Elija Bandersnatch
Google
I had such high hopes for this place only to be dashed to the earth like getting dumped by your date on Prom Night. The staff was charming and nice, So I'll start with the good. It's a fun, colorful, hip interior that held promise like a beautiful hand in a warm fur glove. I loved the Wheat Bay sign! I didn't mind the Television which 95% of all Asian restaurants have now. It must be in the handbook.
I loved the BBQ Bao (Pork Buns), it was huge and tasty, although it would be nice if it came with some kind of dipping sauce. Bao really needs to be dipped in some kind of sweet chili sauce, but they had a pretty good condiment tray which made up for the lack. Might well be one of the better Bao I've had which saved the place from being a one or two star rating, a level I rarely sink to.
So here it is, the sad dark core of my problem with Wheat Bay. On first glance, the bowl of Spicy Beef Broth was not promising. The beef looked parboiled and pale. I thought, don't judge by the looks, In Asia there are plenty of things that look one way, but taste another. So I sipped the broth, tentatively as if I were reading the first page of a well reviewed novel.
It was bland. As far as I could tell, there was zero spice. I may not know much about life, Calculus goes over my head like a home run ball. Fine wines make my nostrils flare and all taste more or less the same to me. But I know broth and this was one of the worst bowls of broth I have ever had. No character, no umami, no depth. I fetched a tray of condiments and tried to dial it up a bit, but simply adding soy, red oil, and some kind of dark vinegar just barely made it edible. This is one of the first times I have ever left a half a bowl of a spicy broth unfinished.
The noodle were a nice texture, the longest noodles I have ever been served and I had fun searching around for bits of munchies like a a barefoot boy fishing in a small pond. But it was all tasteless, just a salty bore.This is not the kind of thing you ask the cook about. If he doesn't know he is serving salty dishwater, then what is the point of pointing it out to him? I was utterly disappointed. Particularly given how fun and welcoming the atmosphere was. This does not need subtle tweaking, this needs a whole new direction. Maybe other things on the menu are not as bad, but broth is the golden path to the top of the mountain. It is the door that opens to all other dishes. If it is bad, then that door slams shut.
