Roadtrip: Northern Chinese Restaurant - Rosemead (Los Angeles)

**** Northern Chinese Restaurant  has closed

On our last trip to the SGV (San Gabriel Valley) it was our intention to stop by Northern Chinese Restaurant first, since I read that they open at 1030 am. We'd grab some small eats and head to the next place on hour list. But things change quickly in the SGV, hours are rearranged constantly, and when we arrived at the strip mall that houses Northern Chinese Restaurant, Shin Sen Gumi Hakata Ramen, among others, we were told that Northern doesn't open until 11am (even though the menu lists their hours as 1030am - 10pm). Which is why we ended up doing a return trip to Hunan Chilli King, whose sign says they open at 11am, but were open and going full tilt at 1040 am.....go figure! 

After building up a good sweat at HCK, we went through my ever shortening list of places to hit in the SGV, and decided to head back to Northern Chinese Restaurant. When we arrived, the restaurant was fairly empty, but had a table full of take-out orders. In fact, there was a steady stream of customers picking up their orders while we ate. We quickly looked over the menu, and made our selections, which came out extremely quickly....I mean really quickly!

First out of the kitchen, in a flash was the Stir Fried Mushroom ($8.88):

 

Maybe it was the curse of having Hunan food before returning to Northern Restaurant, but we both found this interesting stir fry of various wild mushrooms to be unsatisfying. There was an interesting combination of textures, but some of the flavors, especially the small, hard, somewhat astringent tasting mushrooms, were rather unpleasant.

Next up was the Suan Cai Yang Rou (Pickled Sour Napa Casserole with Lamb - $9.88):

 

First off the good; the lamb was prepared well, great texture, good gamey flavor, nie ratio of fat to meat. The wider cellophane noodles went well with this dish. The bad: there was too much cabbage, and not enough Suan Cai, a pickled cabbage much like sauerkraut. This made the broth terribly bland. There was also a large amount of ginger cut into triangles which were bothersome, unless you love biting into pieces of ginger every three bites or so. For my money, I prefer the version at Tianjin Bistro, though the lamb was prepared better here. I had leftovers a day later, and the broth was still much too bland......

For our last dish, the Missus ordered the Xun Rou Da Bing ("Smoke meat and Cake" on the menu - $4.95):

 

Here we have a winna! Unlike the Niu Rou Chuan (Beef roll), this came deconstructed. You smeared a good amount of the pork and bean paste on your slice of Da Bing, added the shredded scallions, and a slice of the mild, but savory pork. Roll it up, and you have at it! As much as I really, really, enjoyed the bean paste, it was the bread that did it for me. The Da Bing was prepared perfectly, at least for me. Usually, either too much, or not enough oil is used, making the flat bread greasy and soggy or too dry and unpalatable. In this case, it was crisp on the exterior, yet pliable, the thin middle layer was moist and almost flakey, and not greasy at all.

It appeared that we had gone through the menu rather hastily, because looking over my photos of the menu, there were a few items we missed:

 

We were impressed by the woman who waited on us, she answered all of the Missus's questions in detail (in Mandarin of course), and displayed a good knowledge of the food, to the point of describing the different mushrooms the stir fry, now lost to posterity. According to the Missus, the accents of staff were decidedly "very Northern, like Shenyang Northern", which makes sense. The restaurant is clean, and thankfully on the day we ate, had the A/C going at a nice level. I think we'll be back for the Da Bing.... and maybe some Shenyang Fake Dog Meat????

Northern Chinese Restaurant
8450 East Valley Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91770

Comments

[kat]

wow impressed you went back right after eating at HCK :)

[nhbilly]

How funny, fake Fido - Vietnamese have such a plate too ;-)

[Kirk]

Hi Kat - We love leftovers!

Hi Billy - Bun Gia Kay??? One of my favorite dishes at Viendong Restaurant in GG!

[Judy]

I dont know about fake dog meat, but I sure would love some of that pig bones pickles in soy sauce...o_O????? my favorite restaurant in rosemead is bacalli... mmmmmmmmmmmm!

[Kirk]

Hi Judy - Do you mean the Chinese Rotisserie place on Valley????

[zompus]

Hi Kirk,

This reminds me of my Dad's definition of "Northern" vs "Southern" China. According to him, "Southern" China is Hong Kong, and "Northern" China is everywhere else!

[Judy]

I think so. I just remember it as that place that serves spaghetti with everything, but their Triple Crown is grubbbbbbb. Filet mignon, pork chop, and something else... its been at least 5 years since I've been! That was a college weekend thing for me.

[foodhoe]

I like the name da bing!

[Carol]

Sounds like the perfect da bing! How about some fake...oh I can't even say it. hehe

Too bad the Stir Fried Mushrooms wasn't good because it looks good.

[Kirk]

Hi Zompus - LOL! I hope he doesn't make compasses for a living!

Hi Judy - I think that's it....

Hi FH - he-he-he..... OK, one more time for you... Da Bing!

Hi Carol - ooohhh, don't go there!

[Wandering Chopsticks]

Kirk,
This was the restaurant I sent you the photo of two years ago! You know, when I thought I ordered Peking pork and they gave me something that looked like dogfood and I asked you to help me identify it? I've been meaning to go back and haven't since. Their cumin lamb is supposed to be good.

[Kirk]

Hi WC - Yes, I remember that! I'm always up for cumin lamb, so thanks for the rec. BTW the Da Bing was really good.

[Wandering Chopsticks]

BTW, thanks for the da bing photo. My sister saw someone eat that at Kang Kang and didn't know what it was called so she couldn't order it herself. She was too embarrassed to point and say she wanted what he's having. I've been going to Kang Kang for my shen jen bao and jing dong meat pie cravings if you and the missus ever want to go for there for that.

[Kirk]

Hi WC - You know, we've been to Kang Kang, but were too early for the SJB. We'll try to time our visit better next time.