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| - I've been hearing both good and not-so-good about this place, but recent rumors that it may be closing prompted a visit with friends during a locals special promotion- managed to sample quite a bit of the menu, experience disinterested service, and nosh on noodles.
SIU MAI: menu has four varieties, tried the scallop and pork and the lamb. Lamb was the favorite at the table, scallop version was overpowered by pork taste with a slight seafood aftertaste. Juicy, cooked well, wouldn't pay $10/6 pieces though.
NOODLES: The Lo Mein, Dan Dan Mian, and Beijing tomato dishes were all tried at our table and each had their own advantages. Lo Mein was my personal favorite due to the chewy texture and tasty sauce, while the Dan Dan could have used more spice to perk it up. The Beijing tomato dish was fairly unique- felt it could have used a more pronounced black garlic flavor by using oil rather than the actual garlic, which was only present in a few bites and used more as a garnish than a flavor-enhancing ingredient.
RICE: Hakka Fried Rice pot was delicious, available in two sizes and made table-side. Tasty combination of flavors and textures made this the standout entree of the table. Would come here to get this again.
DESSERT: table customized two bowls (one small, one large) of the shaved ice. You select one ice flavor, one syrup, and three toppings including some more unique options like bacon and maldon salt (which I certainly wouldn't pair together). The combinations we put together resulted in an enjoyable confusion for our tastebuds as raspberry ice and honey interacted with perfectly-ripe blueberries in one and the crispy-rice texture dominated in the other dish. Ice texture was perfect but melted very quickly, so do not lollygag around after it arrives.
Overall impression was that the food was decent enough- noodles were tasty, other ingredients were of good quality, but the word 'fusion' is tossed around in many of these reviews and the food simply seems to be an Americanized take on many of the dishes, but that's not necessarily a negative. What IS a negative is the lackadaisical service- our server was polite enough when she was actually around.
NOTES: The menu on their website is outdated. Certain items are no longer offered and prices have raised about $1 per menu item.
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