All this and more makes it difficult to get out to the new and interesting restaurants more often. Everyone is opening their new restaurants in Seattle! Rarely is there ever a gem to be found on the Eastside, where huge, impersonal restaurant chains abound galore. (Is abound a verb? Something is not right about that sentence).
In any case, we were very pleased to find this Taiwanese restaurant in the heart of downtown Bellevue, just north of the mall. My Dad and I had a debate as to whether or not this was really Chinese food. I claimed Taiwanese food isn't exactly Chinese. He claims Taiwan was part of China, so it's Chinese food. Whatever.
The whole menu has a Chinese food base to it, but with different spices and takes that just aren't classic Chinese. Call it Chinese with a twist.
David and I had been here a couple times prior, and had been really impressed with it. We tried to get different dishes that we hadn't had prior, so a few of our favorites will be missing from this review. Notably, the beef noodle soup and braised pork stew over rice (pork belly really), were fantastic and extremely flavorful! Alas, no pictures of those this time around.
The ambiance has a very clean and simple, classic Chinese restaurant feel, with updated furnishings. (I must say, the parking lot here is annoyingly tight, however). Ack! No pictures again!
Forgive my descriptions of the food. I have no idea what most of the spices were. (Read: Yay! Something new!)
Appetizers
Five spiced beef wrap
This was a repeat dish for us. I'm not normally a five-spice kind of girl. However, it was subtle enough in these wraps, that I believe it added to the flavor more than dominating the flavor. The outside pancake wrapper is a little thick, with a slight chew. I normally wouldn't like this, but it offset the crisp, light cucumbers and thinly sliced beef well. It kind of reminded me of a Chinese gyro, without the tzatziki sauce. I am not a huge cilantro fan, but it wasn't overpowering in this dish. A nice fresh start to the evening.
Sweet potato flour dumpling with pork stuffing
These did not come out as expected. I think I was thinking more shu-mai style or small, bite-sized dumplings with a clear-broth sauce. Instead, it looked like one large, gelatinous dumpling that had been cut into four pieces with a thick brown sauce. The whole dish was rather thick, actually. I didn't get much sweet potato flavor, as the sauce was a little overwhelming. The pork stuffing was moist, however and tasty (don't remember the flavors!) I'm not sure I would order this again. It wasn't bad, but just kinda gloppy and boring.
Small Plates
Spiced pork stew over rice
Supposedly based off a popular Taiwanese street-food dish, this was comfort-food like in its simplicity. Meat over steamed rice: every Asian's happy place (or at least mine). It was perhaps a little strong on the five-spice, however. I must say, that I prefer the pork-belly version they have better, though.
Noodles mixed in green onion infused oil and soy sauce
I apologize for the blurry picture! (Note to self: always take at least two pictures!) This was also a repeat dish for us. The first time we had it, we were so impressed with the simple, yet flavorful nature of this dish. The green onion infused oil gave a hint of spring flavor and interest to the noodles, without covering the dish in greasiness. The noodles were delicate, (perhaps a little overcooked this second night). The small amounts of cabbage added a touch of crunch to break up the texture here and there. (New blog tradition: Evan winner of the night!)
Braised Chinese cabbage with bacon
Another simple deal. Basic roots in classic Chinese cooking with braised cabbage. The addition of bacon gave it a little more modern flavor, without being too bacon-y and helped to ease the slight bitterness of the cabbage.
Entrees
Sizzling rice with shrimp, squid, pork, quail egg and veggies
So, I've had sizzling rice soup before, which this seemed to be a spin-off of. Not the most refined dish, as it too, was swimming in the mysterious "brown sauce." The chicken was very tender, however. The mushrooms looked like they were probably tasty! (Not a big mushroom lover here). My favorite part was the crispy rice chunks that sizzled as the dish was prepared, table-side. I did manage to find one quail egg that was a lovely one-bite surprise.
Painted hills beef short ribs with black pepper sauce
(Attack of another blurry picture!) This is supposed to be one of their signature dishes. The meat was cooked very well. It was tender and fatty (in a good way), but a little too peppery. A little too spicy overall, but had good potential for a re-order and re-assessment.
Rainbow trout with brown sauce
"Brown sauce" dish #3! At this point, I was a little brown-sauced out. I think the presentation was a little over-much. It was unnecessarily smothered in tons of veggies and mushrooms, whose flavor was lost in the sauce. The trout itself was cooked all right, perhaps a little over done. The outside skin was probably the best part, slightly crispy. (Evan got a kick out of Uncle Chris eating one of the eyeballs).
Overall the meal was all right. The ubiquitous brown sauce made the flavors a little boring. I know this place is capable of more, as we'd tasted more interesting dishes in prior visits. I was happy to have Chinese food made a little differently, with spices I wasn't used to tasting regularly. This may just be the type of restaurant where you have to order the right dishes.. or at least the right combination of dishes with more variety. We will go back again.
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