Manhattan, NY (midtown west) - a new contemporary Chinese restaurant that just opened in November, Blue Blossom showcases the regional flavors of China in a modern and elevated way, while maintaining authenticity and tradition. It is helmed by the same husband-wife team that operates the lauded CheLi and Szechuan Mountain House.
We started with the SIGNATURE BAO PLATTER, with six different colored xiao long bao of different flavors. The XLB is incredible, some of the best I've had: soupy, flavorful, and with impossibly thin skin. My child picked the black (truffle) and yellow ones and devoured both. 5/5
The SLICED PORK BELLY WITH GARLIC SAUCE, wrapped around julienned cucumber, is unexpectedly light and non-greasy, in a delicious chili oil sauce that I could've dipped everything in. 5/5
HOT STONE BEEF TENDON - a standout dish, with soft chewy tendons braised in a generous heap of chestnuts. Not at all dense or sinewy as tendon could be. Slightly spicy. Lots of collagen in tendons so it's great for skin & joints! 5/5
SHANGHAI FRIED NOODLES - we ordered this with chicken which was tender. Great flavor, not your average chow mein. My foodie toddler highly approves and hoarded this one for himself. 5/5
FISH FILLET IN SOUR CABBAGE SOUP - with either flounder or blackfish. The soup is hearty and flavor-packed, with a ton of flaky fish fillets and black mushrooms. Be careful that the fish has a few small bones in it. The sharp flavor of the pickled sour cabbage punches through the sweet & sour broth. My mother thought it too acidic while I found it a tad too sweet. This soup is usually eaten with rice, which should accompany this dish, but we had to order a side of rice separately. 4/5
TEPPAN SHRIMP comes out on a sizzling cart iron pot. It took me a minute to identify the taste which is an exotic garlic-cumin seasoning blend that transcends the properties of each. 4/5
The TEAS are very nice as well. I eyed the SEAFOOD BISQUE enviously at a neighboring table, which comes in a fancy soup bowl, but we had too much food already so have to save this for next time. All the dishes are generously portioned.
For dessert, I was torn between the strawberry/green tea shaved ice and the MANGO POMELO SAGO, and went with the latter as it's less common. It's a fruity tropical pudding and I don't love puddings, but am glad I tried it. 3/5
Service was great and attentive without being overbearing. Our waitress seemed cool and was lovely. At one point, the manager came by to check on us when he saw us reading our menus a while and waved over our server. (We weren't waiting - just taking a looong time to decide what to order and the waitress had already come by a couple of times...but it's nice he noticed.)
My toddler got his own set of mini metal utensils with a plastic bowl, cute.
The only shortcoming was that they ran out of certain cocktail ingredients, but I chalk that up to opening kinks which will be worked out in due course. I wanted the order the Osmanthus but only about half the menu was available so I settled for the Lily Bulb. However, the cocktail menu is exquisite. read more