Authentic Chinese Family Dishes

I love food! So I make a point of trying as many new foods as I can. This past weekend my partner and I went to a Chinese restaurant near Konkuk Universtiy. There are many Chinese Resturants located there, all of which are authentic, but we happened upon this one while exploring the area for new restaurants to try.

I am so glad we decided to go there. There were so many dishes that we could try and they were from different regions in China, which is unusual for Chinese restaurants. According to my partner, most restaurants will serve dishes that are from a certain region rather than from several as this restaurant did. Each dish was reasonably priced and delicious. The chef, I don’t know if he received formal training but he’s a chef in my opinion, is amazing. He understands flavors and each dish is packed with layers of flavor and textures that leave you deeply satisfied after your meal. I loved this place so much I had to go back and try some more dishes and I was not disappointed.

The first time we went we were really hungry, so we went a little overboard and ordered three dishes. It was a lot of food, but we ate most of it and I am not ashamed.

酸辣粉(suān là fěn) Sour & spicy noodles from Sichuan This dish was a little sour, but it wasn’t overpowering. The chili peppers added a nice kick and balanced out the sourness. I also appreciated that the noodles weren’t drowning in bean sprouts. While I do like bean sprouts, I find that overusing them in a dish is a way for a restaurant to skimp out on other quality vegetables that help inhance the flavor of the dish.

烤鱼(kǎo yú) Grilled fish from Chonching

I have had this fish before and while I liked it I wasn’t nearly as impressed as I was when I had this one. It was so delicious that I felt deprived that I had never tasted this before. I was intimidated at first when I saw all the chili peppers, but this dish was more than chili peppers. There was a lot of flavor going on and it was well balanced. It is a lot of food so at least 3 people should eat this together.

宽面(kuān miàn) Wide hand rolled noodles

A simple noodle dish that I couldn’t stop eating. There wasn’t a lot of beef in it, but I didn’t miss it. The sauce went well with the noodles and the noodles were thick and soaked up the flavor of the sauce. My only problem was that I felt there were too many onions and they could have been cooked a little more. We didn’t really eat the onions and they didn’t interfere with the dish so it wasn’t a big deal.

These are the dishes we ordered when we went back.

红肠炒面(hóng cháng chǎo miàn) Wide hand rolled noodles with red sausage

These noodles were similar to the above noodles, but the flavor was not the same. The sauce and vegetables were different and there was sausage. I don’t normally like sausage, but I was surprised by the subtle flavor it had and how it complimented the noodles.

溜豆泡(liū dòu pào) Tofu (my partner couldn’t really translate this one, but it’s tofu^^)

I love tofu! I love the texture and how it absorbs the favors you put into it. Not everyone can make tofu taste great, though. However, this tofu is now in my top 5 tofu dishes. The outside was crispy and the inside remained tender and moist. The sauce was a perfect blend of salty and sour with hints of ginger. It went really well with the noodles.