Four-month-old modern looking authentic Chinese eatery in a Route 140 shopping center offering…read moredumplings, noodles, dim sum dishes, and a slew of authentic Sichuan entrees. Spacious seating, with many booths and a long bar. Reasonable pricing, with all but a few items under $20. Easy parking.
Seafood Pastry: Unique item, flaky outer shell (think phyllo dough), and a moist filling with chunks of softer seafood, with shrimp the predominant flavor. Good mouthfeel, good flavor, and something new.
Fried Pork Buns: A favorite dish of mine, and theirs are unique in that there's much more meat, the meat is incredibly tender, and the filling doesn't separate from the buns. Nice thin lacy "skirt" that forms from contact with the frying surface. Good flavor, good texture (browned bao dough different from Peking ravioli), great dish. Elite.
Soup Dumplings: Perfectly cooked, perfectly filled (pork and slurpable soup), and good flavor. Served with a different soy-based dipping sauce from the pork buns. Really no negative here, but nothing distinguishing from other good ones I've had.
Pork with Sweet Bean Sauce: Shredded strands of stir-fried pork with a sweet bean sauce. Think hoisin sauce but not quite as sweet. Some strips of greenery provide flavor and texture contrast to this 99% meat dish. Served with four pancakes similar to mooshi for do-it-yourself wraps. Solid item as long as you like sweet.
Twice Fried Pork: One of my "barometer" dishes I try at any first-time visit to a Sichuan restaurant, and Time Travel knocked it out of the park. Bacony strips on the cusp of crisp with great flexibility to match the alluring flavor. Thin-cut leeks for extra complexity and contrast, perfectly worked into the mix. Appealing heat that tingled with every bite, but wasn't trying to blow your face off. The perfect mix of flavor and heat, and of meat and vegetable. Easily elite and my favorite dish so far.
Boiled Beef in Spicy Broth: Some of the most velvety, tender beef I ever had, boiled or not. The sauce it was sitting in had plenty of heat and flavor throughout, though not as spicy as it looked. Dried chilies, minced garlic and cilantro added to the equation if desired. Stunning and a dish I'll return to for sure.
Veggie Dumplings: Tender green exterior and a soft and tasty interior of tofu and mushrooms. Good mouthfeel, much different from crumbly veggie dumplings.
Asparagus Lettuce Salad: A cold item with a tall mound of long, thin, shaved strips they're calling asparagus, but technically it's a Chinese vegetable called celtus. Crisp and refreshing, with hints of vinegar and hot oil, and way more than a hint of garlic.
Scallion Pancake: Very good batter flavor, great crispness, and light enough to not fill you up before the entrees. Even though the sauce didn't have ginger, it's darker and thicker than most, and a little tangy.
Garlic Wings: Their standard wings, tossed in the same sauce they use for Garlic Eggplant. Tasty stuff, even inside. Saucing a little spicy but mostly sweet.
Sizzling Fish in Spicy Oil: A gigantic bowl and an absolute bargain, with the fish large, tender, and infused with the spicy oil. Thin sauce, brothy texture, and not as oily as most. Plenty of dried chiles. Very enjoyable.
Eggplant in Garlic Sauce: Bright purple vegetable, likely fried (without batter) to get them bacony crisp on the outside, while lusciously tender inside. It's loaded with little garlic bits, thick, and more sweet than garlicky, making it approachable for American palates.
Spicy and Sour Potatoes: Solid rendition, with matchstick-like shreds of droopy but al dente potato, with both heat and sourness present, but less sour than most.
Taro Puff Pastry: This is an absolute must at the end of the meal. Served hot, crispy, flaky and with a mildly sweet hot taro filling. I can't imagine a superior version.
Service: This was another strong suit, handled by two young, affable men who doubled as kitchen staff. You've got to love having a server who not only brings you the food but who also has a hand in making it and who knows the menu firsthand, able to answer questions about ingredients and dish composition. Great guys.
If you're looking for something authentic, fresh, and different, without going to Chinatown, this is an exciting new place that's worth a drive.
