Courtesy of Momo Mee
We crave comfort food to heal our soul and Momo Mee’s dumplings are the quintessential comfort food during these uneasy times.
Momo Mee recently opened its dining room and patio with measures taken to keep customers and staff safe. They still offer curb-side pick-up with easy to navigate online ordering. When servers bring your order curbside (masked and gloved), it’s a touch free exchange. You can make a reservation online or by phone for dining in with designated time slots to help manage socially distanced dining. The outside patio tables are properly distanced and for inside dining servers screen temperature. Inside, masks are required at all times except for eating and, yes, that means when you leave your table to use the restroom, please mask up.
Handcrafted noodles and dumplings are chef Tony Ho’s specialty and are some of the best in the city, but don’t overlook Momo Mee’s other pan Asian dishes. The Cantonese, clay pots, rice and noodle dishes are made with fresh ingredients and exciting ingredients and brim with culture and integrity. The most popular and talked about dumpling is the Xiao long bao ($13). This dumpling (can only be order in house, not for take-out) is a Shanghai “soup” dumpling. The tender dumpling dough encases a small well-seasoned pork ball and chilled flavorful pork stock. As you know when a good stock is chilled, it becomes gelatinous. The beauty of this dumpling is as it is steamed, the stock “melts” around the meat and is also fun to eat.
Don’t be intimidated as the server will walk you through the dumpling eating experience. First, poke a hole in the dumpling, suck the hot broth carefully out the dumpling and pop the rest in your mouth, but not before dipping it in the black vinegar ginger dipping sauce for an explosion of flavor. The other momos (dumplings) include a choice of steamed or fried, and you can choose vegetarian or chicken, or pork pot stickers. The spicy wontons resemble the shape of an Italian tortellini and is bathed in a Spicy Szechuan, chili oil. The filling of pork, ginger and Chinese greens against the spicy peppercorn sauce is sublime. They also offer the traditional Steamed Shao Mai and Korean Kimchi Beef Mandu ($8-$9).
Momo Mee offer some fun appetizers including a spicy fried chicken wing with Szechuan rub, Taiwanese Gua Bao with your choice of spicy chicken, pork belly, Korean five spice, pork shoulder or tofu ($10). The Indian style samosas are flavorful and crunchy and pair well with the spicy tamarind dipping sauce ($8). The mees are all made from scratch broths and you can taste the tradition in each dish. If spicy is what you are after,the Tom Yum and Jjampong will make you break out in a sweat. The Dan Dan noodles are also spicy and are like an Asian Version of a meat Bolognese with pork, spicy bean paste and chili oil. You can’t go wrong with the salt and pepper shrimp or MoMo Mee fried rice. Or the Mapo Tofu rice dish for a vegetarian option ($13-$18).
To read more Let's Eat stories, click here.
To read more stories by Alisa Malavenda, click here.
