SGV: Dumplings and More at Zui Xiang Yuan
wood ear mushrooms
I started out my Chinese Food Week with highlighting the classic beef roll at 101 Noodle Express. It was part of our mini food crawl. Afterward, we went across the street to “Asian Food Center,” the plainly named strip mall with a ton of noodle shops including the new Zui Xiang Yuan.
I’ve been seeing friends stop into Zui Xiang Yuan and ordering spicy dishes on instagram. However I was with a friend who specified no spice so we got some other dishes. I’ll have to come back to try the spicy/sour yam noodles soup dish I spotted and maybe some other spicy dishes.
We started with a plate of wood ear mushrooms. There wasn’t an option to pick three but all the snacky things were around $3-4 so getting one or two more small plates wouldn’t have blown the budget. I’d try the tofu or seaweed next time. The wood ear mushrooms were appropriately garlic-y.
pan fried pork dumplings
Since we had boiled dumplings earlier in the day, we decided to get the pan friend pork dumplings which were quite juicy. The meat was quite savory. And they held up the next day when I reheated the leftovers.
beef noodle soup
The biggest surprise was the beef noodle soup. I expected a much darker, red broth but this was light and I suspected it was actually chicken. It was so light and soothing. My friend remarked this would be something she’d get at the Taipei airport.
The beef was very tender and it was a good bowl of noodles. It wasn’t anywhere close to my current favorite beef noodle soup at Corner Beef Noodle House but it’s not bad. I just felt this was unlike any other beef noodle soup I ever had- like a cousin of the one I am most familiar with.
I’m coming back for the spicy!
Zui Xiang Yuan
1269 E Valley Blvd., Alhambra, CA 91801 — (626) 284-3549© 2018 The Minty