Sichuan Brunch in Belmont

HI foodies, how do you like the previous post on Shanghai brunch? I hope you love brunch as I do, because... we are gonna do Sichuan (which is spelt as Szechuan in many Chinese restaurants) brunch today!!

Shangri-La, located at 149 Belmont Street, Belmont, MA, 02478, is the place my friends and I would go to when we crave for a traditional Sichuan brunch. Be aware that they are usually super busy on weekends. Here are the dishes we ordered:

Roast beef in soy sauce (cold dish): perfectly cooked beef, chewy but not too chewy, not like the well-done steak nor the soft stewed beef.

Roast Beef in Soy Sauce

Beef noodle soup: tender beef and soft and thick noodles with flavorful soup.

Beef Noodle Soup

Five flavor beef with pancake: I don’t know for sure if it has exact five flavor, but definitely tasty beef and crispy pancake.

Five Flavor Beef with Pancake

Steamed pork chop with rice flour: a traditional Sichuan dish that not every Chinese restaurant has to offer. A mixed flavor with soft pork chop and sticky rice—strongly recommend it if you have never tried.

Steamed Pork Chop with Rice Flour

Shanghai Brunch in Allston

In Shanghai, people there have their own brunch style, just like Cantonese have dim sum for brunch.

Shanghai Gate, located at 204 Harvard Ave, Allston, MA 02134, is the place that I’d go to when I crave for a Shanghai style brunch, not only because of its authentic Shanghai food, but also its decoration and setting that remind me of the old Shanghai.

Graphic on their wall, sooo Shanghainese!

For brunch at Shanghai Gate. I always order Dou Jiang (soymilk, and you can choose sweet or non-sweet) with You Tiao (Deep-fried dough sticks), which is perfect combo -- please see the reason as you scroll down :)

Dou Jiang (soymilk)

You Tiao (Deep-fried dough sticks)

The reason why they are perfect with each other is that traditionally, Chinese put the You Tiao into Dou Jiang, wait till You Tiao is soaked a little bit, and then eat Yao Tiao and drink Dou Jiang.

Xiao Long Bao (steamed pork bun/Shanghai soup dumplings) is something that you cannot miss. There is a special way to eat steamed pork buns:

Step 1: have a tiny bite of the bun peel

Step 2: drink all the soup inside the bun (be careful, the soup is HOT!)

Step 3: put some vinegar into the bun through the tiny bite

Step 4: enjoy your steamed pork bun!

Xiao Long Bao (steamed pork bun/Shanghai soup dumplings)

Dim Sum in Chinatown

Hei La Moon, located at 88 Beach Street, Boston, MA 02111, is one of my favorite dim sum places in Boston. It has huge space with big tables, sometimes filled with people chatting loud, all of which remind me of home. For our family, we get together once or twice a week, share stories and often laugh out loud at dim sum tables.

Here are some of my favorite dim sum.

Shrimp Hargow: it is large and the shrimp and vegetable in it are quite flesh, a must-order dim sum :)

Shrimp Hargow

Pork Shiu Mai: it has tender pork and moist shrimp, packed with flavor and tightly wrapped.

Pork Shiu Mai

Steam Chicken Feet: steamed marinated chicken feet with black bean sauce, personal favorite! Strongly recommend it if you haven’t tried chicken feet and are adventurous like many of my American friends :)

Steam Chicken Feet

Sweet Egg Cake: soft and lightly sweet, and it will melt immediately when you take a bite, giving you a luxurious taste of egg cake

Sweet Egg Cake

Dim Sum First!

I think before introducing all the different kinds of Chinese cuisines beyond dim sum, I should probably talk about dim sum first—one of the most popular Cantonese food.

In my lovely hometown Toishan, a small city of Canton in southeast China, the lifestyle is kinda laid back. On weekends, I’d wake up at around 11 a.m. and then go with my family to enjoy dim sum for brunch till 2p.m., which starts one relaxing day.

Here are two simple tips when you go to a Chinese restaurant for dim sum. One is that dim sum is traditionally served with tea. So please try not order iced water unless you really need it. The other is that the whole theme of dim sum is steamed food. So you could stick to the carts and don’t order fried rice if you really want to try some authentic dim sum.

I will introduce some good dim sum places in Boston, as well as some of my favorite dim sum in the next post. Please stay tuned!