One Plus One Dumpling House

Today I tried for the first time One Plus One Dumpling House, really because if you buy one order of xiao long bao (soup dumplings) you get one free! It's located in the Hong Kong Plaza, the same plaza with the famous Krua Thai restaurant and the Hong Kong Market (which is closing) are located. Normally, when I walk by the place it's usually empty, but I gave it a try because I had yet to have really good xiao long bao. I've had it before at dim sum places, but it was usually served lukewarm, not at a tongue-burning temperature.



The condiments served at each table were, from right to left, soy sauce, black vinegar, and chili oil (my fave). Before the dumplings were served the waiter gave each of us a little sauce dish with some fresh, sliced ginger. You're supposed to pour some vinegar and/or soy and chili oil into the dish and make your own dumpling sauce! Be sure to dip the soup dumplings in the vinegar and ginger, it makes it taste so much better!


(Xiao Long Bao)
The xiao long bao is called "Juicy Pork Steamed Dumpling", and costs $5.95 for 8 pieces. Because of the promotional offer (which only works with pork xiao long bao) you get 16 dumplings for only six bucks! Be sure to eat these right away, they taste the best straight out of the steamer, but be careful when eating, because you don't want scalding-hot soup all over your face. I usually eat them by putting them in the Chinese soup spoon, biting off the top, and slurping all the soup. Then I dip the rest in the ginger and vinegar mixture and eat.


(Dry Shanghai Sauce Noodle)
This was called "Shanghai Sauce Noodle Dry Style" and costs $5.95, which isn't bad for such a big bowl. It's also known as chiang jang mien and is very similar to jangjangmyun, which is the Korean equivalent of the dish. Both are basically noodles with black bean sauce over it, and you mix the noodles together and slurp them. One good thing about One Plus One is that they make their own fresh noodles, so they're nice and tender. The noodles sauce contained tofu, pork, green onions and a little chili paste and is a bargain for such a large amount.


(Pan Fried Dumplings)
These were just ordinary pan-fried dumplings for $5.95 and it came with 10 pieces which is a pretty good bargain. The skin was not to think but not too thin, and was crisped nicely at the bottom. Put a little chili oil, some vinegar, and some sliced ginger, and you're good to go!


(Hand Made Noodles with Braised Beef Soup)
Wanting more homemade noodles, I ordered the Hand Made Noodle with Braised Beef Soup for $5.95. This was really good! The broth was rich and beefy, with a hint of star anise and some bay leaves. The noodles were nice and chewy, the bok choy not overcooked, and the beef was sooo tender! I put a liberal amount of chili oil in the soup and I was slurping like there was no tomorrow!


(Here's another picture of the beef noodle soup, this time with chili)


(Stir Fried Lamb with Green Onion)
I read on yelp.com that One Plus One had really good stir fried lamb, so I tried that too for $8.95 and thought it was pretty good. The lamb almost tasted like pork, and I loved spooning piping hot green onions and pieces of lamb on my rice, then slathering on heaping amounts of chili and eating! It's definitely something I'll order again, though one thing I don't like that much is the price. I feel the serving size could be bigger, if you're spending about 9 bucks for dish with mostly green onions.

Overall, I enjoyed my stay at One Plus One, I'd order all of those dishes again if I revisited! After leaving the restaurant I passed by another Pinkberry knockoff, Yogurt World. Like Pinkberry, Yogurt World serves froyo with toppings, but with more flavors (not just original, green tea, and coffee). The interior decor is very similar, and even the logo and font of Yogurt World is similar to Pinkberry's. I'll visit one day and write a post about it, until then, enjoy my first two posts on Got Pad Kee Mao!

-Squidopus

One Plus One Dumpling House
1017 South Glendora Avenue
West Covina, CA 91790
626 338 6868

Chung King Restaurant, San Gabriel, CA

Hi, food bloggers/readers, I'm new to the foodblogging world, so I'll introduce myself as Squidopus. Because of my Chinese and Thai heritage, Chinese and Thai food are one of my passions in life. My first post for "Got Pad Kee Mao" will be a review for a Sichuan restaurant called "Chung King Restaurant". I first heard about it through reading Wandering Chopsticks' blog post about it, and that post really made me want to try Sichuan peppercorns, which I've never had before. When I first arrived at the restaurant, I wasn't sure if I went to the same Chung King's that Wandering Chopsticks had gone to. The restaurant is very small on the outside and the overall look of it made you think that this, like many other Chinese restautants, isn't going to be the cleanest restaurant you've been to.



The restaurant got a "B" rating, which isn't surprising because after finishing my meal, I passed by one of the chefs in the back of the restaurant. He was sorting dried chilies in a container, and accidentally spilled about 15 chillies on the sidewalk. Instead of throwing them away, he PICKED THEM BACK UP and put them in the container! GROSS! Seeing this made me think they probably do worse in the back kitchen...

Aside from that, here's what I ate!



I ordered the 3-item cold appetizer combo for $5.95, which came with smoked chicken, spicy dried beef, and spicy sliced beef. They were all very delicious, my favorite was the spicy dried beef, which had a kick to it, but was not mouth-numbingly spicy (The spiciness was perfect!) I thought it was a little too salty to be eaten by itself, so it would be perfect with some plain congee. The sliced beef was also perfectly spicy, but again, I'd like it with rice or congee than by itself. The smoked chicken had a smoky flavor and was not too dry, but I lost my appetite when I found a dead ant on it...



A few minutes later came the Kung Pao Chicken for $7.99. It's definitely not your typical Panda Express Kung Pao (which I must admit, is pretty good). The chicken was battered and fried, then stirred around in a wok with dried chillies (FRESH from the sidewalk), green onions, Sichuan peppercorns, and peanuts. The Sichuan peppercorns give the dish an acquired taste, which I'm not sure I like. Also, the peanuts weren't cooked fully, it was like they just put in a few raw ones right before they served it, which I did not enjoy. I like my peanuts in my Kung Pao crispy and almost charred, like the Kung Pao at P.E. After eating this I was surprised, because I thought the Kung Pao was going to be as great as Wandering Chopsticks proclaimed it to be, but maybe they changed the recipe or the chef.



The spiciest dish of my whole meal was the "Spicy Fish Slices in Tai-An" under the "Featured Specials" category of the menu. IT WAS SPICY! I usually think of myself as a spicy-food lover (I eat anything with Sriracha and I love Pad Kra Prao with extra chilies), but this was intense! It was chock full of Sichuan peppercorns and all sorts of pickled chili peppers, which gave the gravy of the dish such a red color. Not only were fish slices in it, but there were slices of something gray with black dots all over it. At first I thought it was sea cucumber, but I found out later that it was sliced rice cakes. Like most, Sichuan Chinese dishes, the fish was really oily, so several pots of tea were needed to flush the oil out of the body. Overall, it was too spicy for me, so spicy that when I drank water, I could feel my tongue was numb!



To cool us down, I had the pan-fried green beans which were about $6. There were little pieces of preserved veggies mixed in and some salted ground pork. This was a little too salty and oily for me as well, but it's good to eat if 50% of your mouth is numb from Sichuan peppercorns.



After the spicy fish, we asked the waitress for a recommendation of something not spicy; to cool us down. She recommended the stir-fried bean curd and pork for $7.99. It was a great accompaniment to rice; the tofu was firm and star-anisey, the pork flavored with oyster sauce, and there were sliced red peppers and green onions. Man, would I love to have this dish with Sriracha and rice! This was one of my favorites for the meal.


(finished plate with several pickled peppers left)
In the end, I had an okay meal at Chung King, I would order some dishes again, and I wouldn't for others. If you're the type that cares more about food and less about how sanitary the restaurant is, then definitely give Chung King a try. There are some dishes for non-spicy eaters, some for average-spicy eaters, and some for those that have tongues (and stomaches) of steel.

-Squidopus


Chung King Restaurant
1000 South San Gabriel Boulevard
San Gabriel, CA 91776
626-286-0298