Thanks to Andie E. for introducing us to Dong Bei cuisine! A large group of Yelpers (18) gathered at Amber Asian on a Friday for dinner and we took up more than half the front of the restaurant. Apparently, this restaurant on Kissena Blvd was previously called Xing Shun Da, also serving Dong Bei style Chinese, but has since changed owners, but most of the staff and menu remained the same. I'm just glad for the chance to try something new with a whole bunch of friends. Andie had pre-ordered a set menu and I'm grateful to her for choosing some great dishes for us. Andie is a huge fan of spicy foods. I've never seen her mad, but I'm sure she can spit fire ;P
Dong Bei cai (東北菜) literally means East North cuisine, referring to the northeastern provinces of China, in what used to be called Manchuria. The signature tastes are various spices, both fragrant and spicy hot, similar to Szechuan style. You see a lot of pickled veggies, hot chili peppers and cumin used in many dishes.
We started with a house dish of pickled cabbage, carrots & celery with the sourness more to cleanse the palate for the spicy dishes to come. The family style dishes kept coming and we tried to keep up with taking pictures, serving and eating all at the same time. The menu as they came out:
Shredded Beef & Spicy Peppers (HOT!)
Fried Squid & Red Chili Peppers (Not too hot)
Cumin Lamb
Vegetarian Triple Delight (eggplant, sweet red & green peppers)
Sliced Pork & Mushrooms (not spicy with some interesting looking mushrooms)
Braised Beef Tendon (very tender)
Salt, Pepper & Garlic Fried Shrimp (w/ crunchy heads!)
Salted Duck Egg Yolk crusted Pumpkin
Whole Cumin Pan-Fried Flounder
I enjoyed every dish, but the flounder was my favorite and I made short work of deboning it because it was cooked perfectly with the fillet lifting easily off the bones.
Dessert was a very interesting dish of Fried Yams & Dates coated in molten sugar. The high temperature sugar would have caused first degree burns to tongue and mouth if not dipped in the provided ice water bath to set the sugar into a crystalline coat. Even then, the yam inside was still hot from frying, so you still have to be careful. It was delicious!
This gathering of friends, old and new was a special experience along with the unique food experience shared by all. The waitstaff were extremely nice and made the evening even more enjoyable! read more