Tag Archives: tempura

Bonchon Chicken, Allston Revisited

Posted on by
Reply

Our favorite place for KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) is BonChon Chicken. We have been so many times (BMH reviews of BonChon, Allston - Revisited), included times have not blogged about because they were our secret chicken fix trips.

The hand-brushed, piece-by-piece twice fried chicken is coated in a soy garlic or spicy sauce. Our favorite is still the soy garlic sauce. The sweet and savory sauce is addictive.

BonChon recently opened a second location in Massachusetts at the old Kelly’s Roast Beef at Harvard Ave in Allston. The second location is a little bit smaller then the Allston location, does not have sushi, but does have Korean BBQ. We’ll have to visit the other location soon. The Korean fried chicken chain has locations in New York, Jersey and Virginia. Internationally, Bonchon can be found in Phillipines, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore.

There were groups of sake bombers and the restaurant serves Soju and different Soju cocktails.

The Allston location has much more student visitors because of the Boston University and Boston College area and the atmosphere is quite vibrant. There always is a small line or wait time, but well worth it. Hopefully, with the other location, the new location will be just as popular.

In fact, we had a mini sighting. We believe our group sat next to Jean of Extra Petite and her boyfriend Nick. My older sister, who is just more fashion savvy than I, thought she recognized Jean from the blog. Sis has been a long time reader and loves that Extra Petite focuses on affordable business fashion, casual styles and stylish outfits for petite women. We also love her Youtube vids.

BonChon serves four sizes, small (10 pieces of strips/wings or 5 drumsticks), medium (20 pieces of strips/wings or 10 drumsticks), large (30 pieces of strips/wings or 15 drumsticks) and x-large (40 pieces of strips/wings or 20 drumsticks) at $9.95, $18.95, $26.95 and $33.95, respectively.

We usually do a half an half order of the strips (the extras are awesome the next day for mini chicken sandwiches or for lunch). Then we order a full soy and garlic wing order, no spicy because we love the soy garlic wings.

The wings retain all the crispness, tender flavor and are really a problem, an addiction if you will. The Hot Sauce, well it is HOT. Our eyes water a bit, and once the tongue gets acclimated to the heat, it is manageable. We cut the heat with the coleslaw and pickled daikon. In fact, on June 30th BonChon held its first WINGS Contest. Ten participants attempted to eat 50 SPICY WINGS per person in 15 minutes. We couldn’t do it, that’s for sure.

Our friend’s father agreed that the BonChon wings are the best of all the offerings (as well as the calamari and fried shrimp!) We really enjoyed the fried squid which was lightly battered, airy, perfectly fried and served with ponzu sauce. Very enjoyable. The fried shrimp was also well done.

The chicken strips were our second favorite. The meat is thin, flavorful and coated in the perfect amount of batter and sauce.

Finally, we had a small order of the drumsticks. Although they are popular among other diners, but we think the super meaty drums are good, they just do not have as much crispy skin as we would wish!

The pork belly shioyaki ($7.95) was our least favorite. The broiled slices of garlic–marinated pork belly was a bit tough and not as fatty as we would have hoped. They were buried under green and regular onions.

The Kaki Fry are fried battered oysters topped with okonomiyaki sauce ($7.95). The oysters were well coated and had a nice crunch, however was not as briney and ocean flavored as we hoped.  The oysters themselves were Blue Points.BonChon’s house fried rice with  is some of the best ($9.95). The chili spice, scrambled eggs and vegetables in a lightly stir-fried rice is well balanced, flavorful and really delicious with the KFC. 

 

We can’t wait to hear about the outcome of BonChon Allston’s first wings contest. We plan on visiting again soon for our own mini-wings eating, soy garlic only though!

Bon Chon on Urbanspoon

Mei Mei Street Kitchen, Boston

Posted on by
2

Mei Mei Street Kitchen serves up locally sourced Chinese-American food. MMSK is brand new to the food truck scene and we are happy their entrance. Mei Mei (little sister in Chinese) is a family run operation offering farm fresh, Asian inspired street food. We have often fantasized about a family owned, sisters run Vietnamese food joint to feature our mom’s  Fresh Spring Rolls Gỏi Cuốn Chay.

The white, yellow and blue MMSK truck with eat mei emblazoned on the front hood was parked in front of the BPL (where BMH last revisited Staff Meal). In addition to the library, MMSK also rotates near Stuart Street and Boston University.

The collective forces of the Brookline-bred Li siblings is quite impressive and their backgrounds include experiences as a line cook, entrepreneur and a MBA, restaurant manager and bloggers (check out Mei and Irene’s old blog Family Styles).

Andy Li created Mei Mei Group (I hope they make t-shirts and sell miso mayo by the container full), but sisters Margaret and Irene “wo”manned the truck when we visited.

Mei was super friendly, chatting about their origins, the menu and ingredients. I loved Irene’s funked out hair do, half shaved and similar to Lindsay Pavano (her cover of Trey Songz’s Say Ahh). The sisters’ efforts to get each patron’s name made me feel the sense of community.

MMSK’s rotating menu is filled with dishes that have some homage to Chinese cuisine in including pork, scallions, ginger, panko and will continually evolve similar to Staff Meal.

One of MMSK’s philosophies is to support local farms. We were impressed with the Google Map of Mei Mei Street Kitchen’s Farms, Partners, and Producers.

We couldn’t help but pick up a few of the vanilla and five spice macarons because of our well documented macarons obsession.

Our first tasting of Mei Mei Street Kitchen included their fried pork ball, The Double Awesome, a breakfast burrito featuring scallion pancakes as the burrito skin, cheese and a poached egg and the beer batter tempuraed fiddleheads.

We have a weakness for tempura items and could not help but add a last-minute order of little sister Irene’s Greenway Mobile Food Fest award-winning tempura fiddleheads.

The beer battered, foraged fiddlehead ferns were by far my favorite of all their dishes. The layers of flavor from the beer and light, miso scented mayo were so delicious. Although the $5 fiddleheads were still in season, they were available only for a short time. This sense of urgency made me savor the fried goodness even more.

We hope the miso mayonnaise is slathered on EVERYTHING. We also hope there is another iteration of a tempura battered vegetable with a side of miso mayo and that it will be a permanent fixture on the MMSK menu. We would go back for this stuff alone.

The deep-fried porky rice ball ($2) was an Asian version of the aranchini. The golf ball sized rice ball was a nice texture and we could smell the scent and enjoyed the taste of the sage butter.The rice ball was dusted with a crunchy panko breadcrumb and we really enjoyed the center, stuffed with a nugget of flavorful pulled pork. We just wished the pork ball was a bit larger.

The Double Awesome, scallion pancake melt featured two perfectly poached eggs, Vermont cheddar, and spring greens pesto for $7. The yolks were a rich and perfect consistency and went well with the pancake. However, we really wish the scallion flavor was stronger and that we had the option to sample just one pancake. We would have enjoyed the option because the egg, cheese and pancake combination was tasty, but quite heavy and filling.

Our macaron was light and the buttercream was quite rich and we noticed the hint five spice. Looking forward to trying the almond and green tea macarons that have been reported to be in rotation and we hope Mei Mei comes up with other Asian inspired macaron flavors. We suggest mandarin orange or kumquat, egg custard or even red bean buttercream flavors.

Can not wait to see what else MMSK has in store and nosh on their renditions of Asian inspired street foods. Their items could easily be featured at Myers+Chang (BMH review of Myers+Chang), however MMSK’s prices are a fraction of Joanne Chang’s premium.

Mei Mei Street Kitchen Food Truck on Urbanspoon

Douzo, Back Bay, Boston Revisited (Lunch)

Posted on by
Reply

Douzo has won numerous local awards and each time I have been here for lunch, dinner or take away, the sushi and Japanese dishes are fresh and consistent ( (BMH’s dinner review of Douzo).

Lovely orchid arrangement

Douzo’s bar area is always filled and I particularly enjoyed sitting at the sushi bar watching other diner’s dishes are assembled. The chefs are nimble and efficient with their creations.

Every time I have sushi, I am reminded that I have on my list to watch the food documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

It was nice to survey the variety of sushi grade salmon, clam, octopus, yellowtail and other fresh fish.

My friend who is observing an alkaline diet (balancing internal PH by eating less acidic ingredients) and had the Tenzaru, cold buckwheat noodle, dipping sauce and with side of shrimp tempura, tempura broccoli and acorn squash for $8.25. The cold noodles had a perfect texture and the tempura was fresh and crunchy.

I had the Sushi Special Lunch with a variety of tuna, salmon, razor clam, sea bass, shrimp and a seaweed covered tuna roll for $9.75. My favorites were the tender light orange salmon and the pink tuna. The next time I dine at Douzo for lunch, I will get the makimono or bento box.

Douzo on Urbanspoon

Basho Japanese Brasserie, Fenway, Boston Revisited

Posted on by
Reply

After a great visit to Basho Japanese Brasserie, Douzo‘s sister restaurant, we were looking forward to returning for some robata and sushi. Basho means “a place where things happen” in Japanese and the restaurant would be a great place for cocktails or a private event. 

We sat on the lounge versus the main dining room and enjoyed the drop lighting. However, The televisions along the side of the bar and low volumed club music were slightly distracting. (Don’t get me wrong, I love a little Bob Sinclair‘s World Hold On, more when I am in a celebration versus zen mode). Next time, I will request to be seated in the dining room’s lime green booths.

House Green tea for $1.50.

Vegetable Yaki Udon, stir-fried noodle with button mushrooms and cabbage. The chicken had nice grill marks and was doused with a bit of sauce. I really enjoyed the balance of the semi-soft thin yellow noodles and lightly crisp vegetables for $14.25.

We came to Basho specifically for the robata grilled items, where the chef grills freshly skewered meat, seafood or vegetables over fire. The chicken thigh for $3.50 was juicy, tender and my favorite (second from the left). We also enjoyed the Tsukune, seasoned ground chicken for $4.00, Pork Toro braised pork belly with scallion for $6.95 and chicken breast for $3.50.

The Pork Toro braised pork belly was well grilled, juicy and had bountiful areas of flavorful fat. The fattiness was cut by the with fresh slivers of scallion.

For sushi, we had the Spicy Yellowtail for $6.50, Shiitake Mushroom Tempura for $5.00 and Philadelphia* smoke salmon, cucumber, scallion and cream cheese $6.50, all great quality.

The torched salmon with tomato and jalapeno was very artful.

The acidity of the tomato and the heat of the jalapeno added layers of flavor to the torched salmon.

Basho Japanese Brasserie on Urbanspoon

Douzo, Back Bay, Boston

Posted on by
Reply

Sushi is a staple of our regime, directly influenced by The Story of Sushi An Unlikely Saga of Raw Fish and Rice by Trevor Corson (author of The Secret Life of Lobsters).

Douzo, is the sister restaurant to Basho and Fugakyu and is always consistent in quality and service. The attractive hostesses and suit wearing managers are always welcoming and the servers are always very accommodating and attentive. The ambiance is sleek and we really enjoy the tiers of lighting throughout the restaurant.

We always order a warming green tea ($1.50) and a house garden salad with the ginger dressing for $6.00. The mesclun salad has little bits of fried onion, cucumber, fresh cherry tomatoes and we love their rendition of a the ginger dressing.

Our friend enjoyed a seaweed salad with a sprinkling of sesame and lemon.

Oftentimes, there are mini-celebrity sightings at Douzo. One of my absolute business heroes, Eliot Tatelman of Jordan’s Furniture (now part of Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway) with his signature ponytail sat at the sushi bar.

Our friend enjoyed a sashimi dinner for $28. The rice noodles were covered with slices of fresh clam, tuna, salmon, yellowtail, herring and sweet egg. Her favorites were the salmon and the clams more rubbery texture was her least favorite. IWe enjoyed the soft, sweet egg and oceany, fish flavor of the herring.

The decorative cucumber flower was nestled next to the brown rice spicy yellowtail maki $6.75, brown rice sweet potato tempura maki $6.00 and brown rice shitake mushroom maki.

The brown rice spicy yellowtail maki has the best flavor with tempura flake incorporated throughout the yellowtail center and the rice has thinly sliced green onions.

The brown rice shitake tempura maki has a woodsy flavor and is very satisfying.

Usually we just grab a few of the melty white mints covered in a thin layer of chocolate in the front entrance. However, on one visit, we enjoyed the green tea ice cream with whip cream and chocolate sauce.

Over the years, we have tasted variety of specialty maki from the menu and my favorites include: Spider Roll (soft shell crab tempura, avocado, cucumber, tobiko & spicy mayo), Torch Roll (avocado & cucumber wrapped with seared yellowtail, black tobiko, yuzu sauce), Back Bay Roll (asparagus, cucumber, avocado wrapped with seared tuna, wasabi, tobiko and wasabi sauce), Red Spider Roll (soft shell crab wrapped with tuna, tobiko and unagi sauce) and Dragon Roll (sweet potato tempura wrapped with eel and unagi sauce).

We have debated if white rice or the brown rice option (additional charge) is better, and we think both are fine, however the white rice really allows ones to focus on the roll’s flavor versus adding the additional brown rice flavor and texture.

Douzo on Urbanspoon