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Shangri La

December 2, 2009 by Jennifer Che 12 Comments

In the Chinese community, word of mouth is potent, and if a new delicious and authentic Chinese restaurant enters the scene, EVERYBODY knows about it immediately.  Good Chinese restaurants never need to advertise because word travels like wildfire.  Lines are predictably long, yet people are willing to wait.

Shangri La in Belmont is definitely one of those restaurants.  Unlike most of the restaurants in Chinatown (which are more Cantonese-style), Shangri La specializes in Sichuan and Taiwanese cuisine.  Their special weekend Taiwanese brunch is especially good.

Come any Saturday around lunchtime, and be prepared to wait at least 20 minutes for a table, if not more.  The place is teeming with  Asians.  The food is excellent here, and everybody knows it.
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We went on a Saturday around 12:30 and had to wait about 25 minutes before being seated.  The restaurant is super crowded, and it’s hard to wait inside the restaurant.  There just is not enough room to accommodate all the people waiting.  We eventually walked to the Middle Eastern store next door and bought some snacks to kill time (and the hunger pangs!).

It was worth the wait.  The weekend brunch menu is fabulous.  Almost all of the dishes are generally excellent, with several outstanding dishes and just a few mediocre ones.  Here’s what we got and our thoughts . . . .
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Salty Soy bean milk (咸豆浆) unsweetened soy bean milk is “curdled” with the addition of vinegar, giving this soup the consistency of really soft tofu.  Chopped up fried crullers and pickled vegetables are then added to the mix, making this taste like a salty soybean soup.  It was OK here, but definitely not as good as the one at Mary Chung in Cambridge.
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Fried Cruller (油條) A Taiwanese breakfast classic, this was good.  Typically you dip this into the sweet soy bean milk (甜豆花), which we also ordered.
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Scallion Pancake 蔥油餅 ($4.25): These were fried to a nice, crispy consistency, and we not too greasy, which was nice. Solid, definitely solid.
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Beef Noodle Soup (牛肉麪) This was AMAZING!!!  One of the best beef noodle soups I’ve ever had in Boston.  The soup had a rich, beef flavor that was just spicy enough to have a slight kick. The beef was soft and tender, as if it had been stewed for a long time. Bryan said he preferred the one at Mary Chung (which is excellent!) because it is spicier.  Although I love the one at Mary Chung, I liked how the spice in this dish did not overpower it, but instead added a subtle kick that was just perfect.  If only they had fresh handmade noodles. Everyone agreed at the table that this dish was one of the best out of the ones we ordered.  If you come here, definitely try this!
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Taiwanese Stir Fried Vermicelli 炒米粉 ($6.95): This dish was fine, though nothing extraordinary.  The best fried vermicelli I’ve had in Boston is from Chung Shin Yuan in Newton.
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Cattle Tendon ($6.95): I LOVE LOVE LOVE this dish and can never stop eating it whenever I order this dish.  I swear there’s some salty addictive agent in it (heh heh, maybe MSG) that just keeps making me come back for more.  The tendon has the perfect chewy texture and a great spicy aroma that comes from the tendon being tossed in a mixture of sesame-oil and chile oil.  Another one of my favorites here.
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Beef wrapped with Sesame Pancake (牛肉夾餅) This was excellent (sorry you can’t see the beef in the picture).  The sesame pancake was flaky and crispy; the beef inside had great flavor.  The scallions gave a nice, sharp contrast to the heavier, meaty flavors.
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Pork Belly and Pickled Mustard Greens Bun (刮包)
This is another MUST GET dish. I bet David Chang’s signature Momofuku Pork Belly buns are inspired from this traditional Taiwanese dish.  Pork belly and pickled mustard greens are topped with sweet ground peanuts and cilantro in a steamed bun.  The resultant flavor combination of the rich pork belly, the salty pickled mustard greens, the sweet crunchy peanuts, and the crisp cilantro and incredible.  Really delicious.  Definitely a must-try.
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Pan fried Rice Cakes 炒年糕 ($6.95.  This was the only dish that I found to be VERY mediocre and not worth ordering again.  The rice cakes were doused in this generic brown sauce, and this dish was more reminiscent of Americanized Chinese food than an authentic pan-fried rice cake dish, which, frankly, needs more oil and less goopy sauce.

Nevertheless, despite this one pitfall, the rest of our dishes were either very solid or absolutely delicious.  This is definitely one of the best restaurants for Taiwanese dim sum in Boston, and it’s easy to see why people are willing to line up.

In conclusion, if you go, you should definitely try the beef noodle soup, the beef wrapped with sesame pancake, and the pork belly buns.  If you are willing to try tendon, then you should really get the cattle tendon as well.  If you’ve never had dim sum, the sweet soy milk and the fried cruller are worth getting, just because they are such a classic part of the Taiwanese breakfast experience.  Oh, so are scallion pancakes!

Note: several of the menu items described above are only available on weekends during their special weekend brunch.  Their normal dinner menus is still excellent, but you will not be able to order all of the Taiwanese dim sum dishes.

Shangri La
(617) 489-1488
149 Belmont St
Belmont, MA 02478
Shangri-la on Urbanspoon

©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: Belmont, Greater Boston, Restaurant, Review Tagged With: Chinese, noodles, Taiwanese

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Comments

  1. Fresh Local and Best says

    December 2, 2009 at 11:22 am

    This place looks awesome!

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  2. Joy says

    December 2, 2009 at 11:39 am

    Hmm, I remember having dinner there once and not being very impressed…. How would you compare their Taiwanese brunch with Chung Shin Yuan’s?

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  3. Chow and Chatter says

    December 2, 2009 at 7:28 pm

    oh wow what amazing food love the crullers !

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  4. Jen says

    December 4, 2009 at 5:54 pm

    Joy – I have only been to Chung Shin Yuan twice I think. I was very impressed with Chung Shin Yuan, and there are definitely dishes that Chung Shin Yuan does better. Having said that, the Taiwanese Brunch at Shangri-La is definitely solid, and probably one of the best around here. Still haven’t tried Jo Jo Taipei for breakfast though – not sure they do the brunch or not.

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  5. Jeff D says

    December 7, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    A Taiwanese-American friend took me here for brunch and we sampled almost everything you did. Very very tasty. Plus whenever members of an ethnicity frequent a restaurant that cooks that ethnicity’s food it almost has to be good.

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  6. Rachel says

    February 24, 2010 at 8:56 pm

    I’m curious if you’ve ever tried the spicy beef udon at Fin’s, which is one of the best I’ve had (although it’s Japanese, not Taiwanese, and I’ve never been to the places you mentioned…). If you’ve never been there, you should totally check it out! It’s in Kenmore Square.

    They also have really fresh ingredients and unique rolls. I’m a pretty big fan of the salmon nigiri, ocean maki, and christmas maki. Their cowboy maki (blowtorched thinly sliced steak) is interesting, although it’s more of a white person thing, haha. I like their genmai cha, although sometimes the brown rice flavor is too prominent.

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  7. Tiny Urban Kitchen says

    February 25, 2010 at 2:03 am

    Hi Rachel,

    No, I have never had the spicy beef at Fin’s. In case, I’ve never heard of the restaurant. I love salmon nigiri, and genmaicha is probably my favorite tea! I’ll have to check it out sometime. Thanks for the recommendation!

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  8. FatBoyM says

    June 23, 2011 at 9:28 pm

    Hi, Have you been out to Formosa Taipei in Lexington?  Some of the best noodle soup I have had outside of Asia.  The meat is incredibly tender.  A number of their other dishes are very excellent, and IMHO much better than Shangri LA and Chung Shing Yuan (I have been to both a number of times).  Shangri-La is great for dinner.   The owners of Formosa used to be the kitchen staff at JOJO, which I used to really enjoy until it went downhill when they left.  
    Try Formosa..

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  9. jentinyurbankitchen says

    June 23, 2011 at 11:32 pm

    I’ve been there once back when it first opened (there’s actually a write-up about it on this site). We thought it was OK, but we liked Shangri-La better. Of course, I’ve only tried it once so it’s probably worth trying again. The most difficult thing is lack of seating!

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  10. Sharon says

    January 8, 2015 at 8:29 am

    I live close to here and have been eyeing this place for a while, and now MUST GO after seeing your post! Beautiful pictures! 😀

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Trackbacks

  1. Jen's Top Restaurants in Boston says:
    July 8, 2015 at 1:32 am

    […] menu is quite similar to Gourmet Dumpling House, is also very good.  In the suburbs, we do love Shangri La in Belmont for Taiwanese/Northern-style dim sum and Golden Garden for its interesting dishes from […]

    Log in to Reply
  2. Jen's Top Restaurants to visit in Boston - 2017 update - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    December 20, 2017 at 7:30 am

    […] menu is quite similar to Gourmet Dumpling House, is also very good.  In the suburbs, we do love Shangri La in Belmont for Taiwanese/Northern-style dim sum and Golden Garden for its interesting dishes from […]

    Log in to Reply

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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