I think, given the choice of just about anything to eat vs. hot pot/shabu shabu, DLS will choose hot pot… so we went to Minni’s, my previous favorite hot pot restaurant (though I haven’t been in years; the reason I liked them best was because they were the only place that included hoisin sauce on its sauce table… but this time we went, it was no longer there, boo).  The above were our veggie trays – the normal assortment of corn on the cob, meatballs (fish balls, fish cakes, etc.), tofu, cabbage, glass noodles, and a bit of udon.

My order of pork slices – I wanted to get something different from my usual beef. Not bad, but not special either – I’ll stick to my beef next time!

Mr. Fancy Pants (new nickname?!) went with wagyu. I tried a piece and while it was extraordinarily tender, it also fell apart super easily. I didn’t think this cut of beef lent itself well to this style of cooking… and DLS complained about it falling apart so easily.

An order of udon tacked onto our order because we both really like udon – and at the end, once cooked, then dropped into our sauce absorbs it all and is absolutely delicious, yum! (I like to eat my udon at the end… it is the perfect end to a meal, in my opinion!)

And even though we were headed into the city for dessert afterwards, DLS wanted shaved ice, so shaved ice we had.  “Condensed milk and red beans, what do you want?” since it came with three choices. I chose corn. Yeah I did! It’s so good! And I genuinely preferred the corn with condensed milk and ice to the red bean, which I found a little too sweet – though DLS had no problem eating most of this, hahaha.

Yvo says: Not the best quality shabu shabu I’ve had but definitely good, wth a nice, large, clean space, servers who didn’t try to spill boiling broth on me. They weren’t attentive – they probably could have sold us more food if they’d paid more attention to us… but eh, that’s what you expect at most places in Flushing!
solidly decent hot pot, but not special

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: DLS, hot pot, shaved ice

(Golden Unicorn was chosen because TT has told me a few times that it’s his favorite dim sum place. I know I used to go there as a kid – when it was filthy and before Chinatown spread as far as it does now – but it fell out of favor with my parents, especially as Queens began opening more Chinese restaurant, so I haven’t been in probably 10 or 20 years.)

The first steamer basket placed in front of us (and yes, we each took one before the brief discussion of whether or not I should take pictures occurred) was the ‘shuen jhuk guen’ (so yeah, all you Cantonese speaking people out there? I don’t care if you think I’m spelling it wrong or if I’m saying it wrong or if you flat out think I’m using the wrong name; feel free to correct me, nothing’s going to change ), or tofu skin wrapped around various vegetables including but not limited to bamboo shoots, Shiitake mushrooms, and more. The sauce is a cornstarch gravy flavored very mildly with soy sauce. This is one of my favorite but secondary dim sum dishes – meaning, I like it a lot and will order it if I see it, but I won’t be upset if it never comes out during the time I’m eating dim sum (there are dishes that I will refuse to leave the table if I don’t get to eat them).  Golden Unicorn’s version was okay.

Oh, miscommunication problems: I vastly prefer the smaller, chewier ‘pai gwut’ (pork ribs) than these, the pepper short ribs, but the dim sum cart was right there and DLS took my comment that “most people seem to prefer these to the other ones” to mean that *I* prefer the short ribs. I don’t – they’ve yet to be good while I was there, though other people say they have had them when they’re good. No, these were over-peppery, fatty, gristly, and just unappealing to me.  Neither of us enjoyed this dish, and it was the only one that we didn’t finish.  And we both lamented the lack of communication, as we both would have liked the pork ribs so much more…

Why is there dessert on the table before we’re done? DLS was really hungry and the ladies running the carts were being super weird. I’m sorry if I’m the only one who thinks this way, but really, shouldn’t there be a flight pattern that you follow and stick to? This one woman – who coincidentally had a cart that bore items we wanted to eat – kept going in circles on the far side of the room. I was like, why won’t she come over here?! Thankfully, she eventually did, and before running out of what I wanted, or I’d have been pretty pissed. (And no, I’m not going to get up and walk over to get the dish I want. I’m just not. So don’t suggest it.) Anyway, this is soft tofu topped with a light ginger syrup. As good as it always is, nothing better, nothing worse – though my first spoonful was all ginger, the rest was way more mellow.

Remember I said I refuse to get up if I don’t get certain dishes at dim sum? This is one of them. (And once, I ordered it but everyone ate it before it got to me on the turn table – apparently 2 plates wasn’t enough – and the cart had no more… yes I made everyone wait until I got my own plate, and then ate all three of them myself. This post is not endearing me to anyone, is it?)  Shrimp wrapped in rice noodle, dressed with a lightly sweet soy sauce. My absolute favorite dim sum dish; here, the noodle was a little gummy, and the shrimp was just a touch overcooked. I was disappointed.

Funny enough, though, as I was telling DLS what other dim sum dishes I like eating, I mentioned fried turnip cakes as one of my favorites, and how I hadn’t seen the carts where they are fried fresh in so long… when one of those carts came by!  (They often seem to fry them in the back before putting them on a cart now; these carts have the lady pushing it frying them as she walks around, tantalizing you with their scent.)  Unfortunately, they weren’t fried enough and the texture suffered from being crowded into this tiny little griddle with so many other foods… and where is the dried shrimp, the super salty ham bits that are supposed to be in the cakes? Nowhere to be found. Bahhh.  (As requested by DLS, I need to include this quote: “Look, there’s corn on top! I like corn.”)

I was pretty disappointed with everything thusfar but we soldiered on, still hungry.  When the wok with clams in black bean sauce came by, we glanced at each other and ordered it… and were disappointed again. Again, slightly overcooked, slightly rubbery, the clams didn’t taste the freshest and seemed to just be… reheated.  Ew.  I ate them anyway – they weren’t ‘bad’ like I’d get sick, and I needed to fill my belly or risk being super grumpy while watching the Knicks game later – but I was again very disappointed that the dish was so mediocre.

Lastly – for some carbs and because I absolutely love sticky rice – I ordered a steamer of sticky rice in lotus leaf.  I’ve never seen it served as three small packages, but I was more curious about the piece of parchment paper wrapped around the lotus leaf.  DLS shrugged it off and I opened this, eager to dig in. Sorry for no inside shot – these were soundly mediocre. Honestly? The frozen ones I keep in my freezer are better. These were slightly mushy, and lacked the flavor I look for in sticky rice – fatty pork bits, dried shrimp, and sticky sticky rice… I was done being disappointed for the day – well, until we went back and watched the Knicks lose to the Celtics, 111-115 (March 4th).

Yvo says: So disappointing, it almost made me not want to go for dim sum for a while. A very long while. Well, almost. As I get older, I’m beginning to realize that I don’t like the Russian Roulette of traditional dim sum with push carts, where I just have to deal with what’s being served at that moment. I know that’s part of the charm, but not getting what I want to eat when I want to eat it, at a restaurant, is pretty frustrating. I may stick to Nom Wah for my dim sum needs going forward – dim sum when I want it, how I want it, and pretty damn good. Maybe that’s why the card system (such as at Nom Wah) is so popular on the West Coast and in Canada (where I almost always see the card system as opposed to the carts). I don’t know.
I’ll pass on dim sum here, thanks

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dim sum, DLS

Since we ordered three lunch specials (his choice! really, I’m not the reason he’s gaining weight!), we had our choice of appetizers. Mediocre spring rolls that he liked and insisted I try a bite before judging (yup, still mediocre, with lackluster filling), his wonton soup that I suppose he liked well enough, and my egg drop soup. Something you may not already know about me: my parents owned a series of Chinese restaurants prior to my birth; when I was growing up, my dad would often make me egg drop soup. He taught me the recipe long before he died – probably as a means to stop me bugging him to make some for me – but for some reason, I’ve failed to properly recreate it since his death (before he died, it was pretty good). Egg drop soup is comfort food to me, even though I rarely have it quite as silky and delicious as Dad used to make.. In any case, this was standard, and achieved the baseline expectations I have for egg drop soup (and yes, it can be bad; I’ve made plenty of bad batches since my dad’s passing in 2000).

Our first choice was dan dan noodles; since our visit to Wu Liang Ye and our subsequent discovery that they do not deliver to him, you could say that dan dan mian has become a bit of an obsession for me. I suppose one day I might actually give my friend The GastroGnome‘s recipe a try – she kindly shared it with me a while back, though she also makes the noodles from scratch like a true nutball (and I love her for it) – but until then, I’ll have to make do with ordering them… In any case, these were woefully mediocre – soft, gummy noodles, with barely any heat in the chili oil, and not much else going on in the dish at all. I ate a bit but then gave up, as they just weren’t worthy of my stomach space.

Our next dish, green beans with pork, was also a flop. Though the color was good, the beans were wrinkly and clearly ‘old’ – overcooked and soft, retaining little about them that is what I like in green beans. I ate more of this mostly just to eat some veggies, but I was very meh about the dish.

Our third and final dish, prawns in chili oil, was yet another disappointment. The prawns were rubbery and overcooked, though the spice was pronounced in this dish at least. I contented myself eating the veggies, which were, at least, cooked tender-crisp, but ignored the prawns beyond the one I tried that was overcooked (DLS agreed that they were overcooked, so it wasn’t just the one).

Sadly, I could tell DLS was disappointed with the dishes we had as he insisted this was not a good representation of the place and its food. I have a feeling that I will return at some point at his behest, so I’ll reserve rating it until that point… maybe it will redeem itself. He seemed to really enjoy the place before this visit where nothing was very good, though.

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dan dan mian, DLS

A while ago, I posted about going to Cha Chan Tang for their special tea and wanting to go back for food. Well, I did just that with Gary one night when we weren’t able to get into Nom Wah to watch the Knicks game (we’re both Time Warner subscribers, which means we were locked out of the beginning of this basketball season). He ordered a mango drink that came super topped high and was hilarious… while I got an almond milk tea, no bubbles, per my usual preferences. Tasty but standard.

I ordered the fairly standard – to me, at these types of HK style cafes (explained briefly here) – baked fish with cheese over rice. Unfortunately, this was HORRIBLE. The fish was very clearly low quality frozen fish (I actually expect frozen fish in this dish at these places; but this was borderline inedible), and the whole dish tasted just bad. I’ve had this many times at other places in Chinatown, so it really was just unfortunate that this place does not do it well, at all.

Gary chose the curry beef, which I believe he enjoyed.

Yvo says: There were plenty of people around us thoroughly enjoying their food, so I think it’s safe to say my dish was just poorly chosen – it’s not the most popular dish on HK cafe’s menus, but it’s what I get and definitely makes a difference to me how well they did it… or how poorly. I wouldn’t be against returning but I would definitely not get any of their fish dishes, ugh.

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: HK-style cafe

Razor clams make me think of one person in this world: my dad. It’s more fully fleshed out here, but I’ll let you decide whether or not you want to read it instead of repeating that story here. In any case, when DLS told me he’d had razor clams at Wu Liang Ye, I decided I had to get them. And look at that presentation! My dad would have been proud had he created such a thing, and for good reason: as he always impressed upon me, people eat with their eyes first, and this is a lovely feast for your senses. The razor clams themselves were tossed in a scallion sauce, like an Asian pesto, and were perfectly cooked – not chewy at all, light, fresh, and fantastic. I can’t imagine returning to Wu Liang Ye and NOT ordering this now… I really enjoyed them. (Though the answer to the question those who clicked over to read the story about my father and razor clams may be asking now is “no” – this is not how he cooked them.)

For our table of five, two bowls of dumplings in chili oil – still good, though I wouldn’t say amazing or anything mind blowing. I still prefer White Bear‘s, but those are pretty hard to beat when you churn out plenty of other delicious dishes as well, while White Bear mostly focuses on that one thing.

Two bowls of dan dan mian – though in my post about White Bear, I mention their dan dan noodles as being really good, honestly, Wu Liang Ye’s haunt my dreams. Their noodles are springy, chewy, with just the right amount of heat – and it isn’t small, by the way – and just delicious. I tossed them throughout the chili oil (to DLS’s chagrin, whoops), and just loved every last bite. Super tasty.

An order of pea shoots just to be healthy – pretty good, though not as tender as China Pearl’s.

Mapo tofu, which I’ve had so rarely that I have literally no point of comparison; however, EL said it was a little too much black pepper and not enough chili heat. I thought it tasted perfectly fine and was able to enjoy it without freaking out over the spice level, so maybe he was right and it wasn’t enough chili.

Last but not least, the dish everyone gets – double cooked pork belly with chili leeks. I like this dish here, and find it flavorful and spicy, meaty, tender, and delicious. Win.

Yvo says: Another great meal at Wu Liang Ye; though I’m not particularly fond of the location as I don’t work in midtown, I really enjoy the food here and know I’ll be back to eat from other parts of the menu as well. Delicious!
recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dan dan mian, DLS, dumplings, razor clams, szechuan