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This week's Lockdown Takeout Review: Dumpling Time.
"Contemporary Cal-Asian bistro serving dumplings, noodles, beer & sake in spacious, bustling digs." Yeah, not so much on the last part right now...
We've been curious for a while, but it's a popular place and I have never wanted to wait an hour in line. Very few places are good enough to merit that kind of wait - although that does describe the grocery store wait right now. Anyway, this seemed like a decent way to try it. Back in pre-lockdown times when we were seeing movies over in the Richmond, we'd get soup dumplings at a place across the street beforehand. Our side of town isn't populated with very many of this ethnicity restaurant, so we don't normally eat this way otherwise unless we've gotten something frozen.
What worked: We ordered a large variety, partly for support and partly because we were out of lunch leftovers for the next day. The basic pork soup dumplings were okay but the tom yum (pork/coconut milk soup dumplings, colored with beet) were really good; very nice spicing with quite a bit of ginger. The green beans with garlic were tasty and had enough garlic for me. The bao were better than average.
What didn't: Everything would have been better hot directly from the kitchen (especially the green beans) but that's not really their fault. That's the breaks with takeout. The gyoza didn't taste that much better than the ones we get from Trader Joe's (although again I wonder how much of that is due to cooling off).
Will we try them again? I wouldn't rule it out, but we'd focus on a few dishes that we now know they do better than the average bear.
"Contemporary Cal-Asian bistro serving dumplings, noodles, beer & sake in spacious, bustling digs." Yeah, not so much on the last part right now...
We've been curious for a while, but it's a popular place and I have never wanted to wait an hour in line. Very few places are good enough to merit that kind of wait - although that does describe the grocery store wait right now. Anyway, this seemed like a decent way to try it. Back in pre-lockdown times when we were seeing movies over in the Richmond, we'd get soup dumplings at a place across the street beforehand. Our side of town isn't populated with very many of this ethnicity restaurant, so we don't normally eat this way otherwise unless we've gotten something frozen.
What worked: We ordered a large variety, partly for support and partly because we were out of lunch leftovers for the next day. The basic pork soup dumplings were okay but the tom yum (pork/coconut milk soup dumplings, colored with beet) were really good; very nice spicing with quite a bit of ginger. The green beans with garlic were tasty and had enough garlic for me. The bao were better than average.
What didn't: Everything would have been better hot directly from the kitchen (especially the green beans) but that's not really their fault. That's the breaks with takeout. The gyoza didn't taste that much better than the ones we get from Trader Joe's (although again I wonder how much of that is due to cooling off).
Will we try them again? I wouldn't rule it out, but we'd focus on a few dishes that we now know they do better than the average bear.
