Lu H.
Yelp
Came here for a lunch on a Tuesday. Place felt a little under-staffed, with only one person in the front and he said there's only one person cooking in the kitchen.
We ordered the braised beef noodle soup, truffle soupy dumplings, pan fried pork buns, Nanjing salted duck, and sliced beef/tripe in chili sauce.
After our waiter came over to apologize in advance that the food maybe slow due to only one person cooking in kitchen, we were mentally prepared to wait for awhile since there were also several delivery people waiting to pick up orders. To our surprise the noodle soup came out reasonably quick. The broth had depth with a slight hint of spiciness, noodle wasn't too soft which was what we preferred, and beef was tender minus one tough piece - we were pleasantly surprised how delicious it was. Then came out the truffle soupy dumplings and the free pork soupy dumplings. I honestly didn't taste any truffle in the dumplings, I think the vinegar overpowered it - not the best combo. Pork soupy dumplings were solid - skin wasn't too thick at all, and filling was flavorful. Lastly we got our Pan fried pork buns, it was steaming hot, got the perfect crunch at the bottom, and the pork inside tasted good (a bit too sweet for me but my husband loved it).
Now why only 4 stars? Because after all those yummy hot food, we realized we were still missing the Nanjing salted duck and the sliced beef/tripe in chili oil. They are supposed to be cold appetizers so I was confused why they took a long time to come out. I told our waiter to cancel the appetizers but he brought out the salted duck - he told me they just "made" it, whatever that means because the dish was cold, and lacked some serious flavors. I've had enough amazing Nanjing salted duck growing up that I find it insulting to call it the same name here. It resembles nothing like the tender, salty, melt in your mouth salted duck I was used to. So we cancelled the other cold appetizer and called it good.
Overall it was a pleasant experience, minus the hiccups with appetizers. Think we will be back if we are in the area again.