Boiling Point - Stinky Goodness, In A Personal Hot Pot Form (Monterey Park)

Boiling Point

This is a restaurant I should have written about long time ago, though as many of you know, my blogging queue is sadly growing by the day. In regards to Boiling Point, it's a Taiwanese restaurant that specializes in personal hot pots, similar to the ones found at night markets in Taiwan. Having grown up in Taipei, and my yearly return visits back to the Motherland, visiting one of the many night markets in Taipei has become commonplace in my itinerary. One of the more popular food stands, especially during the winter seasons are ones that offer personal hot pot like the ones served at Boiling Point.

Lunch Special Sign



Part of the Lunch Special (Old Point and Shoot Shot)

Though the prices will never be as cheap (or nearly as good) as the ones I've had in Taiwan, the lunch special at Boiling Point is quite a bargain for the amount of food given. For $8.99, you're given your choice of hot pot, choice of rice/vermicelli, and a choice of soft drink or tea (no refill). Dinner time prices are $9.99 per pot, without the soft drink. Still, a pretty decent price.

Sauces (From Left: Chili, Spicy Bean Paste, Garlic Soy Paste)

From the self serve sauce bar, you're given the choice of three sauces: chili sauce (normal, yet adds a nice additional spice to the hot pot and various cooked ingredients), spicy bean paste (a good alternative to those that can't handle the spice of the chili sauce with a subtle soy bean flavor), and finally, my favorite, the garlic infused soy paste (slightly thicker than soy sauce). All the sauces adds an interesting flavor to the hot pot ingredients, I'd suggest trying each to see which of the 3 you'd prefer the most, or just mix 'n match.

Pork Blood Rice Cake

Boiling Point offers a wide variety of a la carte side dishes to add on to the personal hot pot. From various frozen dumplings, vegetable, and meat. On this visit, we went with pork blood rice cakes, one of my personal favorites, though I personally know it will not appeal to many out there. Now, onto the main attraction, the personal hot pot...

House Special Hot Pot

Now, Boiling Point does offer a few various hot pots. From vegetarian pot, seafood pot, to a Korean Kimchi pot, there are about 7-8 different ones to choose from. However, in my numerous trips to Boiling Point, the ONLY pot I've ordered was the House Special Hot Pot. With the numerious ingredients (quail eggs, pork intestines, pork, tomatoes, pork blood, and the most important item, 4 generous portions of my favorite stinky tofu amongst the items) in the pot, along with either rice or vermicelli, it's quite a hearty meal in this recent cold weather.

Stinky tofu, especially with its name, can be hard to take in, as it was even shown on Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods in its Taiwan episode. However, like with durian, moldy cheese, and even beer, it's an acquired taste. For those that are willing to try new things, disregard the smell of the restaurant (Yes, Boiling Point does stink a bit like Stinky Tofu) and try out the house special pot. However, for those that are less inclined, there are other options for you, without the stink! The pots comes in various spice levels. From mild to extra spicy, there's always a pot for everyone. Although I rarely would crave Boiling Point, eating here would remind me of eating at one of those Taiwanese night market stands, especially with the Taiwanese pop music in the background. Ah....good times!

*Note* There is also a Boiling Point located in Hacienda Heights.

Boiling Point
153 W. Garvey Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91755
(626) 288-9876

Bright Pearl - Ehhhh, not a bright idea to dine here! (Toronto, ONT)

Bright Pearl in Toronto Chinatown

After realizing the day before that we landed in Toronto in the mist of a long holiday weekend, we were faced with closed shops and restaurants. So much for breakfast at St. Lawrence Market, thus it's we had to alter our itinerary and head towards Chinatown. Hey, as we all know, Chinese people never close their shops for major holidays. As predicted, Chinatown was packed with people and we were ready to get some grub. What's better than some dim sum, right?

O~ Canada

One shocking display that I was met with upon arrival, and sadly didn't take a picture of was 3-4 people cooking various dishes on portable stoves in the lobby. I mean, WTF?? We were too hungry to worry about that as our hostess led us to our table, and it was time to eat!

Fried Tofu (炸豆腐)



Glutenous Rice (糯米雞)



Jellyfish (海蜇皮)



BBQ Bun (叉燒包)



Shrimp Dumplings (蝦餃)



Siu Mai (燒賣)



MaLai Cake (馬來糕)

One thing I noticed immediately about the Bright Pearl was that it was lacking Chinese people, as most of the crowd were mostly Caucasian. Now, even though I'm used to hordes of Chinese folks fighting in line with me at dim sum, I was way too hungry to care at this point. I wish my intuition got the better of me. Of all the dishes shown above, nothing was memorable, in fact, some were pretty bad. The Ma Lai cake was dry, the fried tofu was quite bland, the glutenous rice was probably the WORST version I've ever had (WTF was with that presentation?)! I could probably find faults with all of the dishes shown. What's even more astounding was the final tab presented to us at the end. Our 7 dishes cost more than 40CAD, which with tax/tip ended up being about 15CAD (~$13/person). For subpar, tasteless dim sum, that was definitely a ripoff. In fact, the dim sum here couldn't even compared to the shack in the San Gabriel Valley called Dim Sum Express.

I really hate to bag this place and sound like a heinous food blogger, thus I had reservations about blogging this place, but our experience was quite bad. Even with 3 hungry stomachs going in, none of the dishes satisfied us. It was quite disappointing, along with the rest of the Chinatown in Toronto. The streets might be large and clean, but when the food was piss poor, who cares about cleanliness? Bright Pearl, and Toronto Chinatown, you might have been open, but you truly failed me!

Final Rating: 3 out of 10 (AVOID!)

Bright Pearl Seafood
346 Spadina Avenue
Toronto, ON M5T 2G2, Canada
(416) 979-1103

Ning Jie - Wonderful lamb dishes, minus the service (San Gabriel) *CLOSED*

After reading the recent LA Times article and hearing recommendation from my friend, I was fairly anxious in trying out Ning Jie, especially being a fan of lamb meat.

Roasted Lamb Leg (small order) - $25

Upon our arrival, our friend already has the first dish ordered for us, the roasted lamb leg. The flavors of the lamb were accentuated by the use of various spices (ie: cumin), but yet, the great flavors of the lamb meat remained. A solid lamb dish, very nice.

(Top: Chicken frames - $5, Bottom: Chicken Heart & gizzard $1/skewer)

The chicken frames, heart, and gizzard were all very nice, and the price for each dish/skewer was amazing. The frame, were fairly meaty, and similar to the chicken wing had excellent flavor and juicy at the same time. I found no issues with the heart and gizzard skewers and could probably have ate 2 of each myself. Both were excellent dishes that would go great with beer. (Ning Jie does not have liquor license however, but YMMV with BYOB!)

Lamb Skin Jelly (羊皮凍) - $5.99

I've had similar dishes in the past made with other animal meat (chicken, I believe), but it's the first time I had the lamb jelly. On a hot summer day in the SGV, this dish was welcomed by our group. Flavorful, with bits of lamb meat, along with the jelly, it was quite enjoyable.

Top: " Special Lamb Bones" - $5.99, Bottom: Egg & Spinach - $4.99

The "special lamb bones" dish was simply lamb pieces in a meat broth. Simple, no frill dish that was quickly gobbled up by the group. In addition, we were recommended to order the Egg & Spinach dish. It was a simple dish, and although tasty, it's not worth getting it on a repeat visit.

Beef "Pancakes" (牛肉餡餅) - $5.99/3pcs

THE must order item here and it didn't disappoint. The meat within the "pancake" was juicy and flavorful and the item was easily shareable amongst the group. Although I've had this dish in the past at places like A&J, this was one of the better ones I've had. Delicious!

Sadly, although the food we consumed were quite good, the service here was pretty atrocious. Although the aforementioned LA Times article was the likely culprit, to not get any service for the first 20mins and lacking any water for the first 30-40mins was pretty bad, and we did, half of our group received warm water. On a summer day in SGV, are you kidding me?? To add insult to injury, one of the lady (not sure if she was an employee) came in and read newspaper behind the counter while the other lone waitress were running in and out without catching a breath. Although the chances are I will return to Ning Jie for the quality lamb dishes and the beef pancakes, I think I'll avoid this place for the time being as the meal was not worth the horrible wait times. This is something that could be fixed pretty easily, let's hope they'll improve as time goes along, as I guessed at least half of the patrons came due to the LA Times article.

*Note* Cash Only

Ning Jie
413 S. Mission Dr.
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 576-2588

Mama's Lu Dumpling House (一口福) - Bad Grammar, but solid food (Monterey Park)

Outside Mama's Lu

Ah, being behind on food blogging and photo editing. It seems that some food bloggers are better than others, but sadly, I'm pretty behind.


On one raining evening in the SGV, I met up with Matt of Mattatouille, Christine of folie a choisauce, Mike of Pepsi Monster, and Jackie of Citynitz for a Northern Chinese "doughy" dinner at Mama's Lu, a place recommended to me by a friend that I had yet to try. Since I was the lone FOB, *ahem* I mean Chinese speaker of the group, I took the liberty of ordering for the group. Seriously, shouldn't this place be called "Mama Lu's" instead of "Mama's Lu?"

Menu

Green Onion Cake (蔥油餅) - $1.99

We started off with 2 orders of their famous green onion cake. Although it's one of the most simplest thing on any menu, especially at a Northern Chinese style restaurant, I've had some pretty horrible green onion cakes in my days (soggy, oily, you name it). The version found here is simply delicious. Crispy, flavorful, and at only $1.99 to boot, it's hard to beat this version based on taste and price. Call it Chinese Pizza or whatever, it's just plain delicious. Probably my favorite thing found at Mama's Lu.

Shanghai Rice Cake (上海炒年糕) - $5.99

House Special Fried Rice (楊州炒飯) - $6.99

The Shanghai rice cakes were similar to what my mom would make for me at home. The rice cakes, stir fried with some Chinese bok choi, pork strips, and other seasonings were pretty authentic and delicious (and yes, A LOT better than the version found at Din Tai Fung). The house special fried rice was ordered probably due to my love of fried rice. Eaten with ketchup, with hot sauce, even eaten plain, I love fried rice. Heck, I'm sure I'll even like the fried rice found at Panda Express (note: this writer has never stepped foot inside a Panda Express, but sadly has eaten at PF Chang's). With pieces of carrots, peas, Chinese sausages (臘腸), and shrimp, the fried rice was pretty damn solid.

Juicy Pork Dumplings, 10pcs (小籠湯包) - $4.50

Again, going back to my previous post about Din Tai Fung, for something $3 less than DTF, you really can find something as tasty, but a lot better for your wallet. A basket of juicy dumplings (XLB) should not cost close to $8. I enjoyed the soup dumplings here, but the skin is slightly thicker than the version found at DTF. It's a minimal difference, at least for me, and should not deter most of you to try the XLB here.

Fish Dumplings, 8pcs (魚餃) - $4.99

Honestly, I preferred the fish dumplings at Kingburg a lot more. The version here, at Mama's Lu was slightly watery, and bland. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't as good as I had hoped.....

Fried Pork Bun, 6pcs (生煎包) - $5.50

Ever since Noodle House closed down in Arcadia early last year (one of the last meals I had with my ex), I've been searching long and hard for some good fried pork bun. From Dean Sin World, to Kingburg, heck, even the ones at Shau May, I've yet to be satisfied, and sadly, the version here wasn't up to par. I miss the buttery taste of the dough and the juicy filling that awaits to be eaten. While the fried pork bun wasn't exactly bad here, it was just OK.

Pan Fried Dumplings, 8pcs (鍋貼) - $4.50

While the potstickers were pretty solid here, I think I still prefer the version at Dean Sin World slightly more.

In the end, while there were some slight missed during the dinner at Mama's Lu, I was generally satisfied with the items we ordered. As mentioned earlier, I especially love the green onion cake and the house special fried rice. I went back after this dinner and tried the kung pao chicken, and it was actually pretty good. Look, at under $10/person with tax and tip, it's really hard to knock a place too much for their food, and it did not disappoint. Overall, it's a place I enjoyed and plan to make repeat visits. There may be better dumpling places out there, or even better place for fried rice, but based on location, price, and food, it definitely has earned a "solid" rating from me.

*Note* I gotta love my pictures from my old Nikon point and shoot.....*sarcasm*

Final Grade

• Taste: 4 out of 5
• Decor: 3.5 out of 5 (gotta love these LCD TVs at these Chinese places around SGV)
  
• Service: 3.5 out of 5

Mama's Lu Dumpling House
153 E. Garvey Avenue
Monterey Park, CA 91775
626-307-5700

*Note* Close Wednesdays
Hours of Operation
Thurs-Tues: 10:30am -3:00pm, 5:00pm - 9:00pm

Kingburg Kitchen - One of the better NRM deals in town! (San Gabriel)

Outside Kingburg Kitchen

After getting my Canon dSLR just days before my Urasawa dinner, I've stopped using my P&S camera (other than the Jitlada dinner), and subsequently, I gave it to my mom for her to use. However, after going through a few folders of my old back logged pictures shot by my point and shoot camera, I've stumbled upon some pictures from my go to spot for beef noodle soup (NRM) in the San Gabriel Valley, Kingburg Kitchen.

Sign states: Order, Make, Wrap, Pan Fry (re: Pan Fried Bao)

A hearty bowl of Beef Noodle Soup

After trying the various beef noodle soup around town (Kam Hong, A&J, Noodle King, Dai Ho, Ding's Garden (2 of them), and even at Cotton Candy), there were always something that I wasn't too happy about with the bowl of noodles I ate. In a way, my cravings of a bowl of beef noodle soup has never been met. Sadly, even after Kingburg, I found there's still no perfect bowl of NRM on this side of the Pacific, yet, this was the best of the best here.

To go in depth about NRM, ramen, or any bowl of noodle soup, the broth is key. My friends, the broth for this bowl of NRM at Kingburg is terrific! It's savory, rich, and not too salty. It definitely has a lot of flavor. The chunks of the beef used here was very soft and tender, one of the better ones I've eaten. Sadly, the only real thing lacking from this bowl of noodle soup were the noodles themselves. The noodle here was not bad, but it just doesn't stand out. I've longed for some with more of a texture, or what us Taiwanese people would say "Q Q." In fact, I almost wished I could smuggled the noodles from Kam Hong and dump it into the soup here for the perfect NRM! (So yes, the best noodles IMO are found at Kam Hong. Their knife cut noodles are terrific, but sadly, their soup can be a bit bland). In the end, the soup, with a side of baby bok choy, mustard green and green onion completes what I call one of the best NRM in the SGV. Yet, this is just part I of the combo meal offered here.

Dumplings (w/cabbage, pork and shrimp)

Part II of the combo meal were the 5 pieces of dumplings chosen from a list of filling types. For the 3 seafood, or the fish dumplings, the combo becomes $7, for all other choices, it's $6 with the bowl of noodles. Honestly, this IS a recession dinner. Cheap, delicious, and causal. The dumplings were made fresh to order and the fillings were generous, if not overflowing. It's one of the few times I didn't need any soy sauce/chilli/vinegar to add to the taste as the flavors from the filling were far from bland. I'd even say this is probably the best place you could go, solely for dumplings.

There were definitely a few minus points about Kingburg. I'm not a huge fan of their pan fried bao, one of their specialties. The flavor and the skins just don't quite match up to what I have in mind to a good pan fried bao. I wish I had a picture of it, but it was from my pre picture taking days. In addition, the server can be slightly pushy with the various products here, so if you only want the combo, then stand your ground! There will be a language barrier, but as what gas.tron.o.my stated, "pantomiming works like a charm." If that doesn't work, call me out and I'll eat here with you! LOL

Props to Tony C. of Sinosoul who introduced me to this place. Not only is this place close to my house, I've missed this place on my drive to Golden Deli and other restaurants on Las Tunas in the past. This might be a little hole in the wall in a strip mall that features El Pollo Loco, but Kingburg Kitchen shouldn't be missed. Order the $6 or $7 combo, so your stomach AND your wallet will thank you.

Final Grade

• Taste: 4.5 out of 5
• Decor: 3 out of 5
• Service: 3 out of 5

Kingburg Kitchen
715 W. Las Tunas Drive
San Gabriel, CA 91776
626-282-2386