I ended up at this Chinese restaurant with some friends, and they recommended this noodle dish to me. I ordered it and was disappointed as it was too salty, not tasteful, and just overall not good. It's a good thing the rest of the food at the place is quality, or else I'd swear it off forever.


This eggplant dish　（鱼香茄子) is a staple of basically any Chinese restaurant in China and you can almost never go wrong with it. It has turned eggplant haters into lovers, and it is liked by both Chinese and foreigners [from what I've seen]. It's sweet and spicy at the same time, and actually doesn't really taste like eggplant. Come to China and it'll be ordered.
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I just had a friend go back to Germany, so his friends and I went out for dinner at Tony Roma's on Nanjing Xi Lu. I believe it's less expensive than the US, but it's still a high price meal in China, which essentially means that I could have instead bought 30 or so decent Chinese meals. I don't mind spending money on good/unique food, so I was hoping it would be money well spent.


The lamb was cooked to the perfect tenderness, but the taste was just not there. I honestly think, I can make [and have made] a better tasting lamb and that's what was going through my head with each bite. The baked potato was below average, but the corn had a good sweetness to it, so overall the meal was disappointing, but I got to taste some of my friend's half chicken dish and it was the perfect contrast to my lamb.


From the few bites I had of this chicken, it had perfect tenderness, while being flavorful. The meat was moist and the honey sauce it came with added just the right sweetness that pushed it over the top. And it was cheaper than my lamb. It looks pretty normal, but I'd recommend it if I were to ever end up at Tony Roma's again (which is unlikely though). A bunch of people ordered ribs there, and I heard overall high quality reviews on their rib dishes, so if you ever find yourself inside a Tony Roma's, that seems like a safe bet along with the 1/2 chicken.

Labels: chicken, eggplant, lamb, noodles, Tony Roma's

There are many many good things to eat here in Rowland Heights, CA, aka "Little Taipei". One of them is pictured above, a delicious and tender platter of "Stir Fried Lamb Meat." The lamb is thinly sliced, akin to what you would find in hot pot, and cooked with over-generous portion of hot peppers and some parsley. Lamb is quickly becoming one of my favorite meats, and this dish only reaffirms that by the way the meat melts in my mouth while the spices set it on fire in that salivating way that I do so love. It's a little salty, a little oily, but just thinking about it now makes my mouth water all over again. Located in the Hong Kong Supermarket Plaza at Hunan Wok, this will be one of those dishes that I'll bring friends to try when they visit me in LA. But be warned, Hunan Wok is notorious for its spicy menu. When I ask my uncle where we are going for dinner, he just says, "the spicy place" and "I am going to feel sorry for your asshole tomorrow".

On a side note, I do not think it is coincedence that we started this blog the same week Jonathan Gold won the first ever Pulitzer Prize for Food Criticism.

Labels: lamb, Rowland Heights, spicy