Handmade dumplings come in vegetable ($5.95), pork and cabbage ($5.25), pork and leek ($5.95), and pork-leek-shrimp ($5.95). I worked through most of them, and none of the fillings were strong enough to overcome the heavy steamed dough of the dumplings. On the other hand, the “open-mouth dumplings” ($3.95/five; $6.95/10) are the same dough and pork-ginger filling you’ll find in anyone’s Peking ravioli, but with an elongated shape — think flattened tubes with some filling showing through at each end — somehow pan-fried into the best Peking ravioli I’ve had in years. Smoked rabbit ($4.95/small; $7.95/large) tastes not unlike any other red-cooked cold appetizer — the filling of a “Chinese hamburger,” say, with a light tea-smoke job — but there were a lot of small bony pieces. Chicken wings ($3.95/small; $6.25/large) are not on the menu for the most discerning Chinese-food enthusiasts, but there were four whole ones decently deep-fried without as much five-spice powder as I prefer. Vegetable rolls ($2.95) were a couple of homemade spring rolls — greasy, but with a fresh-vegetable filling that didn’t overplay the cabbage.
So what didn’t impress? Well, the low point was probably that order of “salt & peppered squid” ($10.95), a Hong Kong dish that usually gets serious treatment if offered at all. The squid was fresh enough, but the heavy breading wasn’t even fried out of flouriness, and all the spice was in a dribble of chili flakes and scallions applied on top. Sautéed string beans ($7.95) had the same chili-scallion sauce and too much oil. An order of plain fried rice ($6.95) was white with a few cubed vegetables and enough oil for three such orders. Barely edible.
Duck crispy noodle ($7.95) wasn’t very generous with the duck meat, and even the broccoli and tomato were kind of tasteless. An eight-delight noodle dish ($7.95) had, among its delights, shrimp, chicken, broccoli, and stir-fried cucumber (better than it sounds), but it was also rather bland on its bed of thin noodles.
New Taste of Asia is a small place, but the decoration is unusual. The back has a kind of roofed effect, as though our tiny storefront space were actually an inner courtyard. On the wall are two realistic and somewhat sentimental portraits of Chinese beauties. I’ve never seen this kind of Chinese oil painting before. When a little music leaks out of the kitchen, it’s country and western. Through etched glass one gets some idea of the kitchen work, but the clearest view of the chef is among flowers in a color photograph. Look closer, and you’ll see that the flowers are all handmade from vegetables. His wife is the only waitress, and she is friendly, accurate, and nonjudgmental.
The tea is weak jasmine. Plain white rice ($1) is the only order the waitress missed in four tries. When I did get it, it was quite good and aromatic. There are four unusual desserts, but I settled for fortune cookies. The atmosphere is crowded, and often with mostly Asian or Asian-American customers.
New Taste of Asia | 1393 Beacon St, Brookline | Sun-Thurs, 11:30 am-10 pm; Fri-Sat, 11:30 am-11 pm | AE, MC, VI | no liquor | no valet parking | sidewalk level access | 617.730.3888
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Robert Nadeau: RobtNadeau@aol.com
