East By Northeast

I have been looking forward to going to East By Northeast although I have read that chef Phillip Tang is no David Chang (I guess the comparision because he also makes pork belly in mantou buns???) and was given 2.5 stars. With that said, the review was still remarkable and I looked forward to going to his new restaurant. However, I was not impressed by the variety of dishes offered or its flavors. I will most likely not be returning to EBN.

The service was great. The waiter was super nice and attentive. He even gave us a free refill even though he was supposed to charge us. The place was also tidy and clean with an open kitchen but still quiet enough for a nice conversation. It is definitely not cheap considering the chef recommends that each person orders about 3-4 dishes that range from $5-$12. The portions are dim sum/tapas size or even smaller so each person would need to order at least that much to feel somewhat full. However, there's something unsettling about paying an average of $45 per person to eat food of this quality/quantity.

Here are a few photos of the dishes we ordered.

This was the pickled daikon, rutabaga, and beets. The daikon was delicious with a nice hint of sweetness. The rest tasted like pickled vegetables that was still fresh enough to have that nice crisp to each bite.

$5




Amuse-Bouche (sorry for the weird angle!): the waitress gave us a description but I totally forgot. Basically, it reminds me of the deep fried sesame buns you could get at dim sum or at the chinese bakery that is filled with a sweet red bean filling although this was served as a savory bite with a sweet peanut/sesame sauce. Personally, the texture was a bit off for me and was very chewy and gummy.

$Free



Pork Belly in Mantou Buns. Man, I was totally looking forward to this dish but it was just not that good. It was over sauced and not unique in taste/flavor/texture. It tasted like salty caramelized pork belly, which in description sounds really delicious, but this dish did not do it for me. The mantou buns were good, light and fluffy. Maybe I expected too much...

$10



Pork dumplings with butternut squash and 5 spice-pork jus. The flavor and texture of this dish did not do it for me either. I think it's a nice combination of east/west and together it created complex but not complimentary flavors. The dumpling skin was cooked al dente, which is great, but it also had a gritty texture that tasted like whole wheat flour was used. Not sure if it was but that was the texture that my tongue picked up.

$10



This was the special of the night, homemade chinese sausage with sticky rice. I was expecting lap cheong but we got something with a texture that was more similar to western sausages. It was good but not great. I will probably stick with the sausage/sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf at my local dim sum restaurant.

$10




Homemade Noodles w/ Beef Shank and Parsnip. Noodles were delicious. Beef shank had an interesting taste to it - almost flowery and totally different from the broth. Broth was flavorful and salty with a nice kick.

$10