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2015-10-14
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I have a friend whose family is from Hongzhou. She refuses to eat at this place, because it's too pricey and not good enough. I'm not even sure she's tried it though. I on the other hand, having never been to Hongzhou, and being never likely to go there, was quite excited by Michelin star food at affordable prices.I got a lunch reservation for 6 on a Saturday by calling about 2 hours before lunch. It wasn't really necessary as there was plenty of room in the restaurant. We went in one entrance w
I got a lunch reservation for 6 on a Saturday by calling about 2 hours before lunch. It wasn't really necessary as there was plenty of room in the restaurant. We went in one entrance with a sign on the door for the restaurant, but when we got upstairs, it was very unclear whether there even was a restaurant. Apparently we came through the less popular entrance.
Let's begin with the chicken feet. So I was here with friend X and friend Y (they're married) and X loves things that strike me as weird (feet, intestines, that sort of thing), whereas Y won't even eat fish heads. Somehow they both love stinky tofu though. Anyway, the compromise was chicken feet. I had two of them. They're not bad or anything. Cold and clammy, yes. Fatty and unrewarding, OK. I actually think I preferred the green chilis that came with them, but whatever. If you know what chicken feet are, you can have a guess as to what this dish was like.
We got some pork dish. I was trying to stump for things that said "Hong Zhou ____" on the menu, so maybe it was Hong Zhou pork. Anyway, I didn't have a lot of this. I got one piece and it was mostly bone, then other things came around and I never returned to the pork.
I think I'd read that the little shrimps were a thing. Anyway, this was a plate of tiny, tender shrimp and a dipping sauce that I'm guessing is vinegar, but I didn't really use. This is a relatively simple dish, but this was a good rendition of it.
The scallion pancakes here are really amazing, and come highly recommended by me. Crispy on the outside, and moist and scallion-y on the inside. I get these things a lot from this dumpling and bun shack over on Possession Street, but those are really mediocre. It's nice every now and again to have something good with some tlc baked in.
Classic pork and beans.
We got this chilis-as-vegetables dish, a perennial favorite of mine, and this one impressed by both the fact that the chilis were impeccably seared and juicy, without being wilty or mushy, but also the fact that they were noticeably spicy. This along with the scallion pancake were my favorites.
OK, so I've had stinky tofu once before (with two of my dining companions on this occasion, in fact) and that time it wasn't very offensive. "Smells worse than it tastes," everyone agreed. This time, nuh-uh. This is very funky smelling, but way worse tasting. A mouthful of hot garbage. Not for gweilos, seriously, stay away.
We also got Hongzhou noodles. Eh, they were relatively unremarkable but when you need to feed a lot of indecisive people, getting the noodles in the style of the place that the restaurant styles itself from is not a bad choice.At the end of the day, I'll admit to being disappointed, but I don't really think less of the restaurant. The price point was reasonable, and all the dishes seemed to be executed and presented very well. What we ordered was, as these things always are, hostage to the preferences of some, and we wound up with some things that I wouldn't normally order, like chicken feet and stinky tofu. To be fair, the people in our group who like those things, liked these versions. So while I didn't get a fantastic meal for me, I think I could get one if I came again, starting with the chilis and the scallion pancake, and then maybe the spicy fish head that no one would let me order. I'm definitely going to come back here, and maybe drag my Hongzhou friend along next time.
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