March in Review

1. Making chong yao bang (green onion pancakes) with Garrett.

I have better pictures, but I'm too lazy to upload them here. Garrett says it didn't taste quite right; it could be because didn't actually use green onion, or because we didn't use lard or tons of oil, or because we used the wrong kind of flour. We'll try it again.

2. Din Tai Fung with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth and I had a long drive to and from Santa Clarita, so it was great when Elizabeth though of stopping by Din Tai Fung in Arcadia for dinner. I'd never eaten there before, but I had heard all sorts of good things. We ordered crab and pork siu long bao and Shanghai pan-fried noodles. Both were pretty tasty, but I thought it was a little bit too long of a wait and slightly overpriced. But still, it was fun to hang out with Elizabeth.

3. Late-night pho with ROCK.

We've been trying to resurrect our Friday-night ROCK hangouts after fellowship. I missed the 85 C expedition, but I did join the ROCKers for late-night pho. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant (Pho Vynh Ky) off Brookhurst and Hazard in Little Saigon and ate half-priced bowls of pho. According to Daniel, the discount makes it taste better. They need to bottle that and sell it at Chinese grocery stores.

4. Mitsuwa festival booths with ROCK.

We're not sure what was going on (Spring Picnic Fair, perhaps?), but for some reason they had a bunch of different booths with Costco-like samples. The first one we came to was a teppan table where they were making fresh yakisoba. We couldn't resist. They also had someone making fresh mochi and gyoza. I wish they had that every week. I think a week or two later, we were back at Mitsuwa for ramen and curry. I was nearly seduced by a tempting custard bun. Pat me on the back; I resisted temptation.

5. Five Guys with Aryn and Sam.

Strangely, I have no pictures of the burgers, nor of Steven, Sam, or myself. But this picture of Aryn is too pretty to pass up. Sam and I were looking for "real food," as he calls it, in a location between my house and Aryn's. Despite the fact that we had all eaten pretty late and weren't that hungry, we decided to meet at Five Guys in Cerritos. I'd only heard Justin mention Five Guys, but I didn't really known anything about them.

I was intrigued by the free peanuts (would be really dangerous for anyone with anaphylactic allergies), and I appreciated the customizable burger concept. I think the whole "free toppings" thing is kind of deceiving because the burger ends up being pretty expensive anyways, plus more if you want to buy a drink or french fries. At least they're generous with the portions. It was yummy, but nothing special. I'd have to agree with most of the Yelpers that it can't really stand up against In-N-Out.

6. Bottega Louie macaroon at work.

Yes, I used my stack of sticky notes to display this macaroon. I don't know what flavor it was, but Christina was sweet enough to share her macaroons with me. They were a gift and came in a really pretty little box from Bottega Louie in downtown LA. By the way, check out their blog, which has lots of pretty food pictures.

The Dim Sum Truck

LA is known for its diverse cuisine and ever-changing trends. Those of us living in Socal are so spoiled; we’re exposed to international fare from every culture and locale. One fashionable food trend is the taco truck. It seems like we’ve always had the traditional Mexican taco truck, but the trend really picked up when Kogi Truck–selling Korean BBQ tacos–showed up on the scene.

It’s brilliant marketing if you think about it. Hungry Twitter users can follow the Kogi Truck on their phones so they know where to get in line. Of course, LA eaters are all about the latest trend, so they’re happy to join the almost cult-like community of Kogi fans. Soon after, imitator trucks began popping up everywhere.

If it works for Korean BBQ, one might reason, then the business model should also work for any other “exotic” food–say, dim sum. Hence, the Dim Sum Truck. Their menu boasts all the traditional goodies: siu mai (dumplings), har gau (shrimp dumplings), char siu bao (BBQ pork buns), lo mai gai (lotus leaf rice), cheong fun (rice noodle rolls), and daan taat (egg tarts).

The Dim Sum Truck also offers some special items, like “mushu pork tacos” and “peking duck wraps.” Some items will be available daily while others will be offered as specials. From the looks of it, you’ll never know for sure what yummy goodies they’ll be offering. It doesn’t look like they’ve launched yet, but I’d definitely be interested in trying out their dim sum.

To me, dim sum just isn’t the same without the round tables and hot carts and loud Chinese families trying to talk over each other. But sometimes, you just crave a good char siu bao; maybe it’ll remind people of Hong Kong–you can get your fix right on the street. To find out more, you can follow them through Twitter and on Facebook, or check out their website.

Four Seasons (London Chinatown)

"Come on Jon, decide where to eat," I grumbled. I get grumpy when I'm hungry. A full day of classes meant I hadn't had anything to eat all day. Jon listed out nearly every restaurant in Chinatown before settling on Four Seasons. I've already eaten there once, but I never say no to Chinese food. Especially since self-catering at uni means poor eating, at least for someone of my culinary skills. I'm great at eating, but I can't cook to save my life.

Anyways, they seated our party of three downstairs in the corner, where the ceiling is so low they had to post a sign that says "Mind Your Head." Fortunately for them, I'm only 5'0''. You know that Four Seasons is one of the more authentic Chinese restaurants situated in the heart of London Chinatown--they have an adequate number of Chinese locals dining there. I'm always wary of the restaurants that have a lot of touristy customers; I don't mean to be discriminatory, but it's a fairly accurate rule of thumb.

My Cantonese is barely good enough to order food, but it limits me to what I can remember how to pronounce. I assume that the non-Chinese customers were able to order in English, so I guess language really shouldn't be an issue. But since Jon is fluent in Chinese, he did all the ordering for us. We originally ordered four dishes, but somehow, the spare ribs failed to materialize. The other three dishes were ma po tofu, garlic ong choy, and 3 meat combination dish.

First, the ong choy. I thought this dish was really nice. It wasn't available at the last Chinese restaurant we ate at, so it was a real treat to be able to order it here. I don't like eating any kind of choy if it feels wilted or if it's too bland. Jon mentioned that some places make it too salty, but the ong choy was just the right amount of crunchy and garlic.

The second dish was the 3 combination meat dish--duck, pork belly*, and char siu. I don't understand why restaurants in London list it as "belly pork". It just doesn't make sense to me. From what I've read online, Four Seasons is supposed to be famous for their duck. Jon complained that the duck and char siu tasted dry because they weren't fresh. They tried to make the meat moist by covering it with sauce. That made it too sweet for my taste, but it was still edible. Everything tastes all right when you're hungry like I was.

Our last dish was the ma po tofu. I've seen this dish in many forms. My favorite is the red hot Taiwanese version. The ma po tofu at Four Seasons was a more meaty dish. The tofu was really smooth, the sauce had a nice kick (though not as spicy as I usually like), and overall, I thought it was very flavorful. Ma po tofu can sometimes be too heavy, but I liked the consistency of this dish. I definitely had multiple helpings.

All three dishes, along with tea and white rice, came out to about 35 GBP. For those visiting London, eating out is generally quite expensive, Chinese food in particular. It was a bit pricey, even splitting the tab three ways, but not wholly unreasonable. I have my own opinions about the state of customer service in England, but the waiters were efficient (if not friendly) and I appreciated that they didn't rush us out after all of our fellow customers had gone. In the end, I was pretty content and very full. Review by Lynnette

*Note: I'm not sure exactly how to describe it, but pork belly has both fat and meat, and the skin is salty and crunchy. It's been described to me as deep fried pork skin...

The Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 starfishes

- 2/3 good dishes

- a little more expensive than I like
- decent service


Four Seasons Restaurant
12 Gerrard Street
China Town, London W1D 5PR
+44 20 74940870