**** A-Bowl has closed
Cathy did a post on A-Bowl a few months back and over the last couple of months, both "YZ" who is from Shanghai and Calvin joined for multiple meals at A-Bowl. We had a nice smapling of the menu and some of the dishes multiple times.
So here's a collection of dishes; from the picks to pans….
Favorites:
So, YZ's favorite dish at A-Bowl hands down is the Crispy Fish Fillet with Seaweed. One of her friends (and folks on Weichat) recommended we order this dish. I've had it three times so far.
It's been crisp, light, the fish moist all three times I've had this. It's mild in flavor so the nori adds a nice oceany-savoriness. It's lightly salted and seasoned and not a bad dish at all.
Calvin's favorite dish is an easy pick. He wanted it on our first visit, but was told it would take 20-30 minutes to prepare and we didn't have the time. So on a day where it seemed all our meetings were cancelled we headed over….and as we walked in the door, Calvin ordered it; even before we got our menus. Yes, he was determined to have this… yes, we waited for the Pork "Elbow" with House Sauce.
And it was pretty good. Not overly sweet, the skin held form but was nice and gelatinously gooey. The flesh was fork/chopstick tender. Nice pork flavor, moist, not overly salty…..a pretty good job on this!
Speaking of pork; I actually enjoyed the "Crystal Pork Jelly".
I enjoyed this version of jellied pork; it had a good amount of fat to pork and was pretty tender, but not falling apart. Loved the crown of "aspic", nice swiney notes. I really enjoyed the sauce as it was salty-sour-pungent-sweet; nice amount of garlic and black vinegar and quite to my taste.
Inconsistent But Will Try Again:
There were a couple of dishes I had twice and were good on one visit and not so good on another.
The Mei Cai Kou Rou was pretty good the first time I had it.
On the first visit; the pork was a luxuriously fatty, melt-in-the mouth tender. The sauce while being quite rich, had a decent soy sauce-sweet-acidic balance, and the preserved vegetable, which looked mushy, actually had a nice, mild crunch to it.
The next time we had it; it was too salty and pork was drier and tougher.
The Shanghai Marinated Duck also followed the same pattern.
On the first visit; the color of the duck wasn't great, but this worked out fine as the duck was tender, full of flavor, and the sauce just sang in harmony….it elevated the dish. The second time around, the duck was tougher, the sauce way too sweet and sticky….it was trying to be the star of the show and just over-shadowed the duck.
Perhaps Will Try Again:
On that visit where we couldn't wait for the Pork Knuckle, the really nice young lady working recommended we order the House Special Pig Feet.
This was not bad; but the skin was a tad on the chewy side and the sauce way too sweet.
The Deep Fried Corn with Salted Egg Yolk was nice and crunchy.
But the salted egg yolk flavor was muted, making this a bit on the sweet side. Still, I really enjoyed the crunchiness.
Probably One and Done:
Minced Cumin Lamb with Pancake.
While this definitely had enough cumin for me; I missed the palate cleansing flavor of cilantro. This was also salty and I wasn't a fan of the lamb used; it lacked the nice gaminess and had a mealy-chewy texture to it. I think I'll try the regular cumin lamb out.
While the Sheng Jian Bao was better than the version down the street at Tasty Noodle House, it wasn't even close to those served at Tasty Noodle House in Hacienda Heights….which by the way, isn't even close to my favorite pan fried baozi being served at a Tasty Noodle House.
While the bottoms were decently crisp, the rest of the baozi was doughy and wet…it lacked any fluffiness. The filling was on the sweet side, but kind of tough.
I might try this again, but am not sure.
One and Done:
The Xiao Long Bao was a disappointment.
I can sum this up quickly; no soup, wrappers too thick and rubbery, folds hard and chewy…..I'll stop there.
The Beef Noodle Soup wasn't to my taste.
Actually not to Calvin's either. We shared this and after one spoonful of broth and a bite of the mush noodles we both were silent….then we cracked up. The broth was very one-dimensional with some spice; but that's it. No beefiness and a certain greasy tongue feel; not even the preserved vegetable helped. The beef was very tough as well. This was just not an enjoyable soup.
And yet, I thought the Chao Nian Gao was even worse than the NRM.
I'm not sure what happened to the wok skills of the chef on this one. The Nian Gao were mushy, there was very little flavor….not enough vegetable. The pork was tough, chewy, and had no 
taste. There was a strange greasiness to the dish; as if it wasn't stir-fried at the right temperature.
So there you go; a collection of dishes from A-Bowl. I'm sure the folks from work will want to return; they enjoy this place way more than Tasty Noodle House. So pork knuckle here we come……
Check out Kirbie's and Faye's posts on A-Bowl as well.
A-Bowl
4690 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111