Sascha B.
Yelp
Flaming Mountain Chinese Grilled Skewer Bar is on fire!
Have you ever been to a Chinese grilled skewer bar?? No? Well if you ever see one, I recommend dropping whatever you're doing immediately, because if this place is any indication, WOWEE!
Man oh man was this place amazing! Some of the best Chinese food I've ever had (and I've had it in NYC, SF, etc.) And my favorite experience, completely unplanned, totally random. Didn't even know about this place until just before trying, but when I read reviews, knew I had to ("I lived in China for 5 years, this is closest food I've found to that").
You know it's gonna be authentic when there's hardly any English spoken. These folks are from Northeast China, which I believe is the skewers and grilled stuff, although there definitely seemed to be a lot of Sichuan influence as well, lots and lots of those yummy, zesty peppercorns that leave your mouth all tingly in everything.
Now I know I throw superlatives out a lot, but this place was truly phenomenal! Every single dish just off the charts good, absolutely bursting with flavor.
Started with a couple skewers, lamb and chicken. Was gonna try lamb kidney, but they were out (lots of interesting offal on the menu). Nicely grilled, tons of cumin and other spices. But look at this oyster and scallop! Holy moly I've never seen such big ones in my life! The spicy garlic sauce was outrageous, and just loved the vermicelli noodles on the scallop. Chopsticks on shells for scale.
Now there are many more exotic dishes that I look forward to trying (like pork, blood sausage, and pickled Chinese cabbage stew - I believe pickled things are a big part of NE cuisine, due to the long winters), but I didn't get too adventurous this time around, but what I did try was just incredible.
The eggplants and ground pork in garlic sauce, stir-fried (spicy!) squid, French beans, and ma po tofu (def best ever) were all fabulous. Every bite of everything just smacks you in the mouth with flavor. The yeung chow fried rice was excellent as well, wonderful flavor, and the corn egg drop soup was so, so, soooo good!
I am ready to eat these leftovers right now!