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| - Let me say this first: This establishment is named after the northern district of China, where the temperature is always edging towards the cold side. From this region, most food are prepared hot and spicy to counteract the cold weather.
In this sense, the flavor of the food here at Harbin BBQ reflects the Northern Chinese cuisine pretty well. Everything has some sort of spiciness in it, and it is not a taste that anyone can walk in, without prior knowledge of the food in that region, to appreciate.
I went there late night after a small gathering with a group of 8 people. With such a big group, we managed to order quite a big selection of food. And if you know the Chinese cuisine culture, we share everything anyway.
One thing to note, is that each order of "kebab" style barbecue meat comes in 4. For example, 3 orders of lamb kebab will give you 12 skewers of meat. The metal skewers themselves are exaggeratedly long (a good 3 feet), but the meat always covers a good foot on the skewer, which makes it very good value.
How do I put this... Everything, as I mentioned before, is (properly) excessively seasoned with herbs and spices. Eating kebabs like this, one cannot really tell the taste of the different kinds of meat; rather, the texture of these meats becomes quite important.
We ordered the regular beef kebab, the famous lamb kebab and the chicken cartilage kebab (Yes, the first reaction is usually "What the hell is that"). I am happy to report that the taste of all these skewers are quite excellent. Again - properly spiced up. However the beef kebab is edging towards the rubbery side. Now, that does not mean it is bad; it is advertised as the lean part of the muscles anyway. I just wish, at this time, there is slightly more fat to the meat.
The lamb kebab is what one might expect from the western region of China (Xinjiang). The meat is not rubbery, and has the right amount of fat it in. Quite delicious.
Now, the weird one: The chicken cartilage skewers: This is the part of the chicken that usually no one wants. It is an acquired taste - not everyone will like it. A couple of my group gave us the "what-the-hell-did-I-just-eat" faces when they tried. The texture is a little crunchy, yet chewy. It is a delicacy in some parts of China, and they are great for making kebabs. Imagine when you are eating a chicken leg. The tissue between the drum stick and thigh - that's what cartilage feels like. Note that I said "feels." Obviously alone it doesn't have much taste to it. But it is a very interesting texture in this style of kebab.
In addition to the skewers, we also ordered a spicy hotpot of fish. The literal Chinese name of the dish is "Fish Cooked in Water," which totally isn't what it sounds like. Before you even see the hotpot, you WILL smell the spiciness from the soup. The bowl doesn't look hot, as there isn't any steam coming out of the bowl. However that is deceptively false: The only reason you don't see steam is because the whole dish is covered by thick, red spicy oil.
It is a different kind of spiciness, unique to the northern Chinese cuisine. It is not just a form of pain. It is actually tasty. And once you get over the first bite, the spiciness will dissipate over your tongue. You will sweat for this dish, don't get me wrong, but you definitely won't need to run to the washroom and open up the tap water to run your tongue under it.
The fish in the bowl was cooked well. It is not overdone, yet well-cooked enough, giving the fish meat a tender texture. However, comparing this dish to similar dishes at other restaurants, the selection of the parts of the fish is... different. Most other restaurants would use pure fillets; but here you will find a lot of bones attached. So if you don't know how to eat fish with bones, this is not for you.
Arguably, this is how it is supposed to be cooked: with the whole fish in. Maybe I am lazy, I do prefer having just the fillets though.
In addition to the main dishes, we also ordered quite a few appetizers. We had a couple dishes of white cabbage and a plate of mushrooms, also seasoned heavily with the same spices on the skewers. To balance things out, we also ordered a cold-mixed tofu dish and a "red-oiled" tofu skins.
The veggie dishes are tasty as the skewers - which may not be what some people expect. Usually in a Chinese establishment, when vegetables are ordered, they are there to "cleanse" the palate. Not so much with these dishes. Spicy, spicy, spicy! Which you may or may not like, really.
The "red-oiled" tofu skins are surprisingly mild - compared to those skewers, that is. The cold-mixed tofu, on the other hand, is the only blend tasting dish among all we ordered. Which is GREAT. It balances everything out very well, with the taste of sesame oil and chives.
The bill ended up $140-ish (tips not included). We also had 3 beers and some soda. For about $20 a person, this is a steal.
Will definitely come back for late night snacks!
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