In Los Angeles if you want good Asian food there are extreme obstacles working against you, ones that you probably didn’t even know existed. It may seem as though your choices are limitless but the truth is there are only 3 kinds of Asian food in LA.
1- Fast Food (Greasy and Suspicious at best)
2- 4 Star restaurant (Who can afford that? And it’s too Americanized anyway) or
3- Authentic (Like playing that game Where’s Waldo, sometimes you get lucky but most of the time you just give up).
Before you scroll down scrunching up your nose, know this… I used to look at food descriptions, or see unfamiliar food and because of my sheltered food life and unadventurous pallet, think “uuugh that does not sound delicious” but thanks to my amazing, handsome, sweet and culinarily adventurous boyfriend I have tried a lot of new foods over the last year and a half. This is my attempt to spread that awesome gift. I would never misguide my readers! These foods are YUMMY give them a chance.
Let’s start with desserts because I am feeling naughty and self indulgent. My two absolute favorite Asian style desserts are: Zeen Duy AKA Sesame Ball, and Mochi.
Zeen Duy is basically a sticky delicious pancake-ish ball filled with a delicious coconut shredded textured chocolaty-ish flavor paste which is baked into the ball and rolled in sesame seeds. I am not the biggest fan of sesame but you can’t really even taste the seeds once the sweet bready-puddingy taste hits your tongue. It may not be for everyone but whoa it’s sure GOOD. Pic Below
Mochi simply translated is a (soft) Rice Cake Ice Cream ball, it is similar to fried ice cream without the frying part. It is ice cream, just like any ice cream you would buy at your local grocer except it is surrounded by a thin soft sweet breading and rolled in powdered sugar. The best Mochi flavors are Strawberry, Red Bean (which tastes similar to a maple-y chocolate), or Mango. Pic Below
Bao. The most amazingly easy yummy food on the go is Bao. Imagine a Beef stew and dumplings, you know like the all American mom makes? Now imagining that taste what was the best part of it? The Dumplings right? Well, Bao is like the dumplings from that stew but filled in the middle with the stew flavor… just as there are multiple types of stew there are multiple types of Bao filling.
My favorite is Char Si Bao – Tender Barbeque Pork. The other variations on this are: Sheng Jian – Raw Fried with Onion. Xiao Long – Broth Steamed and Filled with Soup and Gelled Meat, Seafood, or Vegetarian. Nai Huang – Egg yolk kind of like a pudding. And Do Sha – Azuki Red bean, which is more of like a chocolaty-mapleish desserty flavor. Pic Below
Don’t let the name mislead you! Next is Mayonnaise Walnut Shrimp. I like mayo on a sub sandwich as much as the next person but the thought of heating it up and smothering shrimp with it made my stomach churn the first time I heard of the dish… I didn’t even want to try it but WOW I’m glad I did! Imagine candied walnuts meet a clear alfredo and baked into a sweet yet tangy delectable honey textured creamy delight, with none of the eggy tangy mayo flavor you might expect. Pic Below
Tom-Ka-Fill-in-the-blank. Tom Ka refers to the soup base and you decide the meat filling. Tom Ka Gai (chicken, the most popular), Tom Ka Kai (Shrimp, also good) Tom Ka Tofu… you get the idea. Tom Ka is a thin, as spicy as you like it, thin cream coconut based soup with onions, mushrooms and other various vegetables seasoned with lemongrass and spicy oil, again hard to describe to a virgin pallet but comparable in concept to a Thai mom making chicken soup for her children and it’s at least as, if not more, delicious as any American soups I’ve tasted. Pic below
Fun Guo is next on my list. This healthier dumpling shaped bite size delight is frequently served during Dim Sum. Fun Guo is typically stuffed with cooked shrimp or pork, mushrooms, peanuts, garlic, and sometimes radish. For its basic ingredients its surprisingly Flavorful! Definitely a safe bet if you are unsure what to try, I’d compare the texture and seasoning to the Asian version of an Italian meatball. Other Names for it are fun quor, fun gor, fen guo, chiu chow dumpling, or teochew dumpling.
Egg Pie is just what it sounds like… except that it doesn’t taste eggy and isn’t a breakfast food, it’s a dessert. You know how the whipped topping on keylime pie is made from egg but after tasting it you forget that? This is really similar. It’s exactly the same texture and a slightly lighter color as American pumpkin pie. The flavor is sweet but not too sweet. Get the word egg out of your mind and you would have no idea what this scrumptious dessert was made of. Pic Below
Lugao. Last (and of course not least) we come to Lugao (also called Juk in Korean, Okayu in Japanese, Congee in Chinese, and Chok in Thai, Ganji in Indian). Lugao is good, its good and people all over the world eat it. To an American eye it may look like a gloopy sloppy flavorless bleached out oatmeal, let me assure you it is the most mouth-watering soup/porridge ever… yes , I mean EVER. If the orphans in Oliver Twist would have been served this porridge every one of them would have risked a lashing to get some more. It’s primarily eaten for breakfast or a late supper and is commonly made with chicken, green onion, bamboo, and is boiled in a white rice soup. Sometimes egg is added (I prefer it without) and it’s also good if you add a dash of seasoning (like fine ground Asian pepper) and soy sauce. Pic Below
A final few tips from me to you:
~If you aren’t sure what something is ask!
~If you aren’t sure what’s in something, ASK!
~If you can’t read the menu don’t be afraid to ASK!
~And finally, if you don’t like something… just pretend you’re full and get it to go, then remember never to order whatever that was again. lol.
Happy Tasting!
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