We visited here during the Chinese New Year time, and yes, things did change for a while! For the weekend there was no more lunch menu; instead it was all dinner menu. And, there was also Chinese New Year dishes added to the menu for Chinese New Year, and so we tried one of them.
The "pattern" for Temple City was very evident today. As we drove out, we saw the Arcadia restaurants filled at 11 AM in the morning, while it was almost 12:30 when Green Island was almost filled. We were like the first customers at 11:30; and so, we automatically got:
The booster table! As I have said before, these seats really are very closed off from everything else and the only view you can see are the windows and the people across the wall. Unless you stand up, you basically can't see anything else!
One of the new year dishes is this: peanuts with hairy seaweed, lotus root, and pigs foot. It is cooked for a very long period of time- to the fact the pigs foot was almost falling apart. This was good, and you could taste the ingredients, but I would have liked a bit more salt or seasoning.
Another dish we ordered that day was the house special chicken which is served at room temperature- not hot, but not really cold either. With it is the green onion and ginger sauce, soy sauce, and some pickled vegetables. As you eat it, you know it isn't a chicken that has been boiled for a long time and then just served to you; it is tender and has lots of chicken flavor, as it should be. The sauces and vegetables have lots of bold flavors which for those who want even more flavor is a good thing to eat the chicken with.
A mound of big peatips sits in a bowl of soup, and on top is some fishcake. The peatips are cooked, but still are crisp. And the soup? Great to sip by itself, or eat it with rice. A very flavorful broth indeed.
This was the pork belly and napa cabbage hot pot, but the portion size looked WAY smaller. Why? They switched the bowls! Compare:
They probably did this as the older stone pots were chipping, as you can see in the photo above. But the food? It was still the same; fresh and rich. The cabbage still had some crisp and the pork belly was fatty, and the sauce everything was on was saturated with the flavors from the two items. Yum.
Other posts on Green Island:
Green Island Visit #3 2009 (Lunch)- Temple City
Green Island Visit #2 2009 (Lunch)- Temple City
Green Island- Temple City
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Green Island
9556 Las Tunas Drive
Temple City,CA 91780
626-286-6788
Comments
Eh... there's another thing also from the sea like hairy seawed which is cooked often in Chinese restaurant, read somewhere that it contains high mercury, not so sure whether it's true or not.