Susan C.
Yelp
Solid spot for dumplings and northern Chinese dumplings and noodle dishes. The location is right in the Old Bellevue main street area, close to a small area of restaurants, shops and downtown residential buildings. Parking is generally available via street parking. They don't take reservations and can get crowded around dinner so best to get there early to avoid the wait. I've heard this is a local chain which has several locations around the Seattle area.
This location is very spacious and clean, looks to be opened fairly recently in the past few years. High ceilings, a lot of oak-tone wood paneling, full length windows along the front facade, it's gave me the impression of eating in modern mountain lodge.
Came here with friends and enjoyed several items:
- sweet & sour cucumber $7.15: would recommend, they pickle these well and cut them up expertly to form little coiled mounds, almost like little cucumber snakes (ok not the most appetizing image but they looked impressive!)
- pork xiaolongtangbao $9.95 and pork&crabmeat version $9.95: would recommend, they are similar to the ones from DinTaiFung, thin skin, tender filling and tasty soup that's not too greasy. both versions were good.
- Q-bao $9.95: their signature pan fried steamed bao with soup inside. I've never had a combination bao like this before and thought it was creative and tasty, seemed like similar filling to their XLTB. I'm kinda stumped as to how they steam the dough to be fluffy, then fry the bottom while keeping the inside as juicy as it was, but I guess that's why it's their secret recipe!
- green onion pancakes $3.95: pretty generic fried with slight crisp to exterior and a little chewy inside.
- broccoli with seafood sauce $7.15: about a dozen pieces of gently steamed broccoli with a seafood dipping sauce. Good for getting your daily serving of veggies and it's exactly what it sounds like, I'd probably skip next time.
- fried wontons with spicy garlic sauce $7.15: the fry was pretty light on the bottom, and the skin was a bit thin to hold up to the fry, made it seem more steamed than fried. Flavor was pretty decent though I expected more of a crispy texture on the bottom. Garlic sauce tasted a bit garlicky though not spicy.
- dandan noodles $7.75, pan-fried chive dumplings (3 pc) $7.15, and beef stew noodle soup $9.95: I didn't try these though these though I'm curious to give them a try next time!