I had been wanting to try Harbin for awhile now, after hearing they had authentic northern Chinese…read moreand Sichuan food.
Naturally, gluttonous me couldn't decide what to order and ended up getting a little bit of everything. I ordered:
- Grandma pork belly with eggs
- Mapo tofu
- Spicy blood tofu, beef food, beef tripe, pig intestine and vegetable in chili sauce
- Tofu and stew pot meat (regular casserole)
- Crispy fried beef tenderloin with peanuts in sweet sour spicy sauce
- Egg roll
- Rice (plain steamed)
My husband ate the fried beef and tenderloin while basically the rest was mine lol .. to eat for the week. Portions are generous, so the price is a bit higher but I was satisfied, and then some.
I was looking forward to the grandma's pork belly and mapo tofu the most. They did not disappoint!
Anything from grandma or her recipe bank must be delicious, right? I actually tried to place my order the night before and they ran out of this dish, so I decided to postpone until it was available. The pork belly was a thicker, saltier and sweeter sauce than I expected, so I would recommend ordering or making more plain rice to offset. The fatty pork belly cubes were just what I was craving.
The mapo tofu was probably my favourite. It was super flavourful, spicy but not overly, and I loved the silky texture. Also needed more rice for this one. I could easily eat this dish over and over.
I'm not familiar enough with northern Chinese cuisine to know what "casserole" is, so the tofu and stew pot meat casserole surprised me. I thought they messed up the order because it was like boiled pork belly and soft tofu cubes in broth, more like soup than a baked casserole. It was good, just not what I expected. Love that it came piping hot.
I ordered the spicy blood tofu dish because I saw on socials that it was someone's favourite authentic dish and I'm an adventurous eater. I have to admit I'm not entirely sure what "beef food" is/was, but I had eaten everything else before so I was up for it. I think there was Spam in it? Totally surprised by it, but into it. I wasn't a huge fan of the sauce-drenched, soft baby bok choy, cabbage, and bean sprouts in it, but the dish wasn't bad, just not my favourite.
The crispy fried beef wasn't crispy when it got to us after delivery because it was heavily sauced, so I would recommend eating this one in-house.
The egg roll was closed and a bit thinner but longer than the standard kind you'd get at most Chinese restaurants.
Overall, I think their food is very big on flavour, especially sweet and salty, and heavy on the sauce, so keep that in mind. Would definitely order from them again (I'm craving their mapo tofu now, as I write this!), and try one of their clay pot dishes next time.