Shanghailander Palace

This place is perhaps one of the fancier Chinese restaurants I've ever been to.

A dragon-like door knob guarding the entrance.

So fancy on the inside!

An ol' fashion telephone.

Decor near the restrooms.

Parts of the ceiling was glowing with these colorful lights.

Through the window, you can see chefs hand-making their dumplings.

Attention to detail.  Love the colors and the velvety, plum chairs.

Decor for one of the dishes.

Sweet Braised Pork

The food here was wonderful and rather tasty.  We ordered the braised pork served in this big old, cool looking pot.  It had a sweet honey taste to it, but I can't say if there was any honey in it or not.  Everyone seemed to like it.  Luckily everyone at the other table wasn't able to finish their braised pork so everyone at my table were able to get seconds of this appetizing entree. 

 

Water Spinach w/Garlic

  The water spinach with garlic was our only vegetable dish.  A table full of carnivorous

Kung Pao Chicken

You can never go wrong with Kung Pao chicken.  It is an upgrade from your regular Panda Express that's for sure.

Black Peppered Beef

Black peppered beef was definitely dark and peppery.  At first I wasn't sure what it was, maybe the darkness of the color meant that the meat was charred, but after a bite or two I realized that the color of it is from the black peppers that they used here at Shanghailander Palace. 

Fish Fillet w/Seaweed

Fish fillet = a fancy word for fish sticks.  Make sure to wait a bit till grabbing a bite of these since they can be extremely hot in the middle.  Very good, but hot.  I just remember holding my hand up to my mouth trying to blow out the hot air and visually seeing my glasses fog up.  

Special Fish Soup

The last and final dish was the special fish soup.  Apparently this dish is pretty authentic because of the big ole fishballs that they used in this dish.  For me, I could go without it.  Like the image above, it just seemed like it was cabbage/lettuce soup.  Not too appealing to me.  I'll stick with my meats. 

 

<3  Lina Chen

1695 South Azusa Ave.,  Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

626.839.7777

Guppy Tea House

Guppy Tea House is this cute little hang out off of Azusa Ave. and Colima Road in Hacienda Heights.  So what I've noticed about SoCal is that there are well-known places amongst the Asian community all throughout the Los Angeles area.  My friend Lisa lives more towards the west side of southern California and she mentioned that both her and her friends from UCLA would drive all the way out to Hacienda Heights just for a bite to eat at Guppy House which can take about 30 minutes to an hour to drive.  So when I told her I've never been there before, she immediately said "we have to go here someday."  Although Lisa has taken me to Guppy House before, we went again last night after our intense work out.

The food at Guppy House wasn't all that pleasing, but I think people mainly go there because of their famous gargantuous shaved ice and their brick toasts, which I haven't yet tried.  The setting of the restaurant itself is also kind of neat which makes it a cool spot to get together.  Once you walk in, there's a ton of trees alongside of the walls.  There are green-leafed vines hanging above with blue lights emitting from the ceiling.  At night the atmosphere is calm because of the cool hues from the blues and there are mini fish tanks mounted on the walls with all different kinds of fishes inside of them.

Lisa got the Super Spicy Dumpling Soup.  Let me tell you, this dish was no joke.  It really was super spicy.  Like super duper SPICY!  It was also very tangy and sour which I didn't like very much.  The dumplings are served separately from the noodles and soup.  Corn is set aside for those who would like the option to add it in their dish.  Both Lisa and I concluded that we didn't care for this dish because of the zesty flavor.  The ingredients really didn't work well together.  The dumplings alone weren't all that bad either.

On the side we also ordered the popcorn chicken.  I often yearn for deep-fried foods so it was no surprise to see me getting the popcorn chicken at Guppy House.  Even though there are so much to choose from, that was what I wanted in the end.  The popcorn chicken here is lightly battered and fried until golden brown.  They use pepper and garlic to flavor the chicken but also sprinkle a refined chili powder atop of the chicken while it's crispy hot.  Most places don't do that, but I think that may be the a Chinese version, which I've slowly grown accustomed to since my move here.

To see what else they have click here for a list of their entire menu!

The food there isn't all that wonderful but I do hope that the dessert's as delicious as people deem them to be, especially the brick toast and their shaved ice...  Oh well, next time.

<3 Lina Chen

P.S.  I forgot to bring my camera to the restaurant and so these images are directly from www.foodspotting.com. 

7188 Colima Road, Hacienda Heights, CA 91745

626.965.7288.  www.myguppyteahouse.com

Fluff Ice: It's so Fluffy!!!

Remember that cute little girl from Despicable Me and her reaction when she got the stuffed unicorn at the carnival?  Well basically that's how I felt when I first took a bite of the shaved snow at Fluff Ice!  Except it was only in my mouth!    Okay, okay not quite fluffy as in holding and squeezing a teddy bear per se but more along the lines of feeling cotton candy for the first time.  So light and airy!  It's the same concept, but instead of sugar, it is made from cinder blocks of ice.  Think of it as a frozen cotton candy dessert.

Now don't get this confused with shaved ice, which is completely different as far as texture.  Taste is difficult to actually measure because certain places may only use a cinderblock of ice without any flavor added to it; but the texture of snow versus ice is apparent.  At first you may not realize it, but once it enters the mouth, the sudden melting sensation just tingles every nerve of the tongue.  It's quite different from that of shaved ice.  It melts and it's cold too, but I feel that it really doesn't melt as smoothly as shaved ice does.  It's my first time Fluff Ice, but what I loved the most about this place is that they have flavored snow like froyo. I've also been to well-known shaved snow place called Class 302 near the Hacienda Heights/Diamond Bar area but it only has one option to choose from which means that the flavor comes from the toppings alone.

My friend Kean and I ended up sharing a medium, green-tea flavored shaved snow with bits and pieces of mangos and strawberries (the toppings that I wanted); red bean and mochi (Kean's choice for toppings) with a light drizzle of condensed milk added on top.  I tend to get fresh fruits with my froyos because it balances out the sugary goodness that you are taking in from the shaved ice.  It's like psychologically tricking myself that this dessert is still healthy if there's something that has a nutritional value to it.  The mochi and the red bean tasted phenomenal with the green tea shaved ice.  Those who aren't into the super Asian flavors, they also had these cool fruit poppers that resemble salmon roe that burst in your mouth, cheesecake bites, blue honey boba, taro pudding, coffee jelly, egg pudding, slivered almonds, and much more. 

This is the place to go for dessert if you are around Monterey Park off of Atlantic Boulevard.

<3 Lina Chen

500 North Atlantic Boulevard #153, Monterey Park, CA 91754

626.872.2123.  www.fluffice.com