A group of four tried to make a dent in this huge menu that seems to have a lot of everything in addition to the expected dumplings and skewers.
It seems now there are several enterprises operating under one roof: on one side of the restaurant, AYCE buffet, in the back there are karaoke rooms, and on the other side the regular restaurant, where we ate.
We had:
Sichuan green beans
Chicken Skeleton
Spicy Clams
Pork and sour cabbage dumplings
Cold eggplant with garlic sauce
Cold crystal wide noodles with special sauce
Fried coconut balls (a dessert from the specials menu)
This was quite the array of varying flavors and textures. We ordered very, very well.
The hit was the spicy clams, with fresh hot peppers. Not very spicy and with a surprisingly elegant sauce. The green beans were not the hyper-wrinkly version, but still very satisfying. The wide noodles came with an interesting array of fresh vegetables including some baby corn that had cuts into it that made it look kind of like baby squid. The freshness of the vegetables shown through the restrained, clear sauce that had a nice touch of vinegar. Texture of the noodles was quite good.
The purpose of the skeleton, which was mostly bones? Terrific ratio of crispy and spiced exterior with only a bit of meat clinging on. Like five kuai kabob in China, tiny but with a nice punch.
Me too. We had that cold eggplant dish as well as a smashed cucumber dish on our dumpling crawl you organized last year. That’s what gave me the idea to go back. There is a ton to explore here.
Id be happy to join. With max 2 for just going out, it is too hard to explore beyond a few favorites given its location with respect to Baltimore and the signature theater. I forgot about starting there on the crawl.
I had lunch here last month with a friend whose husband is originally from China (they moved to Rockville so their kids could be a part of a larger Chinese community). East Dumpling House is his favorite of the Rockville Chinese places. My friend says that on weekend evenings, the place is packed with Chinese immigrants and that every single table has at least one order of the same fried pork dish.
I’m not sure of the name of it – I think it’s Northeast Fried Pork in a Scoop – but it’s as good as fried food gets (which, of course, is very very good).
The dish is advertised on a handwritten sign in the window on the way in, so check it out to make sure I don’t have the name wrong.
That is what the Menu lists there.
The Dish is more commonly know as Guo Bao Rou (锅包肉) or Sweet and Sour Pork (Dongbei Style).
It is said that it is from the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province and was first made around 1900 for the governor of Harbin.
And agreed, it is amazing when done right!
Next time I am back to visit my Folks I guess I need to get up to Rockville!
