Homestyle egg drop soup [Greater Boston area, MA]

Having a serious craving for what was once so easy: Shangri-la in Belmont had the BEST homestyle egg drop soup: A big bowl of rich clear broth, cellophane noodles, greens, and a sort of “egg foo yung” type omelet.

Shangri-la is now lamentably closed. Does anyone know of another place that has this type of soup? It’s hard to tell from the menu descriptions on restaurant websites.

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I’d love to know the answer too! Loved that soup at Shangri-La!

5 Spices in Central Square has a passable version (“pan-fried egg with tomato”), although not as good as Shangri-La’s, and I tend to remove the tomato. Sichuan Cuisine in Watertown also has a version (“tomato egg drop”), but not as good as 5 Spices.

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I just remembered that @passing_thru has had the 5 Spices version and was not altogether sold on it. See his post (and my response immediately following):

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I did like the soup broth, i just thought the eggs were a little over browned the time I got it and the standard tomatoes in it were kind of flavorless. But not at all a bad 9 buck bowl of soup in general!

Thank you! I’ll be there soon to give it a try! oh wait–passable?

Lisa

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I thought it better than “passable” – but I have not had it in a while.

I rectified my omission in not having had the 5 Spices version “in a while” by having it today. The broth was very tasty and close to Shangri-La standards (if my taste memory serves me right), as were the floating omelette and greens. The tomatoes are, as I’ve said, discardable. What I didn’t remember is that this version lacks the cellophane noodles and the plump reconstituted shiitake mushrooms that made the Shangri-La soup such a joy to hunt through. (Plus there was the drama of having it served tableside, with precise amounts of egg, mushroom, noodles, greens and broth ladled into each individual bowl.)

If I do it again, I’ll soak some noodles and dried shiitakes beforehand, throw away the tomatoes, heat the soup in a pot, add the noodles and mushrooms, then attempt to ladle Shangri-La style.

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