Taiyaki Chocolate "Fish"

Fishes again! Chocolate fishes. Again, these fishes are the same on the outside as the red bean fish and custard fish, a thin crispy slightly sweet shell. This time the filling is chocolate flavored. The filling is sort of pudding-esque, like a chocolate custard. The custard is rich, but not particularly eggy. I like these fish buns better than the red bean fish, but I would rank them slightly below the plain custard fish. The egg custard jives a little better with the outer shell.

Score: 3.5/5 - Pretty good, but not quite as good as the custard fish! Still, I would consider them for future purchase.

Taiyaki "Fish" Custard Cake

H Mart! There's an H Mart in Burlington. It's a big popular Korean-American chain. I went because I needed some sauces and deep-fried tofu (and to explore). Of course, I wouldn't skip the dim sum section! These "fish" cakes had no English on the package except the brand name, Taiyaki, and the ingredients. I was pretty sure from the picture on the front of the package that this was just going to be a custard bun of some kind, and I was right!

The first time I tried these was when Rydia was visiting. She was super psyched for them, because she's had them fresh at her local market in New Jersey. They are made in a cooking iron like a waffle iron. The dough does taste like Chinese egg waffles, so it all makes sense.

I ended up steaming them (alongside Chef Hon veggie buns and lotus buns), even though the directions said to microwave them. Which would have been weird, I think? Seaming them, they ended up kind of soft, but the flavors were great. The custard is a standard, smooth egg custard, and the shell has a light flavor.

The next time I tried these, I microwaved them part way to soften the custard, and then put them in the toaster oven to crisp up the outsides. Ross thought they were too crispy that way, but I liked them that way! There's definitely a balancing act with the timing. Microwave them too long, they rupture, not long enough, they will still have solid custard cores. Toast them too long, and the custard will dry out and the shell will be crunchy, not long enough and they'll still be soggy.

Score: 4/5 - These are pretty darn good. I will buy them again. I will probably try the red bead flavor of these I saw at H Mart, too. (And I hope to try them fresh in New Jersey.)

Homei Custard Bun

Another bunch of buns from Kam Man are in the review pipeline. These custard buns from Homei are above average. The buns themselves are on the small side, as many custard buns are. The dough is soft, and the bun skin is relatively thin. The custard is a generous portion. The custard is smooth and tasty, still loose, not a firm gel. The flavor is overall pleasant. I would buy these again.



Score: 4/5 - Above average, nice, relatively thin but fluffy bread, generous sweet filling with good texture.

China Pearl Review

China Pearl (9 Tyler St., Boston, MA) is a huge dim sum palace that I have frequented on numerous occasions. This is the typical, red and gold decorated, push carts and punch-cards type of dim sum place. Have I mentioned that this place actually has two floors? Ack, I think they have an elevator for the carts! I recently visited for my friend Nicole's birthday, in a party of 10. We were lucky to get seated rapidly.

With so many people in the party, we were able to get and try a lot of stuff. I of course stuck to the vegetarian stuff, so there aren't any meaty pictures here... Even with a few of my favorites awol (the rice roll long donut, fried bread inside a rice roll doused in sweet soy sauce, is an elusive target, with the chance of getting it 50/50 any time you go, and the half-moon vegetable dumplings with walnut were also impossible to find this time), I still stuffed myself like crazy. It's hard to eat it all even if you take it easy.

First up, Chinese broccoli with dark sauce. This vegetable is a crispy stalk, like a broccoli rabe with more stalk and less leaf and buds, which is lightly sauteed. They put a dark sauce on this that may not be vegetarian. It's a savory umami sauce, I buy similar sauces for use at home that are vegetarian, but it could be oyster sauce... So sometimes I avoid this, but it is very tasty and probably the healthiest thing here.

Egg custard cups! They're flaky and light on the outside, and firm but smooth on the inside. The custard flavor is eggy, but not dominantly so. Better than buying them at a pastry shop.

Lotus buns, steam buns with sticky sweet paste on the inside. I have never gotten much from lotus paste as a flavor. It's a simple smooth sweet paste. The texture is good, it's not mealy or grainy, just soft and almost creamy.

Sesame balls are a classic favorite. These are chewy thick dough balls coated in sesame seeds with red bean paste on the insides. They're deep fried, so they end up a little crispy on the outside. The flavors are distinct, with the toasted sesame crust and an actual strong red-bean flavor for the paste.

These baked custard buns have the same custard inside them that the next bunch of fluffy custard buns. The custard is softer than in the custard pastry tarts, quite sweet, but still eggy. The crust on top is a sugar crumble crust, sweet but not too sweet. The bread of the bun itself is fluffy and just a little chewy. In the right corner of the picture you can see a tofu skin roll poking out. These are like giant sprint rolls with a wrapped tofu skin instead of a pastry wrapper. They are deep fried. The filling has strips of bamboo shoot, mushroom bits, carrots, baby corn, and such. The filling is pieces of these veggies, pretty well cooked, but large, and will totally just fall out of there. The rolls are relatively oily, but I love em. Don't know why I don't have a separate picture...

Next, fluffy steamed custard buns... How can you go wrong? Other than finger photo bombs...

A relatively new offering for China Pearl, edamame. These were pretty thoroughly steamed, and lightly spiced. There was a distinct sea-salt flavor, but some other subtle spices. Definitely some light pepper. There were hints of other spices I couldn't pin down. Maybe there was a tiny bit of ginger in the water? While I thought these could have been a cooked a little less, I thought the flavor was surprisingly subtle and good.

Finally, true desserts. This is silken tofu in a light honey ginger sauce. The honey is dilute, and the ginger flavor is light. The tofu is otherwise unsweetened. It's a surprise hit dessert. I should have taken a picture to show you of the serving cart, which has a giant wooden barrel for the soft tofu, which the server ladles out into bowls, then pours on the sauce. It's a very different dessert, and not overwhelmingly sweet. On the left, you can see the mango pudding cup. It's more of a firm jello, but it't probably made with agar, it's that firm. There are little shreds of real mango in there, too.

Overall, China Pearl gives the full dim sum experience, and actually has a lot of vegetarian stuff, though if you don't know what's what, you could have a hard time. Ask the waiters and the servers, but be aware that a fair number of the cart servers don't speak a lot of English. The maitre'd is a busy person, but can help you out in a pinch. Anyway, even if you just get your regular frozen favorites, like custard buns, they're just a little better fresh from a cart! And frankly, this is a cheap proposition. You probably couldn't manage $20 of dim sum a person!

Score: 4.5/5 - There's plenty of good stuff here besides sweets. Beware of sauces!