WAGAMAMA

I hadn't been down to Fanueil Hall in over a year. I truly detest visiting this tourist mecca of Boston, but that's where Wagamama was located. So on a pretty sunny Sunday morning, Tom, Leah, Patrick (Leah's friend) and I all headed down there to check it out.

We were worried that there'd be a line out the door (that's what people had been describing), but when we arrived at about 11:45, the place still hadn't opened. I doesn't open until noon on Sundays. I mini line had started, so we stood in it for a few minutes. Someone came by with menus and we browsed them as we waited, but soon the doors opened. The restaurant is very light, with huge floor to ceiling windows, and has a modern cheap chic about it. (Think Ikea). We were seated at one of the many communal tables, which had helpful little shelves underneath for our stuff. As we were seated, you could see the line outside ebbing and flowing. The line mainly existed because they had only one person seating people, not because there weren't enough seats.

Here's a pic of the kitchen that lines on side of the restaurant.

Our waitress came by pretty quickly to take drink orders and explain the concept. Despite using a handheld computer, she still wrote down our individual orders on our paper placemats. Leah and Patrick started off with carrot juice, and I got a very yummy concoction of apple juice, passion fruit and orange juice. The fruit drinks were fresh and delicious. We then turned our attention to the acutal food. The menu is quite extensive, and it was hard to decide what to get. The waitress explained that they don't have traditional appetizers, since they make the food fresh and bring out food whenever it's ready (like at Chinese restaurants). So I ordered a side of fried duck gyoza. Huh, this is kinda funny, but I'm looking at their menu online and they don't list duck gyoza as an option. At any rate, here's a pic of them.

I thought they were pretty good. The fillings had plenty of duck, but I expected them to be panfried, not deep fried. And I wasn't a fan of the actual wrapper. It was too thin and didn't have a great texture. Tom had an order of Ebi gyoza (with shrimp) and I thought it was much better than my duck. The filling was more flavorful and juicy.

Then it was onto the noodles. I wavered for a while deciding what I'd get. Tom's order of teppan-fried udon noodles with chicken marinated in ginger, garlic and lemongrass. Served with mangetout, red onions, beansprouts, chilli, egg and spring onions. Garnished with pickled ginger and fresh coriander came out first. He was surprised at how juicy the chicken was and enjoyed it.

Leah and I both ordered the ebi kare lomen, a spicy soup made from lemongrass, coconut milk, shrimp paste, chillies, fresh ginger and galangal. Served with ramen noodles and garnished with grilled prawns, beansprouts, cucumber, lime and fresh coriander. Here it is below.

I was expecting the broth to be sweeter (due the addition of coconut milk) than it ended up being. The broth was slightly spicy, but not too much, and I liked the use of fresh ingredients. However, the noodles were overcooked, and didn't possess that nice al dente bite.

We skipped dessert and opted to go to Modern Pastry in the North End instead. Overall, lunch was ok. The service was efficient, and not what had been reported online. (The restaurant wasn't full when we went, though.) It's a popular place for families and we were surrounded by children. But it was quite expensive, at nearly $20/person, and it wasn't all that spectacular. I've been comparing it to Penang, just cause it's another highly successful Asian eatery that has a large menu, many locations and a loyal following. But the food at Penang is just so much better and less expensive, it doesn't even compare. Perhaps people in the U.K. go here because a $20 lunch is cheap. London is known for being super expensive, but for me, I'd rather get my ramen elsewhere at a lower price. They'll be opening a second location in Harvard Square, and when Leah asked if I'd go back, I said, if I were a Harvard student, and I'd exhausted most of the options in Harvard Square, I'd eat there. So I guess that means I won't be going back any time soon.

A DAY OF DINING IN BROOKLINE

It's been a long time since I've reviewed anything. With the cold weather and the business of Valentine's Day, it was hard to motivate and visit new places. It's always easier just to go to the old favorites in the neighborhood. However, this past Saturday was warm and sunny. Warm being in the 30s. So we decided to head out and try a new place. We'd spotted Zenna Noodle Bar in Coolidge Corner the week before and vowed to return and try it out and that's what we did. We were having an early lunch, it was only 11:30 when we arrived, and the place was completely empty (something we had noticed the week earlier). The decor was nice, and fairly modern, but I was a little put off by the Muzak that was blasting from the speakers.

So we were given menus, which was kinda gimicky in its organizaiton. They were going for a theme of the five elements, so salads were listed as "earth", noodles in soup were "water, panfried noodles were "fire". You get the idea. I thought it was unnecessary. The menu is more like a pan-Asian menu, but I found it had a lot of Vietnamese influence. After debating for a while, Tom ordered the Vietnamese Crepe. I think that's what it was. The menu isn't online, so you'll have to bear with me here. At any rate, here it is.We both enjoyed it a lot. It was stuffed with fresh veggies and big pieces of shrimp and it had a pleasant crunch to the outside, while remaining soft on the inside. I thought it could've used more salt, but the flavor was greatly improved by the addition of basil, which it's served with.

Then I ordered what basically amounted to wonton soup, but in this case, the shrimp dumplings didn't contain any pork, so I could actually eat them. After adding two spoonfuls of hot sauce, I thought it was very good. I wasn't the biggest fan of the shrimp dumplings, the texture of the interior was a bit off, but the large fresh shrimp and veggies in the soup made up for it. Tom ordered their signature dish, which was basically a chicken pho. He also enjoyed it. Even though it was much more expensive than what you'd get at a place like Pho Pasteur, it was also filled with nice fresh veggies, so that was a great addition.
Overall we both enjoyed Zenna. By the time we'd left, the place still hadn't filled up. Only 2 tables had arrived, but I think if people start to discover it, they'll find a well priced yummy noodle place in the neighborhood. And to finish, Tom wanted me to show you this paper rose they made with the straw wrapper that came on his Coke.After lunch we decided to visit Clear Flour Bakery. Now, I'd been to Clear Flour before, but it was years ago, when I first arrived in Boston. It's well known for being one of the best bakeries in town, but it's a little hidden, on a side street off of Comm Ave. in Brighton. The actual retail space is tiny. They use most of the space for production (which is quite big) but there was a steady flow of people going in and out. Once we entered the space, we were overwhelmed with all the options. There were so many things we wanted to try, but Tom opted for 2 loaves: one baguette and one sourdough loaf. Tom loves really good bread, so he wanted to see how well Clear Flour made the basics before starting in on any fancy stuff. Meanwhile, I got an almond macaroon. I'm a big fan of the almond macaroon. Crunchy on the outside, but soft and chewy on the inside, the ones at Clear Flour were extra big and super delicious. I only bought one cause I wasn't sure how good it'd be, but I'll be sure to buy extra the next time I'm there. Tom also really enjoyed the bread, and we managed to finish off both loaves in 2 days. It went really well with the Potato Leek soup that I made for dinner

I had gotten leeks in my most recent Boston Organic's order, so using this recipe from Epicurious, I set out to make my soup. First I had to clean the leeks, which took a little while since leeks have so much sand in them. After that, I chopped up my potatoes, and that was pretty much it. I first sauteed the leeks. Take note that the recipe tells you not to brown them. That's where I screwed up. I was being inattentive and before I knew it, the leeks had browned. I immediately poured in chicken stock, but the damage had been done, my soup would now be a brownish color, rather than the classic white. Even the addition of the potatoes wouldn't help much.

I let the soup cook for about 30 minutes, waiting for the potatoes go soft. Then I blended them up with my hand mixer and tried it out. It was bland. Or missing something. Which is where I got a little carried away and added four cloves of garlic. 2 would've been fine, but with the four, the entire thing now tasted like garlic soup. Not always a bad thing but certainly wasn't what I was going for. The good thing was that the soup went wonderfully with the bread. Next time I'll add the garlic at the beginning and hopefully it'll have more flavor.

So that's it! A Saturday of dining in Brookline. Today I'm going to try out a recipe by Mark Bittman, the minimalist. And I'll let you all know how that goes.