Qingdao Garden, Cambridge

[chowcat]

Just back from supper tonight and I have to say, I don't see any decline in their dumplings since the "dumpling lady" went away. Maybe I missed the bad period.

Anyway, had some delicious vegetarian leek dumplings, the wonderful fried Qingdao dumplings (like long skinny potstickers, almost caramelized on the crispy side), steamed pea tendrils with garlic (very light, oily in a great way, almost buttery), the chinese cabbage with chili (cold salad, nice heat), and an OK Singapore rice noodle (made vegetarian style, so on the bland side).

For those who haven't been, this is a small Chinese storefront restaurant on Mass Ave in North Cambridge, across from what used to be the N. Cambridge car barn for the MBTA and is now, I'm astonished to see, a mega-townhouse development. You order off the pink section of the menu on the back ("Northern Specialties" I think it says). Otherwise you get boring standard Americanized Chinese food.

[RoyRon]

I have to agree with one of the other posters about Chilli Garden not being the best Szechuan in the area. I used to go there are a lot because I entertain a lot of Asian guests from China, Taiwan, Singapore, etc. Then I discovered the Szechuan Garden in Woburn and the Szechuan Gourmet in Billerica. Both are much better than Chilli Garden in my opinion. For large groups you can't beat Szechuan Garden because the restaurant is in an old colonial house and they have great function rooms on the second floor. I have had several banquets there that were well received by everyone who attended

[DrJimbob]

I remember when I was living in China for a year, there were little corner places serving up dumplings (in Mandarin, jiaozi) all over the place (almost as dense as D-donuts in Boston!), they were all really good, and available for less than making it yourself. We'd make whole meals out of dumplings alone (and in Xi'an, there are really ritzy banquets where you can do this in high style).

I missed those jiaozi huts in China. Qingdao Garden is about as close as I've seen to that in the United States. I've found their jiaozi have been fairly consistent over the past year, and very good either steamed or pan fried. The specialty of the house is North Chinese, which is also unusual (rare to find a genuine north Chinese place anywhere in the US). Unfortunately that might explain why the dan dan (sesame) noodles were a bust (though another noodle dish I had there wasn't so hot either, I guess).

Some stuff that I keep coming back for: pork with cilantro (you wouldn't think that drowning pork with cilantro would work, but man is it addictive), garlic spinach greens, lamb with scallions and lamb with cumin, home style potato slices. On some days they have chefs who can make skillful use of Sichuan peppercorns and deliver real Sichuan ma-la, though the latter is somewhat inconsistent. I typically like the various spicy chicken chunk things on the menu, lukewarm to their boiled beef (shui-zhu niu-rou) and cold on their mapo doufu.

I'm guessing the tofu with egg is a classic cold Chinese appetizer in which "thousand year duck eggs" (fermented, buried underground, clear amber texture to the whites and dull grey-brown yolks) are embedded with silken doufu, sometimes with raw scallions and oyster sauce. Duck eggs are definitely an acquired taste (sort of the Chinese equivalent to stinky stinky STINKY blue cheese), but I acquired that taste growing up.

/J

[limster]

re: North Eastern/dong1 bei3 style Chinese -- they're certainly outnumbered by the Cantonese places, but they aren't as rare these days. In the area there's also Wang's Fast food and King Fung Garden (chef is cantonese, but was train by a Shandong guy). New Taste of Asia (back when it was around) had a fairly large repertoire of NE cooking; a Sichuan chef who trained in Beijing. And there's also Little Q hotpot in Quincy.

[MB fka MB]

I am so with you on the pork with cilantro. It's the one dish we have to get every time. The other addiction is potato with hot pepper.

[DavisSquare]

We saw that on the menu and were intrigued since I can't ever remember seeing potato on a Chinese menu. Could you describe the dish? Is it an authentic preparation? Is there much potato in regional Chinese cooking?

[MB fka MB]

The potatoes are julienned, with hot green pepper sliced (jalapenos?) the same way, sometimes some small chilis thrown in. The dish can be a bit oily, which I find to be true of some of the other dishes here (the pork and cilantro can be a bit greasy sometimes), but great nonetheless.

The dish is unlike anything I've had before. The texture makes you think for a moment, 'are these even cooked?' The potato has a fantastic bite, and the hot pepper is the perfect balance to the starchiness of the potato. I love it, but did think it was weird at first.

[DavisSquare]

I don't think the tofu dish is the one you're thinking about as the eggs were scrambled on top of the tofu. It may very well have been made with preserved eggs of some sort, though. Any ideas as I'd like to order it again?

[Aromatherapy]

What I've had there was squares of tofu and wedges of not-stinky preserved egg, lightly dressed.

[DavisSquare]

Thanks very much for this thread. We tried Qingdao Garden for the first time tonight in our continuing search for a go-to Chinese place. If it's consistently this good, we may have found it. All dishes from the pink section:

Leek and String bean dumplings- very good. nice consistency, flavor not too strong, perks up a lot with a little sauce (soy or other).

Sesame cold noodle- terrible. overcooked noodles with no flavor to speak of.

Bean curd skin with mushroom- opinions were divided over this. I quite liked it. Subdued flavor at first with the tofu dominating followed by lasting aftertaste of mushroom.

Chinese spinach with garlic sauce- possibly some of the best spinach I've eaten in a long while. Very very good with lots of garlic and oil, but not greasy.

Tofu with egg (can't seem to find this on the menu)- superb contrast of silky tofu with salty, almost preserved tasting egg. I do wish I knew what I'd ordered (any help here) but it was fantastic.

Scallion pancake- beh, I've had better and I've had worse. This doesn't survive delivery very well.

I think the morale of the story is that not all of the pink menu is excellent (noodles) but overall it's very good and not at all your usual Sino-American stuff. Thanks again for the pointer

[gansu girl]

Qingdao is fabulous - I love their spinach w/garlic too for a veggie. Their dumplings filled w/green beans are also unusual and outstanding.

I agree w/the specialties rule, but have to take issue w/the other reply that Chili Garden is the "best Sichuan in New England" - I think that Sichuan Gourmet in Billerica is much better . . . fresher ingredients, more alive flavors, much more consistent dining experience overall.

[hilbux]

This is one of my favorite Chinese places in the area, hands-down! Glad to hear that their dumplings are still consistently good. :) The pork and leek dumplings are my favorite. As Chowcat says, stick to the specialties-- always a good rule. The same also goes for another WONDERFUL place- Chilli Garden in Medford- just the best Sichuan in New England- but don't order off of the standard menu, get the Sichuan specialties... and enjoy!