What authenticity tastes like
By LIZ BOMZE | April 21, 2006
When I was younger, my dad and I frequented Sang Kee Peking Duck House in Philadelphia’s Chinatown. As we’d turn the corner onto Ninth Street and see the line of mostly Asian patrons spilling out onto the sidewalk from the restaurant’s vestibule, my father always commented that we’d come to the right place.
Until recently, I had yet to stumble upon a comparable spot in Boston — where the crimson roast pork is slightly sweet, slightly salty; the roast duck is crisp-skinned and tangy when doused with a shot of red vinegar; and the noodle soup is brimming with plump, thinly wrapped pork and shrimp dumplings. But Johnny Chu’s Hong Kong Eatery may just fill that void. Like many Chinatown restaurants, this one lures clientele by exhibiting top-quality roasted meats in its storefront window, and it keeps customers happy by getting the pork ($5.50) or duck ($8.50) butchered and to the table within minutes of being ordered. Viscous soy dipping sauce complements crispy crêpe-thin scallion pancakes ($2.75), and whole-shrimp and pork wontons bob in the broth-bathed nests of thin yellow egg strands in the noodle soups ($4.25). And although neither stir-fried spinach with minced garlic ($6.95) nor chicken fried rice ($5) packed enough flavor to merit a repeat order, the jumbo shrimp and vegetables arrived sauced generously enough to make their pan-fried noodle ($6.95) platform soften just slightly in the squeeze of my chopsticks.
Honk Kong Eatery, 79 Harrison Avenue, Boston | Open daily, 9 am -10:30 pm | 617.423.0838
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On The Cheap
, Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, Ethnic Cuisines, More
, Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, Ethnic Cuisines, Asian Food and Cooking, Chinese Food and Cooking, Less
