LTH Home

MingHin Cuisine Pappy slappin' BBQ in the mall

MingHin Cuisine Pappy slappin' BBQ in the mall
  • Forum HomePost Reply BackTop
     Page 1 of 2
  • MingHin Cuisine Pappy slappin' BBQ in the mall

    Post #1 - November 27th, 2010, 2:53 am
    Post #1 - November 27th, 2010, 2:53 am Post #1 - November 27th, 2010, 2:53 am
    This is a new spot right next to LSC at the west end of the chinatown mall. While the food seems to be quite good in general, The BBQ is really exceptional. The owner (whose first shop Chi Cafe is just to the east) tells me that he spent considerable time in Hong Kong and Guandong perfecting the art of Chinese BBQ. The techniques he's using are evidently rather labor intensive but the results, though a bit pricier than the norm, seem well worth it. Although I haven't had a chance to sample everything some of what I've had is astonishingly good. The roast duck for example is just about the best Ive had in Chicago. Where it differs from most is in the skin which is delightfully crispy. Not dryish and sort of crispy like the flattened pei-par birds served elsewhere, but fatty and crispy and flavorful in a unique and wonderful way. Really good.
    The Macau style pork belly is also right up there. Again having an almost perfect balance of fatty and crispy, this is served with a small side dish of white sugar, for sprinkling on top, which seems to add the perfect finishing touch. It's the only part of the pig they serve roasted, evidently eschewing the other parts because they can often be too dry. Char siu is refreshingly free of the ubiquitous red coloring and very good as well. The BBQ counter can be found in a small alcove to the right of the entrance but the meat evidently come from a special kitchen upstairs.
    Food from the regular main floor kitchen seems pretty good, with oyster and ginger casserole and string beans with duck among the better dishes I've tried but the menu is fairly large and lots left to explore there including a very extensive selection of fresh and live seafood. I do find a disturbing number of a Americanized sounding options (Mongolian Beef, General Tso's Chicken etc) but I haven't tried those so can't comment. The owner tells me his concept is "beyond just Hong Kong" and I guess that must include an eclectic array of dishes.
    The room s quite attractive, finished in cherrywood and steel, giving the place a nice contemporary look. Most tables and booths are on the large side so groups of two or three may find themselves at a table way bigger than they need. But this is a small point. The food is good, and the BBQ is great. Hope it lasts.

    MingHin Cuisine
    2168 S Archer Ave
    Chicago, IL 60616
    312-808-1999
    Lacking fins or tail
    The Gefilte fish
    swims with great difficulty.

    Jewish haiku.
  • Post #2 - November 27th, 2010, 3:04 pm
    Post #2 - November 27th, 2010, 3:04 pm Post #2 - November 27th, 2010, 3:04 pm
    They're also doing dim sum. Need to check that out.
    "In pursuit of joys untasted"
    from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata
  • Post #3 - November 27th, 2010, 6:04 pm
    Post #3 - November 27th, 2010, 6:04 pm Post #3 - November 27th, 2010, 6:04 pm
    I agree. Some of the stuff on the dim sum menu looks a bit different from the usual fare, including soy sauce chow mein noodle a really simple dish that's always been a favorite with me.
    Lacking fins or tail
    The Gefilte fish
    swims with great difficulty.

    Jewish haiku.
  • Post #4 - November 28th, 2010, 5:40 pm
    Post #4 - November 28th, 2010, 5:40 pm Post #4 - November 28th, 2010, 5:40 pm
    Gwiv asked me about this in the LSC thread, but since someone created the thread I'll toss in my two cents. We had originally planned on going to Sun Wah for dinner on Wed, but called an audible since Chinatown was more on the way back to the hotel from the family gathering.
    Me and my dining companion ordered the roast duck, pork belly, cuddlefish balls, and yummy beef varities.
    Beef was standard tendon/tripe/intestine mix in a basic soy sauce with ginger. Pretty good offal experience. I really enjoyed the cuddlefish balls ( although I tend to like them better in a curry based sauce.) The BBQ items were good but,IMO, not as good as Sun Wah or Wing Chan ( the two place I tend to get my BBQ fix from when in Chicago.) The sugar with the pork threw me because I just assumed it was salt and I got quite a surprise when I dipped a pork chunk in it. I'm not into giving things ratings but the food was good and I definitely wnat to try this place again just because they have quite an extensive seafood line up and the thought of having some Geoduck or Razor Clams with my pork sounds delicious.
  • Post #5 - November 28th, 2010, 5:42 pm
    Post #5 - November 28th, 2010, 5:42 pm Post #5 - November 28th, 2010, 5:42 pm
    Dim sum was decent to good. Ordered a few things that are unique to this store but we all felt flavor wise that most everything was "muted" in comparison to Shui Wah. Felt a tinge of guilt walking by, but won't make that mistake again, @ least for dim sum.

    BBQ was the highlight. The prior mentioned pork belly was excellent, numerous textures and flavors. The shreds of roast duck were very good as well, albeit suffering a bit from being teamed with ultra bland noodles (at least to our taste).

    Lots of interesting things on the menu though, fish in particular and a beautiful room, very nicely done. Very tasteful. As far as decor goes, Tony could take a lesson.
    "In pursuit of joys untasted"
    from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata
  • Post #6 - November 30th, 2010, 12:32 pm
    Post #6 - November 30th, 2010, 12:32 pm Post #6 - November 30th, 2010, 12:32 pm
    Shreds of roast duck? Noodles? Not sure what you guys had, but I just had 1/2 roast duck which I really liked. Glad you enjoyed the p-belly.
    Lacking fins or tail
    The Gefilte fish
    swims with great difficulty.

    Jewish haiku.
  • Post #7 - November 30th, 2010, 1:07 pm
    Post #7 - November 30th, 2010, 1:07 pm Post #7 - November 30th, 2010, 1:07 pm
    kuhdo wrote:Shreds of roast duck? Noodles? Not sure what you guys had, but I just had 1/2 roast duck which I really liked. Glad you enjoyed the p-belly.


    It was a dish on the dim sum menu called roast duck with rice noodles. The noodles were nothing special, but the duck was good...what little of it we got. Next time it's the roast duck entrée for sure. I'll take a pass on their noodles next time (and bring a camera as well).
    Steve Z.

    “Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.”
    ― Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Post #8 - December 6th, 2010, 8:36 am
    Post #8 - December 6th, 2010, 8:36 am Post #8 - December 6th, 2010, 8:36 am
    Jazzfood wrote:BBQ was the highlight. The prior mentioned pork belly was excellent, numerous textures and flavors.
    Macau Roast Pork Belly had three distinct layers and made for a multi-layered and multi-sensory experience, loved the audible crackle of skin at bite-though. Sugar dredge interesting, though I quickly reverted to my usual light drizzle of chili oil.

    Macau Roast Pork Belly

    Image

    Picture does not do it justice, but this was one of the better roast ducks I've had the pleasure to encounter.

    Roast BBQ Duck

    Image

    Tender, crispy, salty hint of sweet, Pan Fried Noodle Roll w/XO Sauce
    Image

    I don't want to go all Nate Berkus, but I liked the interior, Chinese upscale modern, including five tasteful functional private rooms. Private room size seems to range from 10-20. In addition the chairs were comfortable and tables spaced in a reasonable fashion.

    MingHin upstairs dining room

    Image

    One of Ming Hin's Private Room

    Image

    We ate with a mixed crowd, by which I mean a group of cousins some of whom think Panda Express is adventurous, and tried a wide swath of the tamer side of the menu, MingHin does American style Cantonese very well.

    MingHin was packed, jumping, bustling, as we were led to the second floor dining room I was steeling myself for so-so service and tepid grub, which often happens at its neighbor to the west, not so at MingHin. Upstairs was as fully staffed as down, efficiency ruled and the entire experience was seamless, aside from one or two instances of you-won't-like-that from our waiter.

    Much as I love Lao Szechuan and respect Tony Hu MingHin is the restaurant I hoped Lao You Ju would be.

    Kuhdo, thanks for posting I had walked past and MingHin did not seem all that interesting, your post got me there a lot sooner and for that I am glad.

    MingHin at first blush, count me a fan.

    Enjoy,
    Gary
    Hold my beer . . .

    Low & Slow
  • Post #9 - December 6th, 2010, 9:46 pm
    Post #9 - December 6th, 2010, 9:46 pm Post #9 - December 6th, 2010, 9:46 pm
    Gary - The roast pork belly and noodles look outrageous, and I suspect the duck is ever so tasty. From the looks of it, the flavor is more delicate but with depth and not too fatty nor too dry.

    Must make it there sometime for that pork belly now. After I get back on my workout regimen, of course.
    “Nothing is more agreeable to look at than a gourmande in full battle dress.”
    Jean-Antheleme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826)
  • Post #10 - December 11th, 2010, 11:03 pm
    Post #10 - December 11th, 2010, 11:03 pm Post #10 - December 11th, 2010, 11:03 pm
    Just got back from dinner at MingHin tonight. The Macau pork is very well made. Crispy skin, nice layer of fat. Even the husband, who does not care for the fattiness of usual roast pork was fighting me for it. Roast duck was ok, imo. I prefer Sun Wah's but the sauce over it reminded me of Hong Kong...

    We also had the Japanese tofu and golden mushrooms and dried scallops. Very nicely done. One of the better versions I've had. The beef brisket and eggplant casserole was passable. The daily Chinese soup was very good, but it is usually something most Chinese restaurants give gratis. But not here.

    All in all, a nice dinner for $40 (two of us). I will stick to my usual hole-in-the-wall Cantonese place for casual meals, and save this for get-togthers with friends.
  • Post #11 - December 24th, 2010, 6:44 pm
    Post #11 - December 24th, 2010, 6:44 pm Post #11 - December 24th, 2010, 6:44 pm
    Visited Minghin for dimsum yesterday.
    First 2 items we tried were the Macau style roast pork, roast duck. The skin of the roast pork is crunchier than the typical style we're used to but tasty. And we asked for leaner cuts which they obliged.
    The roast duck was disappointing though the skin was good.My guess is they use younger animals for their duck and pork. They are more tender but in our case, the duck we were given had little meat and wasn't anything special. Besides this board's favorite Sun Wah, just around the corner in the same square is Wing Chan BBQ.

    But the other dimsum items were all well prepared. The fried taro puffs and shrimp dumplings were standard but the shrimp crepes has large deveined shrimp and were very delicious.
    Two styles of char siu bao are offerred: steamed and baked. We tried the baked which was an excellent choice. They're smaller in size than Chiu Quon's for example but that meant less dough and more pork filling. I think they're one of the better versions around.

    Oh btw, they served jasmine tea with a small side of rock sugar that day. Don't know if that is standard but most restaurants would charge for it. Will be returning and trying the dinner at some point in the near future.
  • Post #12 - December 26th, 2010, 10:45 pm
    Post #12 - December 26th, 2010, 10:45 pm Post #12 - December 26th, 2010, 10:45 pm
    We had dinner there tonight.

    Ordered the BBQ platter with the Macau pork, roast pork and duck. Both pork BBQ's were excellent. The duck, as a previous poster noted, was a little short on meat, though what was there was very good.

    The Mrs. had the egg drop soup which I believe had some mushrooms in it. I had the soup special which was delicious. Beef, chicken, water chestnut and various herbs in a fantastic broth.

    We also had the beans with pork which was very good as well.

    We spoke with one of the partners who said they were focusing on Cantonese cuisine. She also stated the current menu is temporary and would be expanded. I saw quite a few interesting seafood dishes on there that I don't normally see in Chinatown.

    Dinner came to $40 for the two of us.

    Brian
  • Post #13 - January 2nd, 2011, 2:15 pm
    Post #13 - January 2nd, 2011, 2:15 pm Post #13 - January 2nd, 2011, 2:15 pm
    Well, we did not make the mistake we made last week, showing up at MingHin with no money with us; my only quibble, I wish we could have gone last week and this week to have sampled more items. OK, another quibble: nearly all the dim sum comes in portions of 3, which is a bit tricky for a family of 4. That said, I have nary another quibble. The service is highly gracious and warm; it's gonna be a good day when they happily run through translations of the stapled specials. It was a nice mix of new dishes and standards, and when the bill came to $50, it was a ton of food for that $50. Nothing for that $50 was not liked amongst our table, and we had a difficult time, all of us, picking favorites.

    - Agree with Don K's duck rec. above, the crispy skin and flavorful sauce added a lot

    - When were stuffed but decided to order BBQ ribs, and then also audibled for the yellow rolled up spong cakes ("mini sweet custard roll") and "baked creamy egg yolk bun", we got exemplary version of those. This is a kitchen not shy with their egg yolks.

    - Thanks to Pigmon for a tip on the turnip cakes. These were fresher and lighter than about any I've had.

    - From the specials card, the 3 flavors of puffy egg custard was highly delicious yet utterly frustrating, trying to pass around to four mouths. The pork leg in red vinegar broth demands a strong degree of comfort with pork goo, but my older daughter got right past that. "I like the weird texture."

    - And, well, maybe, if I did find myself picking a favorite, it would the beef brisket and rice noodle rolls in a pot, a dish which just might make it to best of 2011. It's chunks of beef, tendon and rice noodles in a lip smacking consomme straight out of Escoffier.
    Last edited by Vital Information on January 4th, 2011, 10:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
    Think Yiddish, Dress British - Advice of Evil Ronnie to me.
  • Post #14 - January 20th, 2011, 12:37 pm
    Post #14 - January 20th, 2011, 12:37 pm Post #14 - January 20th, 2011, 12:37 pm
    Recent dinner with 8 highlighted shellfish as a Ming Hin strength. Black bean oyster and garlic scallop, in particular the scallop, resonate weeks later.

    Black Bean Oyster

    Image

    Black Bean Oyster

    Image
    Hold my beer . . .

    Low & Slow
  • Post #15 - January 24th, 2011, 6:39 pm
    Post #15 - January 24th, 2011, 6:39 pm Post #15 - January 24th, 2011, 6:39 pm
    Do you think they use msg here? Ate here 2 weeks ago and then didn't feel quite right. Or could be that the pork belly & duck are extra fatty/greasy.
  • Post #16 - January 24th, 2011, 10:49 pm
    Post #16 - January 24th, 2011, 10:49 pm Post #16 - January 24th, 2011, 10:49 pm
    daruma wrote:Do you think they use msg here? Ate here 2 weeks ago and then didn't feel quite right. Or could be that the pork belly & duck are extra fatty/greasy.


    Or that they slapped your pappy.
  • Post #17 - January 27th, 2011, 7:20 am
    Post #17 - January 27th, 2011, 7:20 am Post #17 - January 27th, 2011, 7:20 am
    I see this place has two levels. Has anyone experienced significant wait times for a table at weekend lunch peak hours? I'd like to take Mama happy_stomach here this Sunday, but she can get very grumpy (like mother, like daughter) if I tell here there's going to be good Chinese BBQ, and then she has to wait to be seated. Unfortunately, off-hours are not an option for us.
  • Post #18 - January 27th, 2011, 4:30 pm
    Post #18 - January 27th, 2011, 4:30 pm Post #18 - January 27th, 2011, 4:30 pm
    Planning a visit and came across the online menu:

    http://www.minghincuisine.com/files/MingHinMenu.pdf
  • Post #19 - January 27th, 2011, 4:36 pm
    Post #19 - January 27th, 2011, 4:36 pm Post #19 - January 27th, 2011, 4:36 pm
    TomInSkokie wrote:Planning a visit and came across the online menu:

    http://www.minghincuisine.com/files/MingHinMenu.pdf


    Listing rabbits as seafood reminds me of the purported Lenten dispensation for capybara. :lol:
  • Post #20 - January 27th, 2011, 7:24 pm
    Post #20 - January 27th, 2011, 7:24 pm Post #20 - January 27th, 2011, 7:24 pm
    Maybe they're like the rabbit that attacked Jimmy Carter on that pond; that would be a freshwater rabbit.
  • Post #21 - January 29th, 2011, 1:00 am
    Post #21 - January 29th, 2011, 1:00 am Post #21 - January 29th, 2011, 1:00 am
    I brought my family here for my father's birthday. He's old school Chinese and only likes Chinese food. We had an incredibly memorable meal.

    Dare I say, best in Chinatown? Maybe. No wait, YES. The restaurant space is stunning. I recall visions of the old Mountainview restaurant space and it was all kinds of wrong. Ming Hin's renovation of the space is borderline unreal. While it's not going to compete with the over the top decor in themed restaurants, it's very well done. While the cost of a meal is slightly more expensive than the cheap eat surroundings, a fantastic meal at Ming Hin will still be far far less expensive than a meal only half as good in a $$$ non-Chinatown restaurant. The Macau pork belly (crispy skin pork) was melt in your mouth, close your eyes, put your hands where we can see them, savor the moment good. I must return... and often ! We had a few other dishes that were also spot on the mark. The flavors were so rich and full that it was hard to believe I was in Chicago. I could easily picture myself on one of the coasts or even in another country if I merely closed my eyes and let the flavors take me away.

    Am I a little bit biased towards Asian cuisine? Absolutely. It's in my blood. But I have to say, I would not hesitate for even half a second to bring even the most critical of my non-Asian friends to enjoy a meal with me at Ming Hin. Actually... I'm more critical than they are. I would not hesitate for even half a second to bring myself back. My family left incredibly satisfied. Delicious.
    I'll try anything... even if I know it will make me sick
  • Post #22 - January 29th, 2011, 7:39 am
    Post #22 - January 29th, 2011, 7:39 am Post #22 - January 29th, 2011, 7:39 am
    Jason,
    First, welcome. Glad to hear you had such a wonderful meal; sounds like it was the experience we are all on the perpetual hunt for. But other than your comment about the pork belly, you didn't share much about individual dishes. Would you mind revisiting the meal a bit, to the best of your recollection, letting us know what you had and your impressions--both favorable and critical--of more of the courses? Thanks.
    Gypsy Boy

    "I am not a glutton--I am an explorer of food." (Erma Bombeck)
  • Post #23 - February 4th, 2011, 10:43 pm
    Post #23 - February 4th, 2011, 10:43 pm Post #23 - February 4th, 2011, 10:43 pm
    Gypsy Boy, Sure!~ I'll do my best to produce memory of the delightful meal. I enjoy this board tremendously and have been lurking for a long time. I have re-entered Chicago restaurant discovery mode and hope to provide more reviews as time allows.

    Other dishes that the family ordered were:
    Fish Fillet and Eggplant Casserole
    MingHin Special Casserole
    Beef and Vegetable on Pan-Fried Rice Noodle

    Except for the pork belly, all dishes were ordered as "1 order" (not 1 1/2). The 1 order portion sizes are definitely not small. I enjoy getting great value (I am an eater, of course) and MingHin delivers.

    I've had Fish Fillet and Eggplant Casserole at a few different places and always enjoy it. Both casseroles ordered arrived in a casserole pot still sizzling hot delivered on a large wooden block. The fish was lightly breaded, fried, and incredibly delicious. Rich and in the right proportion, the sauce very nicely balanced the eggplant and fish flavors. Unlike other places where the eggplant turns to mush, the eggplant was cooked just right. The eggplant meat stuck to the skin, still had some bite, but was correctly saturated in flavor. The dish is a family favorite and everyone agreed that MingHin did it incredibly well.

    The MingHin Special Casserole was ordered without actually knowing what it would contain. I usually assume that if a place is going to name a dish with the restaurant name that it must be good. As anticipated, it came with the "standard" mix of seafood. Octopus/squid chunks, scallops, shrimp, sea cucumber (I love sea cucumber!), and a medley of vegetables were uncovered once the casserole lid was removed. The dish on appearance alone was no different than other restaurant's Seafood Casserole offerings. Everything was covered in a light colored sauce. Again, the sauce pulled everything together. The light broth based sauce wasn't too overbearing for the seafood contents and also had the same rich quality of the previous mentioned casserole dish. The contents of the dish were not at all overcooked and the sea cucumber had the slurp I expected.

    Of note, the casserole dishes popped out of the kitchen far faster than any of us expected. They usually take quite a while. We were either lost in time while enjoying the pork belly or they really have their act together in the kitchen. Perhaps both? The casserole dishes themselves were incredibly hot and did cause some of the contents to stick to the inside walls. This is not a bad thing. The variability in texture and that super fresh from the kitchen feeling added to the enjoyment.

    As it was a birthday, we had to order a noodle dish (it represents long life). Everyone was without opinion on what to order so we "decided" on a dish with beef and vegetables (gotta get your greens in). The waiter asked what kind of vegetable we'd like. Blank stares for a second; then he suggested a mix of vegetables. We all nodded in agreement and hoped for the best. After ordering, I had regretted not asking if they could do the chow fun crispy (oh, how I miss Hong Min). The dish came out and contained a very interesting mix of vegetables. I was incredibly skeptical on the taste when spotting watercress, american broccoli, and bok choy. This was a very interesting hodgepodge of vegetables to be assembled. Surprisingly, it worked out pretty well. The noodles were well separated and cooked correctly. The beef sizes were single bite worthy. The beef was tender, flavorful, and, again, cooked without error. Of all the dishes, this was the least amazing but still managed to produce smiles around the table. This was also the dish we all agreed we'd probably not order again; not for any disappointment but only for the lack of WOW as compared to the others.

    After giving the experience some time to settle into my mind (between my first posting and this update), I still think that MingHin will be my Chinatown restaurant of choice. The entire family is interested in sampling from the expensive set of items listed on the front page of the menu. Based on our experience we'll definitely find an excuse to return to complete the task. I will also have to try the dim sum offerings but I know that judgement on dinner vs the dim sum menu isn't always fair. From what I've been told there are different management teams / cooks that prepare the meals at other restaurants.


    ----
    I did notice that on the wall there were some decorations with a small plate reading "Donated from Hong Min restaurant." I should have asked if it were same Hong Min that burnt down some years ago.
    I'll try anything... even if I know it will make me sick
  • Post #24 - February 7th, 2011, 7:49 pm
    Post #24 - February 7th, 2011, 7:49 pm Post #24 - February 7th, 2011, 7:49 pm
    Went to Ming Hin on Saturday, enjoyable experience overall, had the following dishes:

    Deep Fried Stuff Crab Claw - From the appetizer's section, this was really good, wasn't exactly sure what it was stuffed with but had a nice crab flavor
    Macau Pork Belly and BBQ Duck - As others have said, the BBQ items are excellent, I really like the duck skin
    Mixed Seafood in Nest - This was a nice lighter dish, lots of vegetables and steamed seafood (scallops, shrimp, squid), the nest tastes good too
    Crispy Lettuce with Black Bean Sauce - My favorite item besides the BBQ, the sauce is great
    Fish Cake and Vegetable Casserole - A little bland, but the greens in this dish were good

    Definitely want to explore the menu a little more, it's quite massive. Full bar is a nice addition as well.
  • Post #25 - February 8th, 2011, 12:30 am
    Post #25 - February 8th, 2011, 12:30 am Post #25 - February 8th, 2011, 12:30 am
    Some items to try: tongue w/tofu casserole, green beans and olives, whole steamed red grouper w/ginger and scallions (best fish I've eaten in a long time) and pea tips w/preserved egg and bamboo sheath.
    "In pursuit of joys untasted"
    from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata
  • Post #26 - February 8th, 2011, 6:41 am
    Post #26 - February 8th, 2011, 6:41 am Post #26 - February 8th, 2011, 6:41 am
    Jazzfood wrote:Some items to try: tongue w/tofu casserole, green beans and olives, whole steamed red grouper w/ginger and scallions (best fish I've eaten in a long time) and pea tips w/preserved egg and bamboo sheath.


    And don't forget the scallops cooked in shell with crispy garlic threads on top.
    Steve Z.

    “Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.”
    ― Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Post #27 - February 14th, 2011, 5:38 pm
    Post #27 - February 14th, 2011, 5:38 pm Post #27 - February 14th, 2011, 5:38 pm
    We had our inaugural visit to MingHin Cuisine last night.

    Since I'm a "regular" @ Lao Sze Chuan- I kinda felt like I was "cheating"/two-timing, whilst slinking past the front of Tony's place,
    hoping that due to the cold weather Tommy-The-Manager wouldn't be holding court outside the door of
    LaoSze Chuan.
    Not to worry- we made it safely inside MingHin.
    Once inside we were warmly greeted by a waitress and the warm Hostess Lauren (G.F. of the owner- filling in...) who found us
    a nice booth in the corner.
    The decor is tasteful- kind on the bright side lighting wise.......modern- yet traditional red chinese paper lanterns hanging in a row above the table.
    We started w/ an Egg Drop Soup- that the G.F. felt was superior to LaoSze Chuans (she's a connoisseur of this soup)-nicely presented- in a fairly large single sized serving.
    Next up was the Macau Style Pork Belly- cut into cubes, and served w/ a small bowl of white sugar for dipping.
    Sublime.
    The crunch of the outer surface and the wonderful "yummious-ness" of all that cholesterol! Name me a fat that doesn't taste good!
    Image[/url]
    [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/kramerdesignstudio/5445970483/]
    The String Bean and BBQ Pork dish were my favorite- the Beans were perfectly cooked- and the bits of garlic and ginger and Pork,
    made for a stellar dish.
    The other dish that we ordered was the Turnip w XO Sauce and Pork, certainly tasty, but not an...OMG experience.
    url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/kramerdesignstudio/5445964677/]Image[/url]
    Turnip w/ XO Sauce & Pork@ MingHin Cuisine,Chinatown,Chicago by Man_of Steel, on Flickr

    Definitely worth a return visit w/ a group to help explore more of the menu and the LIVE seafood.
  • Post #28 - February 14th, 2011, 6:59 pm
    Post #28 - February 14th, 2011, 6:59 pm Post #28 - February 14th, 2011, 6:59 pm
    REB, MiL, and I had a fun meal at MingHin last month.

    We all liked the dim sum and bbq items, which have already been well covered in the thread, but I just thought I'd add a few other notable dishes to the discussion:

    We found "Pork Leg Dark Vinegar" to be somewhat of a mystery. It was pretty much just pork bones and a hard-boiled egg in a vinegar sauce. I looked everywhere for meat. I tried picking up, turning, and sucking the bones, as well as eating the vinegar with a spoon, but could not figure out which part of this dish (apart from the egg) we were supposed to actually eat. Ah well. Would not order again.
    Image

    MiL ordered "Sauteed Crispy Shrimp" and got something very different from what she was expecting. It ended up being a fried shrimp mousseline on a stick of sugarcane, very much like a dim-sum version of Vietnamese grilled shrimp on sugar cane (Chạo tôm) (or perhaps it was Chạo tôm?). Chinese or Vietnamese -- either way, this this was one of the best versions of this dish that we've ever had.
    Image

    My very favorite dish of the meal was "Salt & Pepper Squid and Duck Tongue." The pile of little tongues took a few tries to get technique down, but once I had it, I found them to be fantastic little bites of meat. The squid was also very flavorful and tender, but the tiny, lightly-breaded tongues stole the show. (To eat these, one should grab the tongue from the back, put it in one's mouth tip first, and pull the meat off of the tiny strip of cartilage.)
    Image

    I'm looking forward to returning for more adventures in MingHin's menu.
    --Rich
    I don't know what you think about dinner, but there must be a relation between the breakfast and the happiness. --Cemal Süreyya
  • Post #29 - February 22nd, 2011, 11:14 am
    Post #29 - February 22nd, 2011, 11:14 am Post #29 - February 22nd, 2011, 11:14 am
    I tried the dimsum here with a large group last weekend so I managed to try a wide array of dishes. I tend to judge dim sum places based on a few traditional items. They managed to fail on each and every one of them.

    deep fried taro - soaked in grease
    har gao - dumpling skin was way too thick and the shrimp inside was tough
    siu mai - rubbery
    rice crepes - There are 3 crepes to an order and we ordered 2 different types. The crepes in both dishes were glued to each other. This would never happen at any good dimsum place.
    steamed buns - heavy and leaden

    My impression is that all of the steamed items tend to be oversteamed.

    The laminated dough and all of the baked items on the dimsum menu were very nicely done, though. The egg custard tarts were very delicate and flaky. The baked bbq pork buns were a bit sweet for my taste but good nonetheless.

    There is absolutely no reason to go here for dim sum when Shui Wah is so close by. I found out too late that the BBQ items are available since they were listed on the back of the dimsum menu.
  • Post #30 - February 22nd, 2011, 11:54 am
    Post #30 - February 22nd, 2011, 11:54 am Post #30 - February 22nd, 2011, 11:54 am
    RAB wrote:
    We found "Pork Leg Dark Vinegar" to be somewhat of a mystery. It was pretty much just pork bones and a hard-boiled egg in a vinegar sauce. I looked everywhere for meat. I tried picking up, turning, and sucking the bones, as well as eating the vinegar with a spoon, but could not figure out which part of this dish (apart from the egg) we were supposed to actually eat. Ah well. Would not order again.
    Image


    This dish is traditionally made for new mothers after they have had their babies. Supposedly it is very nutritious and healing especially after the trauma of delivery! There is supposed to be more meat on the bones though... I would have said something if that dish came to my table looking like that!

Contact

About

Team

Advertize

Close

Chat

Articles

Guide

Events

more