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“Yumcha-- CLOSED”
Occasion: | Cuisine: | Area: | Cost: | Rating: |
Night Out | Asian | West Village | Moderate | Great |
Things got off to a terrific but teary start with a platter of fantastic deep-fried Frog’s Legs ($13). Just pretend they are chicken if you are squeamish about the Kermit issue, and eat them. Really, they are fabulous and an adventure worth signing up for. The plump legs are slathered in fiery Thai chile mayonaisse, and served with shot glass of pineapple consommé to sooth your blistered and burning (but happy nonetheless) mouth. Crunchy Spring Rolls ($9) stuffed with luscious bits of pork butt, sweet shrimp and nice hits of ginger, came my way next. These greaseless and crisp golden tubes were ideal utensils for a spectacularly zippy ginger-mustard dipping sauce. This sauce had several of us, myself included, double dipping and finger licking. (When I went back later in the week with Susie, she proclaimed that she was ready to either (a) drink it or (b) bathe in it.) The Tea-Smoked Chicken ($10)—a confited breast that is smoked in green and oolong teas—was moist and tender and served sliced in circular rounds, each bite delicately infused with softly exotic flavors. We also slurped down the Udon Noodle Salad, in a perfect peanut sauce topped with a cool citrus sorbet, poured on tableside that startles all flavors to sharp attention. NICE! But the grande dame of the appetizers was the Sesame Glazed Pork Rib with Spicy Shallot and Cabbage Salad ($11). This dish, served in a deep almond shaped bowl, was hands down one of the most extraordinary things I have eaten in recent memory. That meat is beyond any known notion of succulent.
I thought the pork had been braised in its own fat, but after speaking with Angelo, I discovered the real secret was in the pineapples. Yes, pineapples, which he explained have enzymes that really break down the meat. He braises all his meats in the same wild and super effective concoction—soy sauce, cassia (a Chinese cinnamon made from the bark of a cinnamon street), star anise, Thai Chiles, and quartered pineapples (with the rind left on). The result is meat that is tender to the point of impossibility. The pork rib is served in fat cubes in a salad that contains an entire weather system of flavors—a crazy twister of chiles and lime and ginger that is miraculous.
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