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2009-07-23
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A second themed dinner was organized by KC to celebrate lambs and goats. 羊 is definitely one of my favorite meats as its flavor is so unique with an unmistakable gaminess. The aroma from the meat itself is intense, and you enjoy the meat with all your senses including the smell! I am one of those who prefer their lamb to be as gamey as possible, and I expected Ma's Restaurant 馬家莊清真館 to fulfill my lamb obsession.The tiny restaurant was quite cramped when 17 of us took up 2 large tables at the
A second themed dinner was organized by KC to celebrate lambs and goats. 羊 is definitely one of my favorite meats as its flavor is so unique with an unmistakable gaminess. The aroma from the meat itself is intense, and you enjoy the meat with all your senses including the smell! I am one of those who prefer their lamb to be as gamey as possible, and I expected Ma's Restaurant 馬家莊清真館 to fulfill my lamb obsession.
The tiny restaurant was quite cramped when 17 of us took up 2 large tables at the back. Although the AC was highly lacking and even ran out (together with the light) at one point, it didn’t dampen my excitement to the meal. First came, ironically, was nothing goat-y but a trio of beef offals (牛筋, 牛舌, 牛肚三併). Not that I was complaining, as the platter was extremely delicious. I particularly enjoyed the tendons 牛筋 which were made into a cold terrine and the slices were gelatinous with a soft chew. The tongue and the stomach (牛舌, 牛肚) were also very tender, flavored with a mild marinade aroma (滷水香). They were great with dipped into the sweet and sour sauce, in fact this cold appetizer combo was so good that we encored for a second plate!
拍黃瓜 and 涼伴海蜇 were quite standard in terms of flavor. 生蒜拌牛肚絲粉皮 sounded interesting but the stomach was julienned too thin to retain its texture. When mixed with the 粉皮 and the garlic sauce, the flavor was decent but not as exciting as the beef offal platter.
The next 10 dishes were almost entirely goat-based hot entrees. 清燉羊肉湯 appeared to be the least powerful in flavor, but in reality the simple preparation accentuated the lamb essence, leaving the gaminess of the lamb (羶味) completely unmasked. The clear broth was also concentrated with the lamb aroma and filled with chunky lamb meat. A soothing dish indeed.
孜然羊肉 always seems to be the undeniable best combination and this time the soft lamb was well-received by us. This was the only spicy dish of the feast, with the combination of 孜然 and chili giving the lamb meat a nice kick.
I was expecting the 草原羊肉 to be the “goatiest” and strongest flavor of all, but it was unexpectedly mild despite the brownish curry-like sauce. I wasn’t sure if 草原 meant free-range goat, but the meat certainly made me feel that way as was it was rather chewy like well-exercised muscles.
筍乾羊腩 and 咖哩羊腩 featured the same cut of lamb, lamb briskets 羊腩 and some lamb legs. The lamb briskets varied from soft (those with fat) to chewy, and the flavor was, again, surprisingly mild even with the curry. The bamboo shoots (筍乾) were quite stringy and I rather focused on mopping the curry sauce with some toasted crepes (烤餅皮).
魚湯浸菜苗 was the only vegetable-based dish that we had. While the fish broth and the vegetables were alright, the fish slices themselves were very “flaky” much like bad frozen fish. They should have just served the veggie in fish broth alone.
Our feast was rounded out by a few “carbo-loaded” dishes with lamb. My favorite got to be the lamb potstickers (羊肉窩貼) which was juicy inside and with a crispy crusted bottom. The same description applied to the lamb pancakes (羊肉餡餅), but this time with a thinner crispy crust surrounding the soft and fluffy meat patty. It’s not as juicy as the 牛肉餅@ 清真牛肉館, but moist enough that you could slurp the meat juice when bite into the pancake.
The boiled dumpling (羊肉餃子) and the lamb “kati rolls” (大餅羊肉卷) lost out in comparison as the meat was not as juicy. For the latter, the wrapping of the kati rolls were crispy and wholesome, but the sweet bean paste (海鮮醬) completely overpowered the lamb flavor. The main caveat of all of the 4 dishes was that the lamb flavor was very mild, so much so that you almost couldn’t tell if the minced meat was beef or lamb. When I have lamb I really want that smack-in-your-face gaminess, but I wasn’t able to find that sensation in these dishes (in fact, in most of the dishes that night).
We were all overstuffed at the end of the feast, and overheated with the weak air-conditioning. Overall I found the food at Ma’s Restaurant to be very well-prepared and cheap for the price, though if one were to look for big bold assertive lamb flavor, this may not be the place for you. In fact if I were to come back for another meal, I will focus on the beef appetizers and the lamb potstickers or pancakes which would be enough to fill two people!
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