Into the Wilderness: Boston

So now I'm in Boston... hanging out with friends and family in the area. However, I couldn't resist going back to Shangri-la (twice), a small Chinese restaurant hidden in the suburbs of Belmont. Surprisingly, it is one of my favorite restaurants on the entire US East Coast. While they serve very authentic Taiwanese dim sum and a host of Sichuan dishes, its quiet, secret location gives it even more charm. Perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, the chef there used to be the dim sum chef at one of Taipei's top hotel restaurants, the Ambassador Hotel (台北國賓飯店).

Every dish you order there is delicious, but the my personal favorite has always been one called "Ants Crawling up a Tree" (螞蟻上樹), a noodle dish with bits of shredded meat in a spicy sauce. The flavoring is amazing, and they make it more soupy than most places. However, what really separates it is the noodles - they don't use rice noodles (米粉) like other places, instead, it's a clear noodle that's very chewy and... "QQ" is the term in Taiwanese.

Ants Crawling up a Tree:

Salt and Pepper Shrimp (椒鹽蝦):