Eat. Travel. Eat!

On June 9, 2012, New Mandarin Noodle Deli was featured on Easy Chinese , a new, rebranded season of an existing show on the Cooking Channel with Ching-He Huang as host. At the restaurant, the chef taught Huang about the process of making shou la mian (hand pulled noodles) as well as dao xiao mian (knife cut noodles), and Huang sampled a rendition of tomato and egg knife cut noodles on location.  Of course, Huang proclaimed it as delicious, recognizing the springiness of the noodles. Similar to other restaurant visits featured on Easy Chinese , Huang then proceeded to make her own dish, utilizing the knife cut noodles from the chef. In comparison, her dish was more spicy, with liberal application of chili oil. I found the feature interesting as New Mandarin Noodle Deli certainly hasn't been the most popular of all places, and my review, along with more recent reviews, have not been positive about the place. Perhaps there's something that the Easy Chinese crew that we do ...

About a year ago, Golden Deli opened up in Temple City, replacing Alpha Science, an education center that has since relocated to Monrovia nearby Shanghai Bamboo House . We have been coming to this location ever since it opened, after having a good first experience and satisfactory return experiences. (Condiments and Utensils) The restaurant actually runs quite similarly to that of a fast-casual restaurant (or "express style"); the customer gets to pick the table, holds the table number so that the employees can send over the food to the table, and gets to pick up drinks like tea, water, and soft drinks by themselves. Likewise, the interior is modern, like those of fast-casual restaurants. However, I find the food quality similar, if not the same, to that of the Golden Deli in San Gabriel ; management seems to agree, having stripped the "express" part from the restaurant name. This fast-casual aspect makes Golden Deli a great place for newcomers to try Vietna...

After dinner at Hong Kong Kitchen- San Gabriel , we thought it would be pleasant to have some sort of dessert. So, we visited Tea Station, a recently opened tea shop in Temple City that takes the location of a clothing store. There we decided to only order one or two items to share, but found out that every person has to order one item for dine-in service. One of my companions decided on a glass of bubble green tea with tapioca pearls/boba. Out of all the places we have tried, Tea Station (or any Tea Ren place) seems to retain most of the tea's flavor and fragrance. Although we like the chewy, tender tapioca pearls and the overall quality of the tea, the bubble green tea is on the sweeter side for our preferences. Asking for half of the amount of sugar will allow the tea to stand out more. Another companion ordered the Caribbean fruit tea, which happened to be on a discount at 3.99 USD during our visit. This tea is also on the sweeter side, but has plenty of fragrance and rich...

It might have just been chance that I randomly chose to visit the House of Mandarin Noodle for dinner recently this week, as it had just opened this month! If you are not in the know yet, the House of Mandarin Noodle is the current iteration of the older Mandarin Noodle Deli in Temple City (now closed) and even before that, Mandarin Noodle House in Monterey Park (open, but not owned by same people). And of course, the number one question we were asking was: Has the owner become less stressed now? And is the food still as good as before, or better? Anyway, unlike the previous location which was located on the busy Las Tunas Drive, the current location is farther south, in/close to a residential area, but still on Temple City Boulevard. For some, this might feel slightly unsafe- there is less traffic and less lighting around this area. It is definitely farther for those above or east of Temple City, but for those living in Alhambra and El Monte House of Mandarin Noodle is now closer...