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.
). 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.
