Mein! Finally a meet up!

[Lambowner]

Ya’ll tell me what you think about the Saturday Mein Meet up. I certainly liked the food and most especially the company and if Doobs doesn’t come next time, well, we will all be as bereft as we were Saturday! Hope all is well.

ANTYWAYS, we had some good food! I think Bruce and I agree that it is not as good as the most lovely Cooking Girls and we have a blood pact to go back there again.

I am risking the wrath of my most favorite Chinese friend to say it was not as good as I expected, but still good! I am, after all, hard to please.

Here’s some pics:

This is Jaymes’s favorite dish, Honey Walnut Shrimp (though honey was not in the description, Jaymes is familiar with it from other restaurants) Picture above. And it was super! Number one in her book, number one in my book was the braised duck, and the sauce was late coming to our attention, no fault of my people I brought along. Much. Picture below.

I homed in on fried chicken, which, wasn’t as I imagined.

I have been told that I could not pass up the Lava Toast for dessert and EVERYONE else was eating this too, soo, here you go…

Delovely.

Loud dining room, not a great thing, super other patrons who befriended the ever friendly Jaymes, a big plus! Wait staff was amazing. Overall, A

Super outing, not sure it it’s worth braving Bellaire Blvd again though? Add your pics here

Nice to see ya’ll and thanks for your hospitality as always! Until we meet again…

[brucesw (Bruce)]

Thanks for starting the thread. I have had a heck of a time getting my pictures off my phone for some reason and they aren’t very good.

I agree the Walnut Shrimp (which I couldn’t help but notice was being HOARDED AT THE FAR END OF THE TABLE) was the big hit. I also enjoyed the jalapeno shrimp you sister ordered (as well as her company - thanks for inviting her).

I will be the first to say I was disappointed in my Singapore Noodles. I had this recently at Kim Son, a first experience for me, and their version was much better. For one thing, it had shrimp and the flavors were much brighter and crisper, as were the vegetables.

I enjoyed both the Chinese broccoli and Garlic Bok Choy although both were undercooked, I think.

Mr. Lambowner’s Braised Duck was good but, yes, I was disappointed by your fried chicken.

The company was exceptional; we must do it again. And yes, we must do Cooking Girl again. Perhaps we will be able to interest some others?

BTW, here’s the scoop on the new restaurant from one of the Cooking Girls which I mentioned.

I’m in no hurry to try it (well, it isn’t even open). I do hope it relieves some of the throngs at CC but I sure hope the food doesn’t suffer with one of the ladies gone.

I am less impressed with Mein than I was after my previous visit. Noodles are supposed to be their specialty so I do think I will be back if I can determine from other reviewers which noodle dish is supposed to be the best. Oh, and I just might get an order (or 2 or 3) of the walnut shrimp.

Fortunately I have the luxury of going off-peak hours during the week so I’ll still get the excellent service but with considerably less noise.

ETA: forgot the Lava Toast. Meh. Not much lava in my portion.

[Lambowner]

Twin Peppers sounds promising!

[Jaymes]

Thanks y’all for taking and posting the photos. My how nice it is to have clever friends!

I thought that duck was also outstanding and, as ever, that honey walnut shrimp. I’ve had it many times in many different restaurants and, while it’s always good, I thought this rendition was particularly tasty. It’s basically a deep-fried crunchy shrimp with a sauce and some candied walnuts. The heart of the dish, the shrimp, varies of course, as shrimp always does. This shrimp was large and fresh and perfectly cooked. When you start the dish on such a high note, it can only get better, and it did.

The duck was moist and delicious and I’d definitely get it again. I agree with Bruce & Lambsie that the rest of the dishes were underwhelming for the most part. However, I hasten to add, the place was absolutely packed with Chinese so they must be putting out some food wonderful enough to warrant that. The friendly couple at the next table were eating bowls of some sort of noodle dish with shrimp in it. It looked like pho, so I asked if that’s what it was and they replied that it wasn’t; “Chinese noodles,” they said. When I asked how was it, they said it was great and that they’d be back again sometime soon. Perhaps we should have had them order for us, no?

Oh, and that lava toast. I thought it was pretty tasty. Like French Toast on steroids. Rich and unctuous and decadent with no redeeming social value whatsoever. We shared it, which was wise. I think it’d be too much for just one person.

Oh, and ps. I have to drive into town this coming Friday. If anyone is up for it, I’d sure like to try that orange beef at Cooking Girl.

[Lambowner]

I could probably do lunch Friday! Let’s touch base later in the week.

I’m surprised to read in Bruce’s link above that they only have one wok! They bring dishes out as they are prepared and the orange beef came when we were nearly finished, so we’ll do well to order it immediately. It is a small place.

[Jaymes]

They open at 11:30 so think I’m going to plan to be there then. Work for you?

[brucesw (Bruce)]

Next time we’ll just pick up and move over to their table!

I looked down there when I saw you talking to them but didn’t realize they were your new best friends from the foyer.

On the menu the soups with shrimp listed as ingredients are Phnom Penh noodle which has egg noodles, Phnom Penh Rice Noodle, which has, er, rice noodles, Phnom Penh Twin Noodle, which has both, and Silver Noodle soup which has rice noodles. Also the special House Won Ton Soup has a shrimp in it.

It looked to me like they were taking ingredients off a plate, dipping them in the bowl and then eating them. Right?

I scrolled through several pages of the pictures on YELP (there are 27 pages with lots and lots of the Lava Toast and Walnut Shrimp); the only soups I saw pictures of served with the broth separate from the other ingredients were the House Won Ton and Phnom Penh Noodle, but I didn’t look through all 27 pages and some people might put all the ingredients in the broth before taking a picture.

Of course the menu in house may have more options, too.

Despite our less than spectacular judgements of the food, after scrolling through all those pictures I’m sure I’ll go again. I think I’ll ask the waiter to recommend the best noodle dish.

[Lambowner]

@Jaymes

They open at 11:30

Good idea, that’s what we did before to ensure a table (and a parking spot). See you there.

[Lambowner]

I went back to Mein today at suggestion of a friend who had an appointment near there, so it was convenient. Again, it was good with outstanding service. I tried the squid ink rice (much larger than the picture looks) and I really like that, one of my favorites here now.

Also tried the soup dumplings (xiao long bao), but there was little soup in them. However, I’ve never had them before so I don’t know what they are supposed to be like. You’ll have to wait 25 minutes for these.

For apps, we had the braised tofu, red oil dumplings, and shrimp and pork rolls with a mustard sauce. Also on the table was the walnut shrimp, char su roast pork (excellent) an egg/tofu dish, water spinach (nope) and clams in black bean sauce. Then we ordered the lava toast for dessert, which looks so much better than it is.