3/14/2008 Dinner at Sichuan Gourmet framingham:
6 of us went last night to SG framingham.

We started with:

Dan Dan noodles - a favorite of the group. Angel hair like pasta with a spicy sauce and bits of pork.
Sichuan Wonton w. Spicy Chili Sauce (10) - Small wonton-soup-like dumplings in a similar red sauce as the dan dan noodles.
Scallion Pancakes - smaller then most and not cooked very dark, still tasty.
Shrimp Toast - These were nice. Deep fried white bread with shrimp paste on top. What made these ones interesting is they had bits of waterchesnut in the shrimp mix and generous amounts of sesamee seeds on top.
Main dishes:
Fresh Whole Fish w. Sichuan Chili Bean Sauce - Similar red spicy sauce with beans in it this time. Fish was moist and flaky. Some at the table got frustrated with the bones.
Beef & Napa Cabbage w. Spicy Chili Sauce - Again similar red spicy sauce but more of it and alot of crushed red pepper flake made this the spiciest dish we had i think.
Cumin Flavored Dry Beef w. Chili Sauce - Always a favorite of the table. Sort of a beef jerky with cumin sorta thing.
Smoky Hot Shredded Chicken w. Cayenne - The cayenne is not what you expect but more of a fresh green pepper sorta thing. Nice flavor.
Ma Po Tofu - chunks of tofu in a similar red spicy sauce as many other dishes. Wasnt a big hit at the table. I liked it but i prefer a firmer or fried tofu. This was your basic soft-white cubed tofu.
Cellophane Noodles & Minced Pork - We added this at the end and the waitress replied "have you had it before?" which made us think that she thought we wouldnt like it. Well it was interesting. Clear noodles with the consistancy of gummy bears in the red spicy sauce with bits of pork thrown in. Was tough to eat and wasnt a big hit of the table but most people were pretty full by then.
White rice.
Sesame Sweet Potato Cakes - These dessert cakes have mashed sweet potato and a dollop of red bean paste in the middle. The outside it a thin crust with sesame seeds. I would have liked them sweeter but they were good and very hot filling.

Total bill with some drinks and tip was $186.

Overall I felt it was all tasty but I would have liked more variety of sauces/flavors. I think we ordered too many dishes that had the same sort of sichuan red sauce/oil. Bill seemed a bit high for the amount of food we got but we did have 5-6 cocktails at the table as well.

2/10/2008 13 of us went back to Green Tea 2 in Framingham. Again, everything was excellent. We ordered much too much food though! Staff was very friendly and even gave us tours of the kitchen. All the wrappers and noodles are homemade in house. We got 3-4 of many of the dishes so some of the photos are of multiple orders on 1 plate.. I counted over 70 orders! We left $325 total with tax and a good tip. I counted 29 different items. (not pictured are sweet soy milk and stuffed mushroom caps) Some photos of items below with names: (you can click the photos to enlarge)

Taro Cake


Three Delight Fried Rice Sticks:
Chicken Chow Foon:
Shrimp Chow Foon:
Eggplant Stuffed w/ Shrimp:

Exotic Tofu:
Golden Sticky Rice Ravioli:
Szechuan Spicy Wontons:
Taro Cake:

Hargau:

Bean Curd stuffed w/ Shrimp:

Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce:
Singapore Deluxe Rice Noodles:

Fried Dough:

Salt/Pepper Calamari:
Spring Rolls:
Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf:
Shumai:
Shrimp& chive cake:

Vegetarian Bean Curd Wrap:
Stuffed Bitter Melon w/ pork & Shrimp:
Chicken Feet:
Steamed Pork Buns:
Scallion Pancake:

Shrimp Cheung Fang:
Crab and shrimp balls:
Steamed Chive Dumplings
Steamed Beef Balls:

Green Tea 2 Framingham - 2/3/2008

3 of us went today to the new Green Tea 2 in framingham for dimsum. http://www.greenteaframingham.com/images/dimsum.gif

WOW. We were blown away. Everything came out hot, fresh, and fast. Not 1 dish that wasnt exceptionally excellent. The owner came to our table many times and was very proud to tell us about how they make all the noodles and wrappers from scratch. After the meal i went to tell him how excellent it all was and he brought me into the kitchen to show me how/where they make everything homemade. Very impressive.

Shrimp Dumplings (har gau)- generously sized and full of shrimp, perfectly steamed.

Shrimp & Chive Cake - small expertly panfried on both sides with thin wrappers, loaded with shrimp and chives.

Shu Mai - Typical preperation, but very fresh and hot

Steamed Shrimp Cheung Fun - Homemade noodles with very large shrimp inside. Excellent

Spare Ribs w/ BB sauce- Lighter sauce then im used to, generous amounts of garlic, peppers, etc.. very tasty.

Vegetarian Bean Curd Wrap - This one was loaded with mushrooms and had sort of an egg dipped fry to it.

Taro Cake - Similar to a turnip cake but with chunks of taro. Pan fried on both sides to a golden crisp skin.

Stuffed eggplant with shrimp - huge pieces of chinese eggplant, sliced open and stuffed with shrimp paste like a sandwhich. Not the typical small chunk with a bit on the top like you get in boston.

Szechuan spicy wontons - Bean sprouts and dumplings in a mildly spicy sauce. Huge portion. Not spicy like you would get at a Szechuan restaurant but very tasty.

Three Delight Fried Rice Sticks - one of the highlights. thick rice noodle chips, shrimp, chicken and pork all browned/pan fried perfectly. Excellent.

The quality, freshness and flavors were all better then most dishes i have had in Boston. Plus easy to get to for us suburban folks, came to only $15/each with tax and tip + Free parking!

I had been to Green Tea Newton several times but this was also much better then there. Larger portions, faster service, hotter, tastier.
You gotta try it!

12/23/2007 7 people Emperor Garden Boston.

7 of us went today and spent about $100 on dim sum.

At first we were worried as they didnt seat us in the main dining area but in a lounge off to the side. When we arrived we were the 1st in this large room and obviously there were no carts/peopls. However as they promised, within about 10 minutes it was hoppin in there as well.

We got most of the normal standards hargau, fried dough, meatball, shumai, mushroom cap meatball, baked pork pastry, egg custards, chicken feet, shrimp chow fun, ribs in black bean sauce, taro dumplings, fried shrimp/chive dumpling, fried calamari, s&p shrimp, congee, tofu skin roll, spring roll, shrimp roll, sticky rice, roast duck.....

Out of that list the only thing i actually had to spit out was the calamari, not much seasoning and very fishy. Others didnt think it was so bad , but it remained mostly uneaten on the table.

Didnt have the soapy/soggy experience i had there 2 years prior so it certainly has improved since my last visit!

Most was on par with the other big places in chinatown.

The turnip cake cart didnt come around till we were done eating and leaving, which was sad as i love them. Also never saw any of the fried shrimp patties with the shredded taro on the outside. One of my favorites which they didnt seem to offer at all. We also wanted snails but they dont do those there, they did have clams but we didnt get them

11/5/2007 Just wanted to post the menu of Woo Jung Restaurant in Ayer Ma. I love the scallion pancakes at this place. (actually on a page of the menu i didnt post!) They are not at all like the chinese type. More like a thick rice cake sorta thing.

10/6/2007
Pam and I went to the Yangtzee River Dim Sum Buffet for lunch. Typical, same as usual there. Items on the cart seemed pre-prepared, not on par with Boston Dim Sum. Many decent items on the buffet table and certainly plenty enough to eat.

Later for dinner 7 of us went to try Fuloon for the 1st time.

Quiet night, not very busy, service was excellent. Very attentive. Offering plenty of water refils, quick plate clearings, extra napkins,etc.. Not only did they give us new plates after our apps, but they changed our dinner plates once midway as well!

We had some adventurous and more conservative eaters among us so we ordered a mix.

We started with Scallion pancakes, crab rangoon, peking ravioli and a double order of the Spicy Wontons. The Spicy Wontons were interesting with a good amount of Sichuan pepper corn spice and garlic. The scallion pancakes were thicker then im used to but good. I was also able to try the Hot and Sour soup. It had a nice dark thick beefy broth but not very spicy.

Then for main courses we had Szechuan style whole fish, Diced chicken with dates/chestnuts, Wok baked beef, tea smoked duck, Pan fried noodles with chicken,pork,shrimp.

The fish was tasty but not as spicy as we wood have liked. We feel that maybe they made it more mild then usual for us? It had 2 stars on the menu where the wonton app only had 1. Yet the wontons were much more spicier.

The Diced chicken with dates/chestnuts was a big hit among the more conservative eaters at our table as was the wok baked beef.

The Tea smoked duck was excellent with a nice seasoning on the crisp skin. We liked it much better then the version at Sichuan Gourmet. It was served with some steamed dough buns.

The Pan Fried noodles were very good too. Perfectly crisp with a nice sauce and plenty of toppings. As good as any chinatown version in my opinion.

For dessert they gave us complimentary Sweet Sticky Rice pastry with red bean inside.
Overall a nice meal and everyone enjoyed it.

Next time we will order more spicy dishes and make sure to get them with full strength.

9/27/07 Cantonese in Acton yet again.

Tonight we got the singapore rice noodles w/ thai soup and scallion pancakes again.

Smaller portion then last time on the noodles but still more then plenty. Not a fan of the scallion pancakes which are premade/frozen from a retail package. Soup is excellent. Also got the Salt and Pepper shrimp which were very very good.