Asian Dining in Austin: Five Places

I am a big admirer of all types of Asian cuisine, which is fitting as I am half Japanese. Some friends and have have our Asian Supper Club where we try new places or happily go to an old standby such as Sunflower Vietnamese.  Here's a look at five "new to me" places that I have been in the past six weeks, one with the Asian Supper Club!

Fat Dragon, 8650 Spicewood Springs Road
At the intersection of Hwy 183 and Spicewood Springs is a large strip mall on the southwest corner that is probably is the most diverse in all of Austin. Looking at restaurants alone, you've got Asia Cafe, Chen's Noodles (two of my faves) and a bunch I haven't been to: Uzbeki, Nepalese/Indian, Cajun, Mexican and cupcake place. You gotta love Fat Dragon for its logo alone! They opened over the summer and I was there in October. Overall, we loved it and I really look forward to going back. (WHY are you so far away from me?!)

Cute little dragon!

Pork belly bun or gua bao; very meaty portion of pork which was well-rendered and nice + crisp.

Dry-fried green beans, always a favorite.

Lamb cilantro dumplings. These were amazing, and I would probably love them even more by ordering them pan-fried next time. I love lamb and I don't think I have ever had a lamb dumpling. I want a LOT of these right now! Have heard from a friend that the lamb cumin dumplings there are also incredible. (Pork, chicken, beef and vegetarian ones also on the menu.)

Soup dumplings or xiao long bao. They apologized when bringing these out to us and said the dough was too thin, so they had already torn and the soupy liquid had mostly leaked out. (They did bring us some egg rolls for the trouble.)
 They did TASTE good though.

Het Say, 2121 E. Oltorf Street
In another strip mall (between Burton + Willow Creek, a couple blocks west of Pleasant Valley) is Het Say, which opened in August 2017. The gentleman that brought out most of our dishes said he was the owner and many of the recipes were his grandmother's.  While the majority of the menu is Vietnamese, there are some Thai and Singapore noodle dishes and Chinese appetizers available. The stars of the show were the Vietnamese home style dishes under house specials.

Grilled pork bún (vermicelli) bowl. The pork had really good flavor but was a touch dry.

Another pork belly bun!  This one wasn't as meaty as the one at Fat Dragon, but still good.

Chicka-rones, or fried chicken skins! Fairly crispy, some had bits of meat still attached to the skins.
 I think I liked these more than others in our group. 

Bánh mì sandwich

Lemongrass tofu vermielli

Braised pork belly, in a clear broth made from coconut juice, ginger, fish sauce and spices.

Braised catfish, with a similar broth as above but with more of a ginger kick that I LOVED! The catfish is bone-in which makes it a little difficult to eat but the nourishing broth was so worth it. Can't wait for this on a cold day.

Lin Asian Bar + Dim Sum, 1203 W. 6th Street
Open since February, Lin operates out of an old house on the south side of W. 6th, and seeks to be a more health-conscious Chinese restaurant. I loved the look and decor of Lin, and enjoyed sitting at the counter overlooking the kitchen.

From the counter looking back to the front door and bar.

Private dining room to the side of the kitchen that would comfortably seat 8 - 10 people.
 I loved the wooden screen doors and peeked through one of the openings. 

A glass of Riesling went well with this meal.  I have a Boomerang of the ladies making shumai
 but I can't figure out how to post it here!

Shanghai soup dumplings -- these had more of a vinegary taste than what I have had with
 soup dumplings before which was a little unexpected for me. 

Dan dan noodles -- I really enjoyed the peanut sesame sauce, but the noodles themselves were overcooked. 

This eggplant dish was one of our favorites on the night. However it's not on their online menu and can't remember the exact description; I believe it was with ground venison, pork, and beef. Long thin strips of Asian eggplant were coiled together and topped with the sweet sauce containing the meat.

Hawaiian Sesame Chicken with grilled pineapple. This one was a bit of a let down, as the sauce was overly sweet and the pineapple was used more as decor rather than as part of the dish.  The chicken was fried well though.

Salt and pepper tofu, my favorite of the night. This came out screaming hot and was hard to eat at first! Nice crisp outer layer gave way to pillowy silken tofu. Very nice with a little of the eggplant sauce too.

Laterns on the front porch.

Umi Sushi, 5510 S. IH-35 (northwest corner of 35 + Stassney)
I've long heard good things about Umi but had never made it there. A friend and I made it for happy hour, where a variety of items are on special.

Tuna, salmon, and yellowtail sashimi

Shrimp and veggie tempura; the tempura batter was a bit heavier than what I am accustomed to,
but we both liked it! Very crunchy. 

Kani puffs (imitation krab eggrolls, more or less) and sesame chicken skewers.

Spicy crab roll

Crunchy shrimp hand roll 

We were seated on the bar side of the restaurant, which was pretty much your stereotypical bar decor. But the main restaurant had some beautiful kimonos and other Japanese decorations; I'd love to go back for a full meal.

DFG Noodles trailer, various locations
AKA Dang Freakin' Good Noodles, I caught up with this trailer for lunch one recent weekday. Check their website for where to find them.

The Golden Nuggets, fried chicken with sambal chile sauce. Looking back at their menu,
 I think this was supposed to be over their Firecracker rice, but this was straight white rice. Hearty serving for $9.

The Scholar -- vermicelli noodles with pork, ham, fried egg and more! Very tasty. 

Now the curry sauce that came with the roti bread was incredible. Our group ended up with two containers of curry, one a bit spicier than the other, but not majorly so. I ended up taking the leftover sauce home and made chicken empanadas with it. The sauce on it's own is not the most photogenic, but trust me, it had great depth of flavor!

So there's my recent tour of Asian spots around town. What are your favorite Asian dishes and places to go?

Food Fun at Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot!

I don't eat at many chain restaurants, much less write about them, but three of us had so much fun recently at Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot that I feel it warrants a blog mention! Located at 24th and Seton, they are three blocks west of Guadalupe near the UT campus; a small parking lot is available and they are open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.

Warm soup was just the thing we needed on a recent (rare) blustery winter day here in the ATX. I should have taken more photos of the set up, but I didn't so you'll just have to trust me. Each table is has it's own built-in hot plate. And this is designed to be communal food. If you don't like sharing your food or eating family style, this may not be your thing. You do have your own individual bowls to portion your items into, but my friends and I are comfortable enough with each other that we just picked things out of the hot pot with our individual chopsticks (read: double dipping) half the time.

First you have to decide if you're going to order a la carte or just do the all you can eat price of $21.99. We decided to do a la carte and ultimately may have been a bit over-zealous in our ordering, because the total came out to exactly $21 each before tip. No regrets though! They have these handy menus where you just check off the items you want.

Then you need to decide on a soup base (original or spicy), or they have these nice ying yang pots so you can try both! We were also impressed by the ladles as they have a hook on the backside that latches over the sides of the pot so it doesn't get lost in the broth. Genius!

And upon closer inspection of the broth, it was chock full of all kinds of things, like longan nuts, goji berries, black cardamom pods, and of course chiles in the spicy one.  According to their website, the broths are made from the colonel's secret recipe of more than thirty ingredients.

For meats, we went with the lamb shoulder (pictured in the back) which was my favorite, and the pork belly. They slice the meat while frozen to get these paper thin slices which cook in a flash when you dip them in the simmering broth.

And being the hearty eaters that we are, we went for THREE kinds of noodles! In the white bowl are the Korean-style sweet potato noodles, as well as fresh noodles and the thicker Japanese-style udon in front. The leafy greens are called tong ho, and they have a really nice taste to them, but it's not one I could really verbalize. We looked it up and discovered it's chrysanthemum! Other items include tofu, luncheon pork (aka Spam), beef tendon, and a trio of meatballs (beef, fish, and lamb), and sweet corn on the cob which proved to be a bit difficult to eat once immersed in very hot broth. Everything was very fresh and came out beautifully presented, particularly the sliced meats.

Then there's this loaf of bread that's called a sesame pancake.  I got excited seeing it on the menu, because I thought it might be like the thin, flaky green onion pancakes that I adore. Clearly this wasn't that. The crispy parts on top with the seeds were delicious, and the fairly dense, bready, yeasty insides were plain, but good for sopping up the broth and saucy bits. But at 4 - 5 inches tall and about 8 inches wide, I'd hardly call this a pancake!

Apart from just having a great meal with friends and bonding over a shared love of food, what's so fun about a hot pot meal like this are the options. There's tons of them! And if you're not a huge fan of beef tendon like me, then you just avoid it and let the others enjoy it or get over there and try new things. It's just a fun way to share a meal, call it breaking bread or slurping soup together, it all brings us a little closer.  Food and friends, what more do you need?

Wu Chow Dim Sum

I finally made it to Wu Chow for dim sum! The downtown Chinese restaurant, from the Swift's Attic team, opened earlier this year on West 5th Street, six blocks west of Congress Avenue. While they are neighbors to the federal courthouse, there are touches of whimsy throughout that I appreciate. From the smiling dumpling faces on the sign board, to the goldfish bowl with a huge gold chain *bling* around it, to the chopstick wrappers, little touches to make you smile.

But more importantly, they take their dim sum very seriously, and they only serve it on Sunday mornings. They don't have the fun little carts with stacks of bamboo steamer baskets being pushed around the room, but rather an actual menu and wait staff service. Our team of four ordered a bunch of plates to share, and the overall verdict was eight thumbs up! The highlights are below.

The gai lan broccoli with oyster sauce was steamed perfectly; not overcooked and not bitter. The sauce had a touch of sweetness to it, and the crispy shallots were a good textural contrast.

The green onion or scallion pancake was much thicker and doughier than what any of us had seen before. It wasn't bad, just different, though I think I prefer the thinner, crispier, flakier versions better.

Char siu bao, or steamed pork buns with crispy chicken eggrolls with a gingery sauce. The bao were a perfect size and one of my favorites, and the eggrolls a nice switch up from the Americanized standard.

Shrimp fritters, which were nicely fried and not greasy.

The soup dumplings, which had a nice lighter dough and a very succulent broth that tasted like it has been simmered for hours. My close up picture where you really could see all the pleats didn't come out as well as I had hoped, so you'll have to make due here. Get the soup dumplings! $10, but worth it.

Turnip cakes with sausage; sometimes when you get these at other places they have a sheen of oil on them, but these did not.

One of the better sesame balls (or fritters) that I have had anywhere. Nice amount of red bean paste inside, but not TOO much, and like other items we had, devoid of grease. In the background are the egg custard tarts.

The dumplings had a nice sear to them.

Overall, I found the various sauces and broths to be full of flavor and not too salty, and fried items were not greasy. To me, these are the factors that help make each dish shine overall. The one disappointment was they were out of the Niman Ranch beef and chive turnover by around noon when we decided to add a few things to our order (and we got there at 11 am when they opened). After tax and tip, we each paid about $21, not that much more than you'd pay at a traditional dim sum spot. Plan ahead though, and make a reservation.

Finally, a great dim sum place in Austin that I don't have to go all the way up north for! What's the Chinese word for *hallelujah*?!

Chen Z Noodle House (Oak Hill)

I am SO excited that Chen Z Noodle House has opened in South Austin!  A little back story: the original Chen's is at Spicewood and 183, and it's a tiny hole in the wall. I don't go that often because it's so far for me (and because I have to decide between Chen's and Asia Market), however, after a doctor's appointment up north in early July, I stopped in for carry out. Behold, their amazing green onion pancake and the fermented black beans with the knife cut noodles! (I might have eaten most of the pancake while sitting in traffic on Mopac coming back south.)

I love these noodles! You can kind of tell from the photo they are long and flat, with a nice doughiness about them. I believe in Chinese they're known as dao xiao mian, but there are multitudes of Chinese noodles! Anyhow, about a week after 4th of July, I heard that a Chen's had opened in Oak Hill. WHAT??!  A friend went for lunch and texted me a pic of the menu -- more options than the original location! Subsequently I heard from three people that the food was quite fine, including Mary Makes Dinner, who got take out from Chen's. She lived in China for several months, so she knows her noodles and dumplings!

Finally an opportunity came to check out this new Chen's for myself and with two other well-educated food lovers! The restaurant  is located in the strip center at William Cannon and Hwy 290, the former T + N Vietnamese, in the same shopping center where Flores Mexican is (which will move out soon for a new spot on William Cannon, and Via 313 Pizza will move in -- yay!). Construction abounds, however.

I've always thought Chen's made amazing green onion pancakes, and the new Chen's still delivers! Light and crisp, flaky and a touch chewy in the center with a very mild green onion taste....I could eat these for days.

The first item on the menu board was spicy cold noodles which intrigued us. These fat noodles with cucumber had a lovely flavor of sesame (kind of like tahini) and a distinctive mustard taste. There was also a bit of chile heat to the dish, which I think is vegetarian (no pieces of meat, let's put it that way). And for $6, a steal.

We got the spicy lamb buns and the black bean noodles. When I've had the lamb skewers (which they do have on the menu at the new location) at the original location, they've been nice chunks of meat with a decided szechuan peppercorn flavor (it's hard to miss the tingling sensation in the mouth that one often experiences with szechuan peppercorns). These had a cumin taste rather than the peppercorns (which are actually related to the citrus family, not an actual peppercorn!), and the meat was in smaller, more shredded pieces. Still good though!

If you are vegetarian, don't let the name "black bean noodles" fool you, as there is pork in the dish. It  normally comes with a different noodle (possibly the ones from the spicy cold noodle dish?), but we asked for them with the knife cut noodles, and they had no problem making the substitution. I love the savoriness of the sauce, with the ground pork and fermented black beans. (See why I posted the other picture of the knife cut noodles? You can't actually see the noodles in this one!) I really should try some of their other noodle dishes on my future visits, but I am kinda addicted to these.

And the pan-fried dumplings, which I always prefer over steamed because I like how they get crispy on one side. This was a huge plate of them, though they're not very big. But the dough consistency was perfect, and really tasty with the dipping sauce. The chile paste/condiment on the table had sesame seeds in it too, and a little of that added to the dipping sauce (soy-based) kicked it up nicely.

You can BYOB; we asked when we entered, and they said it was okay. You order at the counter, and the woman who took our order was very nice, as was the runner who brought out the dishes. Don't expect much from the decor at Chen Z's; I think it's entirely left over from the previous occupant. They could certainly stand to put some pictures on the walls or something. But it's the food that counts, and it's a winner, as are the prices. The three of us ate for a total of $39, and had some leftovers. Now since I was there, I've had one friend mention to me that she had a reaction to the MSG in the noodle soup, but I know she has a bit of a delicate system. I don't have reactions to it, but if it's not your thing, you may want to ask before ordering. I can't wait to go back and try other things on the menu!