Unique Dim Sum Dishes at Royal Seafood Restaurant

Fried Fish Skin

I have eaten dim sum my almost my entire life and not once have I had this, even when I was in Hong Kong.  So, it's a perfect time to seize the moment.  Truthfully, there isn't a whole lot of flavor.  It's really just a fishier and more nutritious style of chips.

Chilies Stuffed with Shrimp

Ok, this isn't the most original dish in the world considering there is just a variation of the more common green bell peppers.  If you're a lover of spicy food, you would definitely want to try this.

Offal Stew

This dish is something that I really miss since moving out of the New York area.  For the uninitiated, it looks like horror movie or shit in a bowl.  But, when done right, this can be the greatest thing in the world.  This comprises of a variety of stewed parts where you can choose which ones you like.  This bowl contains duck feet, beef tripe, abomasum, and spleen among others.

Lobster on Fried Noodles

This isn't really dim sum, but it is something that can be ordered during said meal.  It is traditional at dim sum restaurants to order a large dish at the end of the meal, which usually includes rice or noodles.  Here, there is a one pound Maine lobster fried and sautéed with ginger and scallions served on a bed of fried egg noodles.  The noodles are the key to the dish as they soak up the delicate sauce of and lobster juice.  I will take this over a lobster roll any day.  And not to mention, they cost the same.

Cinnamon Jelly

This is the only restaurant I have seen this being served.  To be honest, I have no idea exactly how this is made.  But I can guess that it is made from agar-agar like many Chinese jelly desserts.  The specs of cinnamon are then placed in the aspic as it is cooking and then it is cooled before eating.

Taipei Cafe

There is an abundance of Chinese restaurants in Rockville serving food from different regions.  So to continue the journey, it's time for Taiwanese food.  Taiwanese food is sort of a mixed bag in some ways.  Many dishes come from other parts of the mainland, primarily the Eastern and Southeastern.

It was said that the Communist takeover in the mainland that caused the Nationalists and many of their supporters from said regions to flee to Taiwan.  But I'm sure this happened afterwards when people realized the hardships of a dictatorship.  However, where politics fail to bring people together, there is food that comes to the rescue.

There is also some overlap with the food as some traditional dishes in one region can be interpreted differently in another.  This can involve variations in the method of cooking or use of ingredients as shown in the some of the dishes that they have at Taipei Cafe.

Stinky Tofu

The name says it all.  This is tofu that has been cured in rotten vegetable matter prior to being fried and served with pickled cabbage and soy sauce.  If you can get over the smell, you realize that it tastes nothing like it smells, a nice dish of dry fried tofu.  In fact, from what I was told, the stink is pretty mild compared to what you can get in Taiwan.  Here, you can smell it from the next table or so.  The real stuff can apparently tear paint off the walls.

Oyster Pancake

This is considered the most popular dish in Taiwan.  It's not so much a pancake as it is an omelette.  The oysters are fried in lard before being coated with egg and potato starch.  The potato starch adds thickness and depth.  Shellfish and eggs really go well together.

Three Cup Chicken

Here's another Taiwanese classic dish.  It gets its name from what the chicken is cooked in: three cups of soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil.  There is also basil, ginger, and garlic in the dish, which give the chicken a nice, bold flavor.  If there are any reservations I have, it's the way the chicken is cut.  It's hacked up very aggressively with a cleaver, causing the bones to shatter near the impact area.  This requires caution when eating as one will chew on said shattered bones.

Fish with Chili in Clay Pot

This is a rift on a classic Sichuan dish.It may seem intimidating with the amount of chilies in the sauce, but its actually not too spicy.  But it's actually quite good.  Flounder and some pickled cabbage is cooked in a soup of chilies and Sichuan peppercorns.  It's not so much about the heat as it is about the taste.

Salt Baked Pork Chops

This is a familiar dish from Southern China.  Where in the south there is a distinct layer of breading, this version has almost no breading.  It's lightly dusted with corn starch along with salt and pepper before frying.  So this version doesn't have a crunch to it.  Personally, I prefer the crunch.

Shaved Ice

For dessert, flavored water.  This dessert many versions which includes a variety of toppings.  This is a traditional version, which includes sugarcane syrup, taro, adzuki beans, and grass jelly.  No, this isn't the grass that grows on your yard.  It's made from the mesona chinesis plant that's a member of the mint family (mint jelly anyone?).  It's great for sharing as you get to pick and choose which toppings you prefer.

Another thing I like about this place is the non pretentious vibe.  There's no frills and no horde of foodies flocking here like in many other places.  And most of the staff came from another Taiwanese restaurant in the area, which gives a better understanding of why that place has gone downhill and this place is on the rise.

802 Hungerford Drive
Rockville, MD 20850

Zahav

Whenever I travel somewhere, I try to look for aspects that make a place very unique.  Philadelphia has a very nice food scene.

For a weekend trip with very limited time, I wanted to find a place that really stood out.  Zahav is that kind of place.  Here, they serve the cuisine of Israel, which is much more than the Jewish food you can find at some New York deli.  The cuisine has much deeper and complex roots than that.  Israel and the surrounding area known as the Levant has been conquered repeatedly over history by the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Ottoman Turks among others.  All of these cultures left their influences on the food.

The menu at Zahav consists of mezze or small plates, showing some similarities to its Mediterranean neighbors Greece and Turkey.  The menu has To get an idea of the food they serve here, I go with one of there tasting menus, Tayim.

Hummus Masbacha with Laffa

Bread: it must be a part of the meal.  But this bread is awesome.  It's crusty on the outside and slightly spiced with zatar.  And it's great for scooping up hummus.  This is not the packaged stuff from the supermarket.  This ubiquitous chickpea, tahina, and garlic spread is made in house and served warm with olive oil.  Masbacha is served with warm chickpeas with tahina on top.  It's really rich and delicate.  I mean, it had me at olive oil.  Olive oil is one of my biggest obsessions.  So much so, that I can drink this stuff straight up.

Salatim

This is the highlight of the meal and it's all vegetables.  This is a spread of 6 different salads with varying flavors and tastes.

There was Moroccan spiced carrots, green beans with olive oil and harissa, and Israeli cucumber and tomato salad.  The carrots pack quite a punch with the heat while the beans had a hint of heat.

Finally, there's tabbouleh, salt roasted beets with tahina, and twice cooked eggplants.  The tabbouleh contains kale, parsley, and bulgar wheat.  Personally, I really liked the beets.  They are mashed and mixed with tahina, or sesame paste.  The eggplant dish is very complex, containing red peppers, lemon, onion, and garlic.  Sadly, all these great ingredients were ruined by my most hated food ever.  Every element could be tasted, especially the eggplant.

Right away there's a ton of food that I'm scarfing down with bread and I started to get full.  Yes, veggies are getting the best of me.  At this point, I was about to call it a night.  The salami, laffa, and hummus would be a meal for any person in a decent state of mind.  It wasn't until the first mezze came in that I realized, I haven't had any meat yet.

House Smoked Sable

This is cold smoked fish on top of challah bread with an egg inside.  The waiter slices the bread in half, letting the oozing yolk leak out on to the plate.  It's sort of like a reverse French toast.  Mix that with the smoked fish and you've got a perfect Jewish breakfast.

Yemenite Beef Stew

This is not your ordinary beef stew with potatoes.  They use beef short rib and harissa for heat.  This broth is spicy but light.

Lamb Merguez

This consists of spiced lamb sausage with oyster mushrooms and pepitas.  The sausage itself is very intensely flavored, which is a good thing there are the mushrooms to mellow it out and cleanse the palate.  Some of that flavor comes from the charcoal that the sausage is cooked over.

Vanilla Custard

Being quite stuffed mostly from the appetizers, I decided to finish with something on the lighter side.  So here's a little custard with poached bananas, watermelon cubes, pistachios, and cardamom seeds.  My first impression of this is that it looks like a deconstructed yogurt parfait.  You got your yogurt (custard), some fruit (bananas and watermelon), and granola (cardamom and pistachio).  But obviously, this blows any parfait out the door.

There is one dish here that looks really good, but didn't get the chance to try: roasted lamb shoulder with pomegranate and chickpeas.  Once upon a time, it was only available as a part of one of their pre fixe courses.  Now, it's first come first serve.  It's usually meant for 3-4 people to eat, so downing it myself wouldn't be the smartest thing to do.  But hey, there is always next time.

How often do you see an Israeli restaurant?  Almost never.  This is truly a unique dining experience.  The diversity of the cuisine accurately portrays the diaspora of the country.


237 St. James Place
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Shoya Izakaya

 

One thing that I've always been trying to try is an authentic Japanese Izakaya.  Izakayas are the original gastropubs.  These are restaurants that serve a wide variety of food that goes well with beer or sake.  This place has a large menu with pictures of every item to give you an idea of what to expect.

This type of restaurant is the kind of place that I like.  First, the staff here is all Japanese, a true sign of quality and respectability.  I know this may sound discriminatory, but from my experience, this is true.  

There are items of many sizes for sharing or for yourself.  Being my first time here or at any izakaya, I go with a sampling of their small plates to get a sense of the food.

Takoyaki

This is a common street snack found in Osaka.  Even though there is a restaurant near my home where I can get this, I’ve actually never had this before.  These are octopus balls with batter served with rice seasoning, oftaku sauce and kewpie mayonnaise.  It’s best to eat them right away when there piping hot.  It may sound ridiculous since the batter is still liquefied and feels like lava in your mouth.  The one thing that bummed me out there is that they didn’t add any bonito flakes or katsuobushi.

Kushiyaki

This is another izakaya staple: grilled meat and sometimes veggies on a stick.  This plate has mushrooms, chicken wings, cherry tomatoes wrapped in bacon, chicken with scallions, and yakitori.  The grilling over the charcoal gives everything a nice crust, even the bacon.  The tomato and bacon is a very interesting combination.  Even though I don't like cherry tomatoes, I found the combination of bacon fat and tomato juice to be perfect.  The fat mellows the tartness of the tomato.

Hamachi Kama

This is part of the collar of the yellowtail that is grilled and served with grated radish and peppers.  The collar is surrounded by cartilage, which retains the moisture in the flesh.  One bite through the crust and inside is some of the moistest fish meat ever.  This was so good I even ate the fins, which crunch like chips.

Tako no Sunomono

Strangely enough, I ended my meal with the appetizers.  This is a traditional salad of two types of seaweed, cucumbers, and octopus over rice wine vinegar.  This would have a great way to wet the appetite due to the sour kick from the vinegar.  But I guess it works as a palate cleanser as well.

Steamed Uni Sushi

This was one of their daily specials.  Instead of being served cold, it is quickly steamed until warm.  The steaming brings out the flavor of the uni and is, in my opinion, a better pairing with the sushi rice.  Sea urchin has a flavor that is hard to describe since it is so unique.  The rice is just as important or more important than the fish or seafood on top of it, depending on the sushi chef who you ask.  

There was still so much more I wanted to try, but I wasn't going to destroy my wallet or my stomach. And I felt that it wasn't the greatest spread to a good idea.  But hey, I got to try takoyaki for the first time.  To be honest, this is not the greatest izakaya in the world.  I'm sure there are places that use better ingredients and better techniques.  But this was good enough for a first try.  Authentic Japanese food, like in much of the country, is not easily accessible.  There is so much more to Japanese than sushi.  Just see for yourself.  I only just scratched the surface.

6035 Peachtree Rd, Ste A101

Doraville, GA 30360

Eagle's Restaurant

When in the South, one should eat the food of the South.  And there's no better example of Southern food than soul food.

Soul food originated from the African slaves.  Being the subservient class, many of them were the ones doing the cooking for their owners in addition to cooking for themselves.  Once the Civil War ended and the 13th and 14th Amendments were established, these food traditions were only passed down through Black families while the rich Whites were left with nothing since they didn't know how to cook.  For a time, white men could neither jump nor cook.  Moral of the story: learn how to cook for yourself and others regardless of who you are or where you come from.  It's a very valuable life skill.

The food scene in Birmingham, like much of the South, is based heavily on soul food.  The most common type of establishment to get this is the "meat and 3".  As the name says, you get a choice of meat with 3 side dishes.  There are some well known ones in town like Niki's West, which was established in 1957 and has grown into one of the largest restaurants in the area.  But my choice for a meat and 3 is Eagle's Restaurant, which looks the same as it did since 1951.

Eagle's Restaurant is a dingy, tiny, and historic shack near the industrial area of town. The surrounding area has probably seen better days.  Boarded up homes, an unpaved parking lot, and an abandoned gas station are all nearby.  I remember walking into the restaurant feeling quite uncomfortable.

Right as you walk in, there are a few booth seats, an arcade machine to the left, and an old TV in the back.  But I felt right at home when I saw the small but amazing selection of food.  There were smothered pork chops, beef liver, chicken wings, meatloaf, yams, black eyed peas, and the ubiquitous collard greens among others.  But there is one thing that brought me here: oxtails. 

With the meat, my 3 are collard greens, candied yams, and cornbread.  Once I took a bite, I was instantly hooked.  It was the best preparation of oxtail I've ever had.  The oxtails were really tender having been cooked down at a low temperature for a long time.  But then again, for a tough cut like the oxtail, it's probably the only way to go in order to soften the meat.  The sauce actually gelatinizes onto the meat, giving it another layer of texture.  It was so good I quickly forgot how the scorching humidity was burning me.  While it is starting to cool in the North in the fall, the Deep South still feels like a tropical jungle.

To balance the meal, I choose some veggies that also received the same love and care as the oxtails.  The collards are cooked in the Southern way with bone-in meats to give it a smoky flavor.  The yams are really sweet and thick.  It is cooked down with lots of sugar and butter.  Sounds like something Paula Deen would make.  Since they are located near a farmer's market, they have access to some of the freshest ingredients every day.

Eagle's serves a different selection of food every day of the week, expect for Saturdays when they're closed.  Open 10:30am-3:30pm Central Time.

2610 16th Street N
Birmingham, AL 35204

Lunch Specials: Tempo Doeloe

On this edition of lunch specials, I'm in the Atlanta area.  The northeast to be exact.

In a 6 mile stretch of Buford Highway in the town of Doraville, you can eat your way through the whole world.  There are lots of ethnic restaurants and shops in the area, including Korean, Chinese, and Mexican among others.  However, I found something that I did not expect to find at all: Indonesian.  

Like many restaurants around here, this hole in the wall is tucked away in one of the many strip malls that dot the whole landscape.  There are a handful of tables, a TV showing Indonesian programming of some sort, and a small small kitchen in the back.

One of the things that brought me here was their lunch combo for $6.94 including tax. You get a lunch box with rice and 3 dishes from their small buffet.  For me, I got beef rendang, sayur lodeh (vegetable curry with coconut milk), and fish.  I also got fermented chili paste or sambal on the side.  

Each dish requires lots of ingredients to make and thus have very unique flavors.  Coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal, chilies, ginger, and a variety of vegetables are combined to create these complex dishes.  Sounds very similar Thai food but the here the overall taste is not as clean.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

For me, this was a stepping stone into Indonesian food.  You can't ask for anything better than a decent amount of great food at a cheap price.

5090 Buford Highway Suite 103
Doraville, GA 30340

Holeman and Finch Public House

Atlanta is the major city of the Deep South.  So all things Southern exist here, including the food.  But being a cosmopolitan city that attracts transplants across the country and the world, that Southern cooking has been taken to the next level.  Enter the New Southern cooking, which is reflected by Holeman and Finch Public House.

This place is part of chef Linton Hopkins' twin restaurants in the Buckhead neighboorhood.  Next door is Restaurant Eugene, which specializes in fine dining.  Holeman and Finch is more egalitarian. The crowd here is younger and trendier. Okay, there are a bunch of hipsters here.  But that's reflective of the surrounding neighborhood. 

The menu changes daily based on what is seasonally available.  There are two menus here: the regular menu and parts menu.  The food here is simple and uses primarily local ingredients.  There's also a drinks menu but I'm not much of a drinker, so it won't count in my book.

Parts means organ meat and some "exotic" bits.  Yes there are brains and testicles. But that was just for the night I dined there.  This is not a gimmick.  The cooking methods used here make the offal more palatable.  And these parts tend to taste much better the muscle or meat of the animal.

So here's what I had that night.

Deviled Eggs

This may not sound exciting, but like me I'm sure you would scarf down this stuff all day long at your next house party. These are done three ways: country ham, jalapeño, and bread and butter pickle.  The jalapeño was my favorite and strangely, it isn't spicy.  It was about the essence of the heat that could be tasted.  The pickle flavored one is made from housemate pickles from the chef's personal recipe.

Poached Duck Egg

This is an exquisite version of breakfast food.  A poached duck egg sits atop bacon, a squash and kale johnnycake, boiled peanuts, and sorghum syrup.  This has to be the best dish of my meal.  The sourness of the syrup with the savory johnnycake and the salty bacon is just perfect. The boiled peanuts? I have no idea what they're doing here.  It's probably a Georgia thing but I think the dish would be better without them.  But I could be wrong.

Veal Brains

A tiny sliver of brain is served with black butter, capers, and for some reason, bread.  The brain itself was more intense than I thought.  It has a creamy texture and a gamey and milky taste that is countered by the capers and butter that it's sautéed in.  This my first time having brains and this one good preparation.  I just wish that they served more than a tiny slice.  I would also prefer less bread.  But the bread is good, nevertheless.

Sidenote: there is no such thing as "black butter".  Beirre noir is just butter that is cooked over low heat until it turns dark brown and topped with something acidic.  In this case, there is apple cider vinegar.

Lamb Testicles

The testicles are cooked like veal scallopini.  The testicles were mellow and the taste was not as pronounced as the brains.  It is served with string squash, eggplants, and pea shoots in a creamy sauce.  Overall, it's a very mellow dish.  Even though I really hate eggplants, the ones they served here were not bad.  

Surry Ham

More meat to end the meal.  This ham is from Edwards in Surry, VA.  So it's not really local but oh does it taste good.  This is their premium Surryano Ham, the American version of the Spanish Jamón Iberico.  The pigs are purebred Berkshire pigs that are heritage raised.  There is a nuttiness in the flavor that comes from the peanut feed the pigs have. 

Since I got to the restaurant really late, as in after 10pm, I missed one of the things that they are apparently known for: burgers.  They only serve 24 of them as that is how much griddle space they have.  People order these 2 hours in advance apparently.  The reasons that the burgers are so special according to some are:

1. the bun, which is from the chef's own bakery, is toasted on the grill

2. the patty, which is made from a blend of chuck and brisket

3. the pickles, mustard, and ketchup are made in house

In my opinion, it doesn't sound like something to lose your collective shit about.  It's a burger not the lottery jackpot.  The toasted bun sounds good and all, but I personally don't like ketchup or pickles, especially on a burger.  But that's just my opinion.  I'm sure this burger is better than any you can find in town.  They seem to really focus on each aspect of the burger, not just the patty.  That's a plus in my book.  When I get to town, I'll probably try it then.  They also serve this on the regular Sunday brunch menu.  So yeah, there's always next time.  And considering how exciting the menu is, there will be.

This is small restaurant with bar seating and tightly packed dining area. Since they don't take reservations, either come early or late.

2277 Peachtree Road NW 

Atlanta, GA 30309

Hunan Delight

When it comes to Chinese restaurants, I'm a bit of a stickler.  I tend to look for restaurants or places that serve the real stuff, not some Panda Express or PF Chang's crap.  So I usually know that only restaurants in areas where there is a large Chinese population.  Usually, this means major cities or their immediate suburbs in some cases.  So you will never see me eating in some joint in Billings, Montana or Vermillion, South Dakota.

But what about Olney?  It's sort of in the Washington, DC metro area.  But this suburb is far from being the foodie paradise that I would prefer, with the usual chains like Chipotle and Five Guys among others.

As a first impression, this may be the last place I would want to blog about.  There are no Chinese characters on the outside.  Each table is served a plate of crispy wonton strips as an appetizer.  All tell tale signs of a typical takeout joint serving Americanized food.  But this thought was somewhat far from the truth.

I found out about this place from my parents, who were there on their way back from a trip.  They too had low expectations for the place.  But when they saw a group of Koreans order a Peking Duck, they instantly changed their minds and ordered one for themselves.  Koreans apparently frequent this place quite a bit.  But if that is the case, then why is there no Korean restaurant in the area?

That's for another time.  But for now, here are the dishes that are not listed on the menu and highly recommended by yours truly.

Peking Duck

This is probably the house specialty.  My first time dining here was the first time I had this dish in 3 years and first in 8 years in Maryland.  It's more than a simple roast duck.  It is first blanched in boiling water, then hung to dry for up to 24 hours.  It is then rubbed with the maltose glaze that gives the duck its brown color before it goes into the oven.  It's accompanied with scallions, pancakes, and sweet bean sauce.  On certain days, the head chef would prepare and serve the duck table side.  To eat it, you fill the pancake with sauce, scallions, and duck and then roll it up like a burrito.

When it comes to Peking Duck, it's all about the crispy skin.  Most places would serve mostly the skin and a little bit of meat.  Here, they serve the entire duck except for the wings.  Traditionally, most people would ask for the carcass to take home after carving.  My mom makes a killer gourd or winter melon soup with the carcass.

Rockfish with Chili Paste

Surprise, surprise.  A 3 pound rockfish from the Chesapeake is deep fried whole and topped with chili paste.  There is also a mild version where the fish is topped with a sauce of pickled vegetables.  Either way, they are both really good.  The fish itself is fresh and

Soft Shell Crab with Salt and Pepper

Another great surprise here.  The soft shell crabs are lightly fried and seasoned with salt and pepper.  It is garnished with chilies, scallions, and garlic.  A great combination of flavors in here.

At end of the meal, there was a dessert of rainbow sherbet.  I found this rather hilarious the first time I came here, but I guess white people wouldn't like the taste of tapioca soup with taro or red beans.

I'm actually glad I found this place.  This kind of place is one of the reasons why I started this blog: to look for the more nondescript places that serve unique and exciting foods.  If there is one thing I wish the restaurant could do is to add some authentic Chinese vegetables.  And since they have a large Korean clientele, I recommend that they serve pickled vegetable salad in place of the wonton strips for appetizer.  I believe the Korean name for that is kimchi.

18220 Village Center Dr
Olney, MD 20832

Lancaster County Dutch Market

Tucked away in a strip mall on the outskirts of Germantown lies a wonderland of food.  A place bound to have some interesting food: an Amish Market.  And the people who work here really play the part with the clothing and the hairstyles.

There is a large variety of vendors in this market.  Right as you walk in, there is a bakery section to the left and a pretzel stand in front.  To the right, there is a stall selling a variety of salads.  Many of them have pasta.  Pasta salads are not my cup of tea as I prefer greens over carbs.  That's just my opinion.

Further down, there are stalls selling fudge and chocolate candies to the left and fresh produce on the right.

If you take a left from the entrance, there is a cheese vendor and even a furniture vendor.  Yes, there is a modest selection of antique wooden Amish furniture.  But this stuff is really pricey and too old school for me.  Personally, I'm more into modern minimalist design.  Scandinavian is the best, except for IKEA.

There is also a small Dutch family restaurant in the back of the market.  After looking through the menu, there really is nothing truly special about this place.  It's really more about the Amish country ambiance than the food.  They serve standard American diner food like eggs and pancakes for breakfast and sandwiches and blue plate platters for lunch.  

Now the main attraction that everyone comes here for is the fried chicken at King's BBQ located in the back of the market.  I have been told by family members and coworkers that the fried chicken served here is some of the best in the area.  There's a long line for this place every time I've been here.  And it's really good.  It's what fried foods are meant to be: crispy and juicy.  I'm a dark meat guy, so I go for the legs and thighs.

There is of course more to the section than fried chicken.  There is also roasted chickens and Cornish hens.  And apparently there's also barbecued rabbit.  Although, I haven't seen any being cooked in any of the rotisseries.  I wonder why, would a kid start crying at the sight of a bunny being cooked up?  Would PETA come barging through doors in protest?  It's already dead for Christ's sake.  Eating it would give it a more useful purpose.

This is a really cool place to visit to check out, eat fried chicken, and do some grocery shopping on the side.

The market is open Thursday-Saturday every week.

12613 Wisteria Dr.
Germantown, MD 20874

Mannequin Pis

You know what sucks about living in Olney?  There aren't a lot of great restaurants around.  As a modest suburb, it's no surprise that there isn't a whole lot of exciting dining options.  Most of the restaurants around here are pretty standard.  But who would have ever guessed that there would be a Belgian restaurant here?

Mannequin Pis is named after the "iconic" statue of a little boy peeing into a fountain in Brussels.  I quoted iconic because I've been told that it's very small, easy to miss, and thus overrated.  And just like the statue, it's a small restaurant tucked away in small and hidden corner on the busy intersection of Georgia Ave and 108.  However, this place is underrated.  And interestingly named.

Speaking of making my mouth water, this is place is known primarily for one thing: mussels.  Which makes sense, as the national dish of Belgium is moules frites (mussels with fries).  Here, there are a whole variety of styles the mussels cooked in, ranging from the traditional marinière to the unusual Jamaican Isle and Hawaiian.  Each order contain 1 kilo of mussels in broth with the standard aromatics of celery, onions, thyme, and basil.  It's the European version of a clambake.  Oh, there are also fries with some homemade mayonnaise sauce.  I'm not much of a fry eater, so I'm a little biased here.  But you are into that stuff, go for it.  I just don't think there is anything special about it.  But what is special is the large amount of veggies in each pot.  So not only is it delicious, it's good for you.

Since there were too many pots decide from and I wasn't sure of what else to order, I let the waiter provide recommendations.  So here it goes.

Moules Snob

This pot contains lobster bisque and a splash of brandy.  This is by far the most luxurious mussel pot.  You also kill two birds with one stone as you have a soup and entree or appetizer.  The bisque in the bottom is creamy and intensely flavored from the brandy.

Moules Bruxelles

This one includes bacon, garlic, leeks, goat cheese, and beer.  Bacon is the key word here as it the main aroma of the dish and the main flavor of the broth underneath.  The broth is beer based and has a strong bacon flavor.  Beer and bacon: who would not want that?

Mushroom Ragout

This is thick dish of portobello and shiitake mushrooms slow cooked in its own sauce with some cream.  It also has lamb sausage and escargot, which is all served on top of toasted bread.  The mushroom flavor is just absolutely incredible.  Add some sausage with a bite and there is some intensity to this dish.  So intense that even the leeks and chives won't be able to soften the blow.  It also helps fill you up if the mussels couldn't.

Chocolate Terrine

Other than mussels, here's something else Belgian cuisine is known for: chocolate.  This is very different from any chocolate dessert I've had before.  It's semi sweet, slightly bitter, and served over a tart raspberry sauce.  So it's bittersweet and sour.  Now that I've had this, I must say that I prefer chocolate desserts to taste like this.  It's quite subtle in flavor and not too filling.  In my mind, ending a meal this way is preferable to feeling bloated from something like a super sweet chocolate cake with fudge and caramel topped with ice cream.

It's great to have found this restaurant right in my hometown.  I don't need to drive out to Rockville or Silver Spring to dine out.  This is a truly great hidden gem in an otherwise lame town.  It gives me hope that there could potentially be better things to come.  As there are new homes being built in the area, there is a potential to get more restaurants in the area as the amount of diners will increase.  Whether they are as open-minded or adventurous as I am, that's a different story.  For now, I get to enjoy myself with some mussels.

18064 Georgia Ave
Olney, MD 20832