Cantonese roast meats and much more
By MC SLIM JB | November 25, 2009
Constrained by a small word count, I often choose restaurants with relatively short menus. I correctly took Vinh-Sun to be a Cantonese "BBQ" specialist, a retailer of roast pork, whole suckling pigs, ducks, and chickens. But it's also a spanking-clean Chinatown restaurant serving a broad Cantonese and Hong Kong menu that's so delicious, generous, and value-priced that I gladly shredded my expense account to explore it. A roast duck, chicken, and pork rice plate ($6.95) is exemplary: a hefty portion of three moist yet crisp-skinned meats, chopped with deft speed and precision by the meat-cutter, served with good rice and steamed gai lan (Chinese broccoli) in oyster sauce. If all they served was this one dish, I'd still return.But there's much more, like congee, the heartwarming rice porridge that swiftly dispels the waning year's chill: chicken and black mushrooms ($4.75) is tasty, but you should also try frog ($6.50), from the same texture/flavor neighborhood as chicken wings. Several versions of Hong Kong–style soup noodles boast a clear, perfect chicken stock that could probably cure colds, as in the wonderful shrimp-dumpling noodle soup ($4.50). Hong Kong–style lo mein ($5.95) uses lightly pan-crisped noodles as a base for a huge mound of "barbecued meat" (a/k/a char siu: sliced boneless roast pork with a sweetish red glaze). Excellent frying technique shows in the superb dry-fried spicy chicken wings ($6.75/12) and spicy, salty dry-fried squid, scallop, and shrimp ($16.95). If you've tasted only American-Chinese beef chow foon, the gloppy stir-fry of flat rice noodles, you'll find the Hong Kong dry-fried version here ($5.95) a revelation. Stir-fried pea-pod stems ($12.95) deliver a lovely fresh-pea flavor. The only disappointment is hai nam chicken ($9.50/half; $18/whole), a dull steamed bird hacked up and served on barely flavored rice with cucumber slices.
The space is deceptively large: 40 first-floor seats plus another 70 upstairs. Beverage options include milk tea in the Hong Kong style ($1.25/hot; $1.95/cold) and Chinese lagers ($4). Service is fast and typically brusque, and the late-night hours draw more than a few inebriated nightclubbers ordering excellent scallion pancakes ($2.95) and ho-hum General Gau's chicken ($9.50). If you've come all the way to Chinatown, don't make this mistake. Once you've tasted Vinh-Sun's more authentic dishes, you may well find yourself acting like a local at that retail counter, ordering a gloriously bronzed whole roast duck ($17) or a hunk of roast pig ($6.50/lb) to take home.
Vinh Sun BBQ & Restaurant, located at 58 Beach Street, in Chinatown, is open daily, 8 am–2 am. Call 617.338.1368.
Related:
J.J. Foley's Café, Sofia Italian Steakhouse, Taquería Jalisco, More 
- J.J. Foley's Café
An old standby starts low and aims high.
- Sofia Italian Steakhouse
I have to admit I giggled when I got a press release describing this restaurant as being located in the “white-hot West Roxbury-Dedham dining scene.” After all, the space had already killed a reasonably good steak house, Vintage, after a long closure in which it tried to upscale, then ended up downscaling by adding red-sauce Italian dishes.
- Taquería Jalisco
Exploring a new restaurant is like baseball: sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it isn't available. My Taquería Jalisco rainout was a Tuesday, its regular day off.
- Review: Taam China Glatt Kosher Chinese Cuisine
Theoretically, there could be terrific kosher Chinese restaurants.
- Spice
You might find it difficult to believe, but at one time there were no Thai restaurants in Providence. I know, I know, it’s sad — no pad Thai, no pik pow sauce, such deprivation, such shamed downward glances in the streets.
- Photos: Gross Thanksgiving food to avoid
Thanksgiving is a time for gorging on food and hanging out with family, but really it's mostly about the food. There are some dishes that take it too far, however, and we are here to help you steer clear of those.
- Bina Osteria
Bina Osteria may be the last luxury restaurant to open in Boston for a long time — or at least the last that isn't situated in a boutique hotel.
- The Regal Beagle
The Regal Beagle is making a quick success doing what almost all the new restaurants want to do: small plates; comfort food with a gourmet twist; a mixture of high and low; a bit of locovore, green, and slow fare; some salty fast food; interesting drinks; and scrambled nostalgia.
- City Table
I'm enjoying this restaurant recession more than the last one.
- Johnnie's on the Side
This large space has always housed attractive restaurants, despite violating two of Nadeau's laws: Eateth Not Within 1000 Cubits of a Government Institution; and Ditto for Sports Stadia.
- Hot + steamy
"My kingdom for a plate of soup!" a hungry and possibly freezing Anton Chekov wrote in 1890, aboard a Russian steamer crossing the world's oldest lake.
- Less
Topics:
On The Cheap
, Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, Foods, More
, Culture and Lifestyle, Food and Cooking, Foods, Meat, Asian Food and Cooking, Chinese Food and Cooking, Ethnic and Regional Cuisines, Chinese food, Lifestyle, Food and Beverage, Less
