Gastro888

Didn't someone say never trust a skinny chef?...

My friends and I tried TemptAsian Cafe for the first time last night. We arrived around 8pm after a grueling practice and prepared to oh-so-delicately "get our grub on". After hearing all the wonderful things about the cafe from our friends and online, we were eagerly anticipating a great meal.

Let me just say this: Wow. This place is awesome.

We ordered:

(I don't have the menu w/ me so I've no number to reference)

Sliced beef w/ cilantro chile oil ("mah-la")

Cold chicken w/ scallion soy oil

Scallion pancake

Baby wonton in chile oil

General Tsao boneless duck

Stuffed tofu w/ brown sauce

Tong Pao prok belly w/ mon tao

Roasted fish fillet w/ chile pepper, "mah-lah" and cumin

Whoever was manning the wok last night had excellent skills - everything was properly cooked and there wasn't the oil slick on the plate that you find with some Schzuan foods. Everything was well prepared and had a good flavor to it, you could taste the food and enjoy the seasonings beyond the chiles. With some Szchuan restaurants, it's just pure fire and no flavor in my opinion. Here the food was spicy but you could taste the food.

I really enjoyed everything, especially the boneless duck and the roasted fish. It's definitely worth the trip over the bridge!

Last year, I was going to go with my friend to Georgia Browns for some Thanksgiving grub but plans got scratched for an authentic, made-at-home meal. Try them out?

Well, here's the thing -

Around 1pm, they're not going to make any more food as dim sum's usually over by 2-3pm. So what you had was probably freshly made that day but lacked "wok hay". Also, it could've been the same dumpling that was around at 12:00, ya know? Not that it's a bad thing - think of it in terms of a buffet - you want to go right when it opens to get the freshest possible food.

Noon is MUCH better than 1pm, however, 11am is ideal. I understand God and obligations come before dim sum, though.

Edited to add: Here's my take on it - if you're going to go through the trouble of doing this, you should do it RIGHT and experience dim sum the way it's meant to be experienced. Timing is CRUCIAL to dim sum - there is a difference in selection, quality, service, etc depending on when you go. IMHO.

#7 Banh Mi from Banh Mi So #1 in Eden Center. God, I love me a good Vietnamese sub. <burp>

The selection's going to be limited because 1pm is considered late for dim sum.

If you try GF again during the "normal" dim sum hours (11-12), perhaps the selection will be better.

Where were you sitting in the restaurant?

I am mystefied. Please explain these seemingly contradictory statements... I have on occasion considered taking that bus, or having my fifteen year-old daughter ride it to NYC to visit her aunt. Why will you never again take the bus?

Don't be mystified. The CT food is so good that I can endure sitting on a bus for about 10 hours. When I bit into my fresh cha siu bao from Mei Lai Wah, it was worth it.

Dinner last night:

From huge prepared foods market on 79 Elizabeth Street in NYC:

-Scallion oil chicken

-Braised beef tendon (YUMMY)

-Zoong (sticky rice "tamale" - sticky rice with peanuts, lean pork, ham and a questionable salty egg yolk [it was questionable b/c I think it was a regular chicken egg yolk instead of the more expensive duck yolk. Grr])

Dessert - Japanese style cheesecake and silvers of mooncake (white lotus with double yolk and "gum tui" [nuts and Chinese sasusage])

(I will never do the Chinatown bus again for minor reason such as the driver drove like a maniac, the passengers drove me nuts and they were running behind schedule. Also, I'm a bit type-A so having someone else drive makes me a bit bonkers. PM me if you have questions.)

Duly noted -- I did say quieter, not necessarily quiet, but excellent point

Ok, good point, quieter is easier to have conversations and whatnot but that would be like BdC actually having space between its tables.

This would be the look you'd get from Chinese people about anything quiet when it comes to good, authentic dim sum! (hee hee) I equate it to a quiter/quiet Greek taverna. Ain't happenin' if it's the real deal!

You can also try the dim sum at Dragon Star in Eden Center.

Although, my previous warning about ordering Chinese in a Vietnamese restaurant does apply...

Oh yeah, and no self-respecting Chinese person would want to eat dim sum in a quiet restaurant. Quiet = no crowds and no crowds = bad food. Ick. The best dim sum restaurants are always lively and full of people.

Eegads, try suggesting that to a group of a Chinese people. You'd get laughed at...

While on the Chinatown Bus from NY's CT (never, never, never again will I take a CT bus):

Baked cha siu bao from Mei Lai Wah coffehouse on Mott

"Chung yao gook gai"- Scallion oil baked chicken from a BBQ meat joint on Elizabeth (the big one that spans one block)

Iced honey lemon tea

Yes, it was completely and utterly worth the bus ride. Gooood eats.

Like Water For Chocolate

Where do you find them in the wild and what do they look like? I've this fascination with gathering things in the wild but knowing my luck I'd eat something that I wasn't supposed to!

Cheers to hillvalley for organizing this!

I hope y'all have a good time. I will not be able to attend this first event. (Hopefully I'll be able to attend future events...)

Good luck and happy eating!

I get the magazine as well and couldn't stand the new design. They were fine the way they were, the redesign makes the magazine look cheap, IMHO. Before, the layout of the magazine made it seem more upscale.

If you do go there to eat, I'd recommend trying the peanuts. They're boiled with 5 spice and anise, quite tasty. Different take on peanuts that yer regular Planters...

Factors to keep in mind:

1. We were the only customers in the place at the time.

2. We went when it wasn't rush hour for the restaurant so they were able to cook the dumplings without rushing.

3. They were making the dumplings for the next day - we probably got a really fresh batch given the time we came in for food.

4. Minor sidebar: we worked out beforehand and drove about 45 minutes to the restaurant afterwards (ie, the whole "hunger makes a good sauce" thing)

I'm not discounting the goodness of the dumplings or your experience, just pointing out factors that may have made my experience different than yours.

And yes, carry out pan-fried dumplings are never as good as ones consumed on the spot! I would've busted those puppies out in the parking lot if there was no space in the restaurant.

Indulged in dumplings after practice last night with my teammates. We arrived late at night - no crowd but no Mama's dumplings. We shared fish dumplings, pork and dill (interesting combo but very tasty!), pork and chive, beef and celery hearts and shrimp dumplings.

All were very tasty - we got the fish and shrimp ones steamed and the rest pan fried. If you can choose, go pan fried. We had the broccoli root salad, napa cabbage salad and five spiced peanuts as starters. They were decent starters, all homemade.

The quality of their dumplings are far better than Chinatown Express, for sure. My gripe - they should give you small bowls instead of plate for the dumplings. That way you don't loose the yummy juices that squirt out of the dumpling when you bite into it. Their spicy chile oil is housemade - it smells heavenly!

It is definitely worth the trip up from the city if you are able to make it. (It's about a 15 minute walk north from the Rockville Metro station, Red Line) You can also stop by Maxim and Kam Sam, the Chinese grocery stores, when you come up to eat dumplings. And there's always Maria's for dessert!)

Too sweet my @#$!. If you put enough bananas & almonds and fold the durn thing right, you'll get the right ratio of filling to crepe without huge pockets of Nutella.

I give the place 6-8 months tops. Not that I'm wishing ill will on them, it's just I can't imagine her having alot of repeat business with the products she's offering now. There's much to be desired. A bathroom for starters!

Barbara's Bakery's Snackimals Whear-Free Oatmeal animal cookies with a tall iced coffee w/ milk and sugar from Starbucks.

Yum. Trying to be good and trying to resist the call of the potato chips in the vending machine!

Eating in any of the little hole in the wall restaurants in Saigon West or Saigon East in Eden Center and having to use the communal restroom in the strip malls. <sighs>

So not kosher dilly!

Forgot to add that the crepes were pedestrian. Edible but eh. Definitely not worth the $5 for the crepe.

They were pale and didn't have very much filling. In fact, it looked like a regular folded crepe with NO filling. We had all of 4(!!!) slices of banana in our dessert crepe. Aw, c'mon!!!!!! This was a bad as the one boba high layer of boba in our tea. Sheesh.

Filled and folded, the crepes were about 1/4" high. (In Greece, they're like over 1" high when filled and folded but as I said, never been to France so I don't know what a good, traditional crepe should be.)

Teaism's bubble tea tastes like CoffeeMate with some tea flavor in it. Blech.

Trust me, it's worth the hike to Ten Ren's. Just for the dumplings and the green noodle tea alone! Actually, I kinda like those better than the boba cha!

Vietnamese bubble "tea" drinks aren't the same as the traditional bubble tea drinks. They don't use tea as the main base for the drink - it's the traditional fruit shake with bubbles added to them. Not that they're not good, mind you - they're great! (Personally, I prefer Kim Phung next to Song Que - they make THE BEST taro bubble drink in town. Holy moly, it's soooo thick and yummy.)

It's just apples and oranges, ya know?

Definitely try Ten Ren's in College Park. It's a cute little hangout and it's very inexpensive.

Cool beans, thanks y'all!

I'll try the pulled pork one of these days and the ribs. Hopefully I'll develop my palate for American BBQ!

Right now I've a bag of kalbi in the fridge I need to eat first! I know, poor, poor, poor me that has to suffer through eating kalbi!

I heard about Snap on washingtonpost.com's Going Out Gurus blog and was curious to see how the crepes and bubble tea tasted.

For those who may not know, bubble tea is a drink that originated in Taiwan. You have a choice of tea base (black or green) and you can add milk (or not) and various flavors (ex: mango, passion fruit, green apple, etc) and then the fun part - gummy bear like tapioca balls at the bottom that you slurp through an unusually large straw. Bubble tea's this great paradox of drinking and chewing your beverage at the same time. If you've never tried it before, start with the plain milk tea and work your way from there.

The store is located off Thomas Jefferson Street near the Barnes and Noble. It's a small, cute little storefront with a patio in the back to sit and relax in. (Oddly enough, it SHOULD have a restroom since it offers seating but the owner said there wasn't one and directed us to Barnes and Noble instead)

OK, I could go on about the menu and the decor but let's get down to it: the bubble tea bit ventworm nuts. Bit them and spat them out.

The drink was somewhat watery, no milky creaminess present. Worse yet, there wasn't much of a tea taste to the drink. There was a faint aftertaste and that was about it. The bubbles were overcooked, mushy and somewhat slimy. And worse yet, they were skimpy with the bubbles. Normally, you should have a layer of bubbles that are two to three bubbles high. We got one layer - that was ridiculous.

It wasn't a horrible drink - it wasn't undrinkable per se. It just wasn't done well at all. (I know there's a thread about complaining in restaurants but how would one handle this? Basically telling them their entire product line is not executed well? That would be really arrogant of me if I did that!)

As for the crepes, I've never been to France so I don't have a "golden standard" to compare them to. However, I've had some fantastic crepes in Greece (of all places) that burst at the seams with generous fillings in a well cooked thin crepe that was lightly freckled with brown spots (are crepes supposed to have a bit of brown?)

Where to go for a decent bubble tea? The one place in the area that does a good job is Ten Ren's Tea Time in College Park. They also serve a green tea noodle dish with pork and tofu that's sublime. Good dumplings, too.