get at 88. I had a really horrible hot pot there, and a standard, slightly tough cong bao yang rou. Maybe I ordered wrong, and I don't doubt their peking duck is the best in the city considering its competition, but I guess it's too late to find out.
Did KFG change ownership at any point from notherners to southerners? I talked to the woman who appeared to be the owner at the brookline location, and she definitely did not have a northern accent. I can't tell shanghai and southern accents apart, but it was definitely not a beijing/tianjin/shandong accent. I also remember the chef speaking cantonese at the chinatown location to a server or a customer.
Chinatown Crawl
Taiwan style pan fried dumplings and the beef shaobing at Taiwan Cafe
Steamed scallops with vermicelli and garlic @ peach farm
lo mein @ HK eatery
brisket curry pot @ penang
XLB, rice cake (stir fried or souped) @ wings
Chao zhou fen guo (dumplings with veggies, peanuts, waterchestnut and pork bits) @ China Pearl
fun food snackery leaving current location
If it's the shaved ice you miss, Jojo's has a good version. I haven't tried the fruity sasabin yet, but the bowbin is good, not too sweet.
Cantonese Yu Xiang
I tried the HK eatery one just today, and it was very, very similar to the one at china pearl cafe. It really had no heat, was too salty for me, and also the preserved fish aroma was way more powerful than I remember from the dish in Guangzhou.
I'm curious about the peach farm version, because after discovering yu xiang in Guangzhou, I ordered it at almost every restaurant I went to there, and they all turned it out with hot peppers, and in a pot of hot pepper oil with a couple of preserved fish, certainly enough to lend a little bit of a flavor, but not enough to make the whole table smell of it. I wouldn't say the HK eatery version or the China Pearl cafe version is just a bad rendition. It seems more like a completely different version of the dish. Is that the way it's served in HK? It sounds to me like the peach farm version might be a little closer to what I had in Guangzhou, but if it's merely a little bit more oily, then I guess I'll give up on finding this dish here.
Blue Ribbon - got 'em on a great night
I don't know about the pulled pork since I usually stick with the burnt ends, ribs and brisket, but out of those, the only inconsistency has come from the Brisket. I was there in the afternoon yesterday as well, had some ribs and a sample of brisket. Sadly my ribs didn't have a lot of smoky flavor, but they were tender and juicy, which seemed pretty normal to me. I also regularly get their burnt ends and they've been mostly the same.
The only thing I eat there that's been inconsistent is the brisket, and terribly so. Some times it's tender but not fatty, really smoky, sometimes it's tender and rather fatty, and other times it's really...really dry. I asked the guy up front about it and he said it's just because I get different cuts of the brisket? and he told me to ask for the fattier part next time, even though my favorite experiences have been with the mildly fatty but tender servings.
Just moved to Boston and need help!
Sichuan Garden right next to brookline family restaurant is good if you like spicy food. I would steer clear of beef w/ broccoli or peking ravioli's (do they even have those on the menu?) here though.
I think Xinh Xinh in downtown is much better than pho lemongrass, but if you wanna stay closer, I also prefer le's down in allston, and pho viet in the super 88 (also allston).
I hear a lot of great things about Athan's bakery in washington square, but I can only attest to the chocolate gelato, and that is awesome. Herell's in Allston, just down harvard ave has good Ice Cream if you liked JP licks. Chocolate pudding and mudslide are my favorites there so far.
Shanghai gate, which is also just down harvard ave from coolidge corner is great. Again steer clear of beef w/ broccoli or peking ravioli's if they have it there. There's a bunch of other great places in Allston like Jo Jo Taipei, Rangoli, ah the list goes on! Michael's Deli is a great lunch spot in coolidge corner. Shwarma king, rod dee and dok bua are all around there also.
In Chinatown, you can go to a dimsum house with pushcarts. My favorite of those is China Pearl, but a lot of the items are almost indistinguishable from Hei La Moon's equivalents. Last time I tried, the lines at Hei La Moon are longer though, probably because their space is smaller. You can try the different bakeries. Eldo's has more pastries, but a lot of their items are very similar other than that. Peach Farm has a great scallop/garlic/vermicelli dish. It and Jumbo also have great steamed fish. Penang is good for malaysian.
Oishii is in chestnut Hill, and it's got quality sushi. You can get the standard stuff, or order from the chef's menu that includes some foie gras creations and kobe beef.
LA Burdick's chocolate shop in harvard sq is great. I love the pave glace and their macaroons. Their other baked goods look great, and their hot chocolate is good. Tamarind bay is there too and it's great indian food.
For a more boston-ish experience, I'd go around the North End more. Maria's, Modern's, Mike's pastries, all good. Antico forno and umberto I like for casual food, and Mamma Maria is pretty good for high end. It is so saturated with restaurants, so there are definitely plenty of goodies to be eaten there.
Dim Sum on the weekday night
In Chinatown, the only place I know of that does cart pushing dimsum all day is empire garden, but that's really my least favorite place, and I seem to be in the majority here since the place is much less crowded than the other 3 large tea houses.
I've heard great things about Winsor, but there are no carts. Despite that fact, I would still think food wise, winsor would be much superior to Empire Garden.
Non-cream cheese based cheesecake?
Cool, thanks. I've actually had ricotta but I thought maybe ricotta cheesecake was something else.
Anything of the goat cheese variety?
Almost there!
I second the Helmand. Their free bread is awesome, and the two dumpling dishes, mantwo and aushak give me cravings all the time. If you plan to check out MIT, you might want to go after dinner, and walk along the Charles and check out Boston across the river at night.
If in the Harvard Sq. area, I would recommend stopping at Tamarind Bay. I really liked their lamb dumplings, even if they give you around 4 or 5. The rack of lamb is a good deal though, and mighty tasty. Lizzy's and Herell's are both pretty great Ice Cream joints and they're both in the vicinity. I prefer Herell's for their chocolate pudding and mud pie flavors.
If you are going to Chinatown, I strongly advise against a tour. There aren't that many large establishments that serve Cantonese Dimsum, so it won't be hard to find. I like Hei La Moon and China Pearl, but Hei La Moon is a bit out of the way. Other than knocking on the table with your knuckles when someone pours tea for you, I'm not sure there's too much else to learn about dimsum etiquette. I would stop at a bakery and get some mooncake though. It's daunting at first with all the freaky flavors, but I'd stick with lotus seed paste if you like sweet alone, and lotus seed paste with salted egg yolk if you like a little bit of savory in there. I think coconut butter buns are a pretty awesome mix between savory and sweet, and most chinese bakery breads are very fragrant with butter or dairy. They make for very appetizing snacks. For more pastry-ish things, I'd go to Eldo's cake house. Their sponge cake is very light, and most things there aren't very sweet. The strawberry cake is good, as is the chestnut paste cake. I like the coconut mochi-ish balls with peanuts inside at most bakeries also. If you're going to buy bakery goods after dinner, only a select few bakeries will be open. For dinner, I would take Penang or Xinh Xinh over Chinese food. Most Chinese restaurants have gigantic menus of which only 1/2 or even 1/3 are good. To top it off, a lot of restaurants have their specials listed on cards that have no english, and those specials are often the money dishes.
Trattoria Toscana could be stuffed in with the gardener museum, as they are somewhat close.
I've never been, but every saturday there's a chocolate buffet at cafe fleuri if that's your thing. The prospect sounds a little scary, since I would feel the need to get my money's worth even when my stomach, which would probably be empty of savory foods, protests.
The Christian Science Center at night is gorgeous, though I would categorize it as more of a romantic thing, it is just outside prudential so if you find yourself there...
The south end, which is right next door, is also really gorgeous, as far as residential areas go.
Non-cream cheese based cheesecake?
I've seen some Ricotta and goat cheese based cheesecakes on menu's at restaurants, but are there any bakeries that carry anything like this? Or if not, what are some of the better renditions at sit down spots?
Favorite Take Out
hmm. When I had it the noodles weren't sticky, and the pork sauce was basically peppercorn infused chili oil with some peanuts. I do prefer this to the thick yellow noodles and peanut-butter based sauce at shangri la. I hear mary chung's is good but I've never tried that.
Favorite Take Out
fu qi fei pian is a cold appetizer that's basically brisket and tripe. I think it's called ox meat something. dan dan mian is dan dan noodles.
Alternatives to local favorites
I'm not getting the raves over King Fung Garden. Their boiled and pan fried dumplings seem like pretty standard fare to me. The hotpot, which was raved about when it first opened, has been reduced to poorly frozen meat and one of the little at-home hot pot stoves. I had the scallion pancakes at the brookline location and it was crunchy, but dry and way over fried. So, for hot pot I'd recommend Little Q's, and for northern Chinese food, I'd take a Taiwanese restaurant like Jo Jo Taipei, Shangrila, or Mulan. I have only been to FuLoon for the dim sum buffet which was not really all that great. The bing's were ok though. I also can't see scallion pancakes as a destination, since every Chinese parent I know makes better scallion pancakes than any I've had in restaurants. The homemade ones I've had tend to be thick, like a pastry rather than a pancake, super flaky, and totally drenched in cooked and raw scallion flavors.
I used to love Qingdao Garden but I haven't had really good food there in a long time. Their guo tie are refreshingly different from the super generic thick skinned peking ravioli iterations. Their veggie dumplings are pretty darn good, as are their regular leek/pork and cabbage/pork, but all of the other dishes I've had there were mediocre at best. The cumin lamb uses some sort of flank steakish cut, which is totally wrong, as it gets tough so quickly when stir fried. For alternatives for dumplings, I hear wisteria's has the same longish kind of guo tie, but I can't attest to their fillings. I have yet to find decent cumin lamb but my very very best guess would go to a sichuan restaurant like sichuan garden or northern chinese places like wang's or Fuloon.
rec for moon cakes?
cool, I'll have to check it next time I'm in NY. I can say that I can't imagine the lotus seed paste filling being any better than it is at Yi Soon. I mean, you can only make it so smooth and the sweetness is just right for me. The cake I will say is a little too soft for me at Yi Soon.
I just had these shanghai or jiangsu or hangzhou or some thing like that style mooncakes, which are much less oily, and a little less sweet than cantonese mooncakes. It's spherical, looks kind of like a tiny dinner roll, the pastry is dry and flaky, and the fillings are coarser than the usual black bean/lotus seed paste stuff. One of the ones I tried had large chunks of red beans in with the bean paste, one was a bean/taro paste, and the final one was a sweet/savory green bean paste. I got them in concord but I've seen them at Yi Soon also.
rec for moon cakes?
I thought I'd revive this thread since it's that time of year again.
The only local mooncakes I have ever had are from Yi Soon. I had the plain lotus seed paste against a fuxiangyuan imported moon cake with black bean and egg yolk, and I think for the cake itself, the Yi Soon version is softer, and more unctuous. The lotus seed paste was very fine, super smooth, so there isn't anything bad to say about it.
I remember in my childhood having imported mooncakes that had an almost cookie like exterior, a very shortening or lard rich cookie. It was weirdly hard and not my thing, but fuxingyuan's are decent though Yi Soon wins overall. I'm excited to try some of the chinatown ones. I was deprived as a child because my parents were snooty about their mooncakes and insisted on imports.
Favorite Take Out
I always find myself with left over jasmine rice, so Asian food is normally what I like to get as takeout. Cold/room temp dishes always work, so I like getting poached chicken at that place in 88, hk eatery, or china pearl cafe, fu qi fei pian or dan dan mian at sichuan garden, lions heads at shanghai gate, spring rolls at any vietnamese restaurant. I like the nihari at Madina's market, the chicken/fennel dish at grain and salt.
Omakase that won't break your bank?
Cool, so what are some of your favorites?
From what I have heard about uni or oga is that the omakase's are usually sashimi or sushi but different from what you would get a la carte, is that how most places are?
Omakase that won't break your bank?
I'm planning to go out for Japanese next week and I'm interested in Omakase but I don't think I can afford O Ya's. I've heard that Toraya does it? I've also heard Oishii in Chestnut Hill and Oga offers it. Which of these would you recommend and what are they like? Do they just choose several nigiri/maki off the menu for you or are they a little more creative?
