The couple of times I’ve been, the specials written in Chinese are almost all spicy Sichuan-styled dishes, and the regular menu had a pretty large spicy dishes selection as well. I’m wondering if new ownership took over at some point and just kept the Taiwanese dishes for the sake of not rocking the boat?
Have you been to Jinye Cafe? The menus reminds me of the old-school Cantonese restaurants in Chinatown like Little Best Restaurant and Asian Garden. I’ve only gotten the sampan porridge for takeout one time (tons of addons and worth every penny) and have been wanting to go back ever since. The lady owner said this is their first time owning a restaurant after working in kitchens for many years, so I hope they get to stick around.
Yes, Taipei cuisine really amped up their Sichuan dishes a few years ago, and I’m not sure why. Not sure if it was a new chef, or if they are just catering to a trend they’re seeing with their patrons. On a side note, I saw on an episode of Lucky Chow (old PBS show) that most of the older Sichuan places were run by Taiwan immigrants, who embraced Sichuan cuisine when locals fled to Taiwain in the early/mid 1900s. It’s only been recently that we see a new wave of the full gamut of Sichuan dishes with the advent of actual chefs from that region opening restaurants locally.
I still find Taipei cuisine’s Sichuan dishes a bit hit or miss, perhaps because it may be a Taiwanese spin to it. While there are more good dishes than not, in my experience, their mapo tofu is not good. It has an overriding taste of black pepper vs the traditional mala spices. But their rendition of Sichuan “boiled fish” is quite good.
I’ve been to Jinye once right as the restrictions were being lifted and it was decent. I do like the small, quick cafe style places, but the interior left a bit to be desired (coming from someone who loved Wai Wai in chinatown ). It wasn’t a cleanliness issue so much as a disorganized issue, but it could be related to the pandemic. Appreciate the reminder - I’ll have to swing by more often.
Interesting! I didn’t know the connection there. I definitely didn’t think the Sichuan dishes were that good…my go-to these days is Cubist Circle in Weymouth.
I tried going to Jinye last month when I was nearby and they were closed for 2 weeks for renovation, so hopefully the new interior is better now? Last time (the only time) I went, they had a table with the old Bubor Cha Cha signage, so I thought the owners were somehow affiliated. Turns out they just picked it up because it was free. Gotta love the frugality!
Lol, I should check if they’re related to my family. The renovations is good news. They had re-arranged the space to cater to take out, as with most places so I think that contributed to the disorganized look. I’ll have to see their updated space.
I am car-less to heading off to Weymouth won’t work for me, though I see them pop up on the food delivery places. You can get some good Sichuan dishes at the 100 Miles restaurant in Quincy Center too (in the plaza where Kam Man is).
I know Randolph isn’t part of this thread, but I continued my GBA banh mi exploration at the vietnamese stretch there, so I’m going to add it here.
N&P Saigon Banh Mi seemed like a good bet, and was definitely a mom & pop operation inside. They ran out of cha gio because the person before me took the last 3, and the owner told me he’d make more (from scratch, ie fill and roll) but it would take half an hour. Nope. I got some banh mis and picked up a sticky rice lotus leaf parcel to try, and moved on to Chau’s further down the same stretch.
Chau’s also appeared to be out (with a very disengaged chap minding the store), but I spotted the near-empty tray with 3 left and grabbed them. Thought about getting one more banh mi to compare, but resisted the urge and went into the Viet grocery store in the same space instead to look for frozen cha gio (which I did find).
Banh mi was good, not great. A bit under-filled. Very good bread.
Cha gio filling was good, but they were a bit over-fried. The nuoc cham was decent enough.
I remember liking both items better at Banh Mi Boston in Quincy.
The lotus leaf rice turned out to be green in color, very flavorful and aromatic, and light on filling relative to chinese versions. Nice to try something new.
I stick with roast duck or pipa duck and crispy roast pork at these places. Once in a blue moon, maybe char siu or duck wings and snacky things if available.
I don’t think there are stand out BBQ places in Quincy (maybe even in Boston, these days). Kam Man’s roast duck gets generally good reviews, but I don’t go to them much without a car. The versions at 99 Ranch and East Chinatown are passable. I dislike the East Chinatown owners’ service; it’s even more indifferent than the typical Chinese restaurants. The staff themselves are probably ok, but the owner is usually the cashier for the BBQ takeout, and she gives you the look like you are bothering her most of the time. So by default it was 99 Ranch. If the quality of Fat Boy is the same as it was, I’d switch to them.
Lucky Cafe in Dorchester used to be great, but I’ve heard the owner has since retired and sold the business about 1-2 yrs ago. I don’t know how their BBQ is since then.
Just reporting back that I tried the roast pipa duck from Fat Boy this weekend. Definitely a better version with more flavor and better seasoned than the versions I’ve had locally. Their price is a tad higher than 99 Ranch.
Line was starting to extend out the door when I arrived at 10:45am! I heard they had a soft opening the week before and it was long lines there too. Definitely new staff, and it looked like they were trying to sort out the best production line process to get things moving. The space is not very big, probably even slightly smaller than the old place in Chinatown (which also regularly had lines extending out the door).
So if you plan on hitting this store, especially on popular days (before holidays, week of Chinese New Year, etc.), you’ll want to plan to hit it earlier. Hopefully the day to day traffic will normalize.
Another visit to N&P Saigon for banh mis and cha gio.
I called ahead to place my order because they were sold out of cha gio last time, which turned out to be the right decision, as they were frying freshly-made ones when I arived 15 mins later.
The roast pork banh mi was very good this time, crusty bread and tasty pork (of which I asked for an extra $1 worth to be added). The cha gio were lovely and fresh (as in we burned our mouths because we had no patience to let them cool).
On the amusing things front, I asked for the pork chop over rice when I called, and the lady who picked up said they have no such thing. When I got to the store, “pork chop over rice” was written on the daily specials board – I pointed to it and asked her why she told me they had no such thing. She shrugged and said “we don’t have it”. So I asked, did you run out or did you never have it? “Yes.”
No, no – not a language issue. Fluent English speaking but very disgruntled / grumpy daughter of owners . Also glared at me when I asked for the banh mis to be cut in half. Also unhappy that I asked for an iced coffee with extra condensed milk (offered to pay for the condensed milk, but then her dad came and made my coffee with a big smile and waved away extra money). Also looked at me blankly (no – like I was crazy, actually) when I asked if they had any of the lotus leaf-wrapped rice I bought last time that had been piled up on the counter – said she didn’t know what I was talking about (no, I didn’t pull out the picture of it I posted upthread).
But the owners are very sweet .
(I upsold a guy who walked in for a soda into a $4.50 coffee in return for my extra squirt of condensed milk.)
Took some pics of the snacks on the counter today — dried squid in two forms, and I think a noodle / salad dish with the toppings and dressing packed separately inside.
Looks yummy! You have so much more patience than I have. While I don’t make a scene when they are that rude or disengaged, I certainly would also call them out on that. There’s a few banh mi places in Quincy, and the family that runs Banh Mi Le on Hancock St is always so nice. They appear to have a lot of the same items you show so, we have a lot of options in this area. Come visit more!
The couple at N&P are lovely – the wife must have rolled the cha gio after I called, and was frying them when I arrived (I ordered a dozen to share - at $1/pop what a bargain).
The husband is usually in front making the banh mis, but he had already made the two I ordered and was doing something in the kitchen, plus it was almost closing time from lunch.
I like the mom & pop nature of the place.
The Quincy places are good, but further from 128 (I could have routed that way if I thought about it ahead of time).