Notes: Only open till July 31st. Submitted the address change
Anyway, this is a review for the newest location of the Mission Chinese pop-up located within Cha Kee on Mott. The service was friendly constantly refilling waters and bringing extra napkins but the lighting was way too dark. I had heard from prior experience that the food was a bit oversalted so I ordered a milk tea which was $5 and tasty with a pretty strong tea flavor and not much sweetness though there could have been a little bit less ice. The food all came out very quickly with I think the last dishes to arrive being the lamb ribs and the mapo. They also have a tasting menu for $65 consisting of a bunch of small plates, two appetizers, a choice of mains, and their dessert which is not that bad of a deal if the portion size is decent and two people could go and order everything from that meal and split stuff.
We soon got their Addictive Cabbage Salad for $12 with sesame and seaweed secret dressing. The cabbage was crunchy with a good bright dressing with some umami to it. It was nice to go back to this occasionally when I wanted to eat something a bit lighter.
The Cha Kee Chow Fun for $20 was pretty good. Consisting of fresh rice noodles stir fried with beef, bean sprouts, and garlic shoots, the noodles had a good chew to them with some good wok hei and the beef had a nice texture. This was probably the most normal tasting dish of the bunch and one of the tastier ones.
Also available for noodles was Jacky's Spicy Sprite Noodles for $16 consisting of thin noodles with bean sprouts, garlic chives, and effervescent dressing served cold. Apparently inspired by Haidilao, this is a new dish for the menu and was unique. There was a bit of sweetness and a tiny bit of spice from the chili oil, and a bit of chew from the noodles.
Less successful of the smaller plates was the Shiso Fried Rice for $19 with garlic, salted butter, and plum pickle. There was just way too much shiso and the rice itself was very lightly fried lacking much texture. I think it needed more pickled vegetables or something as it felt one note.
Least favorite of the small plates and the dishes overall was the Chongqing Chicken Wings for $19 consisting of "very spicy and numbing" chicken wings. I think they came with five to an order and the wings were quite large and moist. However the biggest issue was the powder on top. I'm all for flavor and I enjoyed the numbness from the Szechuan peppercorn and I love five spice powder but this didn't taste good. There was way too much of the five spice powder making the skin bitter from the overpowering star anise flavor alone making these pretty unappetizing. We finished everything outside of one wing at the end for a reason.
One of my favorites of the larger plates was the Broccoli Beef Cheek for $27 with stir fried gai lan and smoked oyster sauce. The beef was plentiful and very tender and the vegetables had a good crunch. I guess the only complain was that I couldn't taste the smokiness of the oyster sauce so the sauce was a bit plain.
My other favorite was the Kung Pao Pastrami $31 with hometown pastrami, home fries, peanuts, peppers, and onions. While it definitely had a lot more pieces of potato then pastrami, the flavor was excellent with some nice richness though apparently it wasn't as spiced as last time one of the other people there had been to one of their pop-ups. It was just a good mix of textures as well.
Also good was the Sizzling Cumin Lamb Ribs for $39 with sweet dates and white barbecue sauce. The lamb ribs were very tender with a hint of sweetness. The cumin flavor could have been a bit stronger which is a bit funny to me as the other cumin focused dishes had too much of it but overall the flavors were solid.
Least successful of the mains was the Mapo Tofu for $24 with minced pork shoulder and silken tofu stewed in beef fat and fermented chili sauce. The texture of the silken tofu was excellent but this was the only really good part of it. The sauce didn't have enough ferment to it and the peppercorn was light. There was also only a tiny bit of meat so I didn't really think it was worth it. They can honestly make this vegetarian and charge maybe $5 less and it would be a better more worth it dish as the tofu as said was excellent.
Two of us split their dessert which is the Silky Lemon Cream for $12 with black tea ice and pop rocks. The dish consisted of two distinct layers with the top being a barely sweetened black tea ice with a sprinkle of pop rocks and the bottom being a sweet and sour lemon custard with a texture reminding me of a panna cotta. As someone who likes desserts that aren't overly sweet, I of course loved this dessert and the little bit of pop rocks was fun.
Out of review space. Overall solid with a couple faults. Mid/upper 3 read more