Both Nepalese and Tibetan, I am a big fan of this place. The momos -- dumplings -- are excellent. Anything they do with beans is recommended. The spicy chicken dishes, including the different forms of chicken barbecue, are very tasty and different from what you can get elsewhere in the area. This is quite simply a very good ethnic restaurant with a pleasant environment and it does not cost a fortune either.
]]>Imagine a combination of A&J and Hong Kong Palace and you have what is perhaps the best Chinese restaurant in this area right now. The dishes are a mix of Sichuan, Taiwanese, and Manchurian.
It has the best noodles and best dumplings around; the Sichuan wontons are a must. Shredded tofu is great. Singapore Noodle is surprisingly good and quite subtle. Pork with spicy noodles, in various incarnations, is excellent. I’ve yet to try the soups but they looks very good. Go mostly with the smaller dishes.
The décor is slightly nicer than at most Mom and Pops, the owners are Taiwanese, not so much English is spoken by the staff, and it draws an older Chinese crowd, less raucous than many other excellent Chinese places. Highly recommended.
]]>This Pakistani place doubles as a hookah joint. The one time I went the service was very weak and the atmosphere was unappealing, to say the least. It looked like a dump (in fact it was a dump) without having the charm of a good mom n’ pop. That said, the chicken karahi was excellent – very authentic – and the other dishes I sampled were at least good or maybe better than good. I’ll give it a qualified recommendation for the discerning, and in the meantime I’ll predict they either get their act together or it will collapse completely. I’d like them to succeed, but they’re not on a sustainable path.
]]>1. A good koresh (stew) almost always beats a good kabob. Ghormeh sabzi and bademjan are national treasures.
2. The choice of rice is a central decision. Get zereshk polo -- barberry rice -- as much as you can. Or get cherry rice, rice with pistachio, etc. All those choices are winners.
3. Lamb shank can end up being dull in a Persian restaurant. If served with dill the dish is often too dry.
4. Fesanjan, fesanjan, fesanjan. In Iceland I once ate fesenjan guillemot. The fesenjan in a can that you find in Persian groceries is actually pretty good.
5. Don't be afraid to smear mast-o-moseer (or musir; the spellings and transliterations vary, as with many of these dishes) into your rice. Always order mast-o-moseer.
6. Soups are excellent, especially if they are fragrant and have noodle-like entities. Soups without barley are usually better than soups with barley.
7. In this country Westwood, Los Angeles has the best Iranian food overall. Check out Westwood Ave. and also Pico.
8. If you are in a country where you do not expect to see Persian food, and you see Persian food, it is usually very good. As a partial exception to a rule of good eating, a single Persian restaurant can be very good even if there are not other Persian restaurants around.
Originally posted on Marginal Revolution
Also see Persian category.
]]>I have to say I was very impressed. It sounds boring by most accounts but the steak, lobster, and tuna tartare are all first-rate. Expensive, but at least you are getting something for your money. Don’t expect innovative or original cooking, but right now this is one of the best places in town.
]]>Chinese food, Korean style, plus Korean food, Korean style. In other words, a Korean restaurant with fried sweet and sour and weird noodle dishes. The standard dish here is the dark noodles in the gloopy sauce, you know the serving which looks disgusting and, to some people, is disgusting. This place is very popular with Koreans, recommended, but note that it is not worth going here for the standard Korean options, which are better elsewhere.
]]>It’s hard to keep track of all the burgeoning Ethiopian places in this mini-mall, but since they are all excellent maybe you don’t need to. This place, which is next to the fabled Abay Market, serves six or so meat-based dishes, no real vegetables. Don’t expect Shiro here. The meats are above average and the atmosphere is excellent.
The time I went it had the single most beautiful waitress of any restaurant on this list, so you tell me whether or not it is worth going. I say yes.
]]>Here goes:
Japanese: One bite of the tempura tells all.
Chinese: Ma Po Tofu, or for some kinds of Chinese places Hainan Chicken with Rice.
Thai: Almost any dish shows the true colors of a Thai restaurant immediately.
Turkish: Doner Kebab, taking special care to ponder the tanginess of the yogurt and how it interacts with the meat.
Vietnamese: Anything with lemon grass, which is hard to use well.
Ethiopian: Kitfo or barring that lamb tibs.
Peruvian: Lomo saltado, taking special care to check for the right amount of cilantro in the sauce and the correct sogginess of the french fries.
Bolivian: Silpancho, and check the liquidity and consistency of the egg on top.
Afghan: Kadu (pumpkin) and is it too sweet?
Korean: Seafood pancake and in general the quality of their kimchees.
Indian: Most dishes will do (see "Thai"), although avoid the Butter Chicken as a metric of quality. Lamb with spinach is my do-or-die default judgment dish for an Indian restaurant, if only because you get to taste both the lamb (less likely to be tender than the chicken) and the spinach..
Restaurant, general: How's their chili crab? If it's not outstanding, or not on the menu, press eject immediately and get yourself to a different country.
Can you think of others? (see comments on MR)
Originally posted on Marginal Revolution.
]]>Above-average Bolivian, one of the best silpanchos around with a properly moist egg. Recommended, a fun place.
]]>Could this be the best Pakistani place around right now? The haleem is excellent and the wok dishes are very good too. Vegetables taste fresh. Recommended. If it takes them a little long to serve you, it is because they do everything the right way from scratch.
]]>I went once and had very good ham and very good cod, right after the new sous chef arrived. The other dishes I saw didn’t impress me so much. It was very noisy and not cheap. I would go back, but at this point I am reluctant to recommend it.
]]>Run by the Aditi people, it has lots of wraps. Imagine trying to do Chipotle with Indian food. It’s OK, good enough if you’re in the area, but not up to the best Indian places around.
]]>Annandale used to be a nice appendage to the peak places to eat. Now it's the epicenter, the main culinary show, and also the coolest place to hang out.
Addendum: Here is a good article, which mentions Korean food as the next trend to come. Let's hope not.
Originally posted on Marginal Revolution
]]>An intriguing little mom n’ pop Afghan restaurant. Not the very best kabobs but they have pumpkin, aushak, etc. I like going there.
]]>An A+ for the metallic décor and the Korean pop culture strewn all over the walls. Visually speaking, this might be my favorite place on the list. It’s also one of the two or three best places for Korean food. Get the pork neck barbecue. Ask them for their house specialty, a barbecue dish cooked with meat, vegetables, and octopus on top of your table. Very yummy. Good seafood pancake here as well.
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