Bottomless brunch!
The episode of Marcus Samuelsonn’s PBS Show No Passport Required that aired this week in LA features Mott 22 along with several other Vegas Chinese spots. It also traces some of the history of Chinese immigrants in the Vegas area.
Thanks for the heads up. Love it!
Feeling Cantonese food on our first anniversary.
sesame prawn toast, autumn sauce - highlight
This classic Hong Kong dish is expertly done. Bread is crunchy without being hard or greasy in any way. The lovely “prawn” topping, on the other hand, is made from smashed up prawns that are repeated agitated till they’re gelatinous. This allows for the topping to have a nice bouncy consistency. And tying both together is a mildly sweet and sour sauce with just a hint of spiciness to give the dish more oomph. Excellent start!
pluma iberico char siu - highlight
Extra soft, tender, and carries that distinct clean iberico porky flavor but not as juicy as my previous visit. Although the sauce/glaze leans toward the sweet end of the spectrum, the savoriness and charred spots help in keeping the overall flavor profile from overly sweet. Very nice overall!
braised eggplant, minced pork, chili peppers
See how the sauce in the claypot(metal in this case) is still bubbling when presented? That’s how it should be when it comes to a claypot dish.
Eggplants are fried and stir fried to have a tender yet creamy texture and the minced pork’s chew act as a nice texture foil. However, the bold funk of the Cantonese salted fish flavor and kick are much more restraint than I’m used to. The dish is also more refined in that it’s not overly saucy or oily as the typical ones found in many restaurants. @JeetKuneBao This might be your veggie jam!
Even-steven eggplants aka attention-to-detail is very good and rightfully so when paying a premium.
smoked black cod - highlight
Lovely smokiness, crunchy crust, and a sweet glaze that envelope the soft and fatty black cod!
sweet & sour pork, dragon fruit, aged black vinegar
This is my second time trying this and I have the same thought as last time so I’m copy and pasting what I wrote I wrote last time:
Each piece of pork is juicy with a crispy crust enveloped in a tart and funky aged black vinegar based sauce. I’ll be honest though, I’m not a fan of black vinegar since it’s a bit too pungent and musty to me but the execution of this dish is certainly the best I’ve had. On the other hand, while pineapple is traditionally used in this dish, Mott 32 substitutes it with dragon fruit which acts as a palate cleanser of sort with its subtle kiwi-like texture and flavor.
Again, there’s minimal sauce pooling as it should be for a sweet an sour pork dish. Very nice.
wok fried flat rice noodles, black angus beef, bean sprouts - highlight
This is what a great beef chow fun should be like. Notice the charred edges on the hor fun? It’s not easy to find that stateside even though that’s the #1 essence of great chow fun. That’s what gives you wok hei and this dish has it in spades alongside that classic caramelized soy sauce flavor! The other things that are important to a great chow fun are even coloring on the hor fun and that the dish needs to glisten without much trace of oil on the bottom of the dish and this chow fun easily achieved both. But the greatness of the dish didn’t end here, every beef slices are tender and silky smooth. Very nicely executed!
The only flaw that this dish has, which is also the last thing to look for in a chow fun, is that their cook worked the hor fun too vigorously in the wok so there are these strands that are quite broken up.
fresh mango, coconut, glutinous rice roll
Our server graciously snuck one out for us to try after warning us that this isn’t what a Hong Konger would expect. How is it? I completely agree with her that this is underwhelming. Please save yourself a few bucks. Heck, run to your nearest Phoenix Boutique and order their mango roll instead and thank me later.
coconut ice cream, coconut cream, pomelo, cookie crumbles
This dessert isn’t gonna rock your world but it’ll get the job done in relieving your dessert itch. If you like coconut, give it a shot.
sweetened beancurd cream, mango soup, pomelo
Second time trying this and it improved quite a bit from last time. The consistency of the sweet mango soup is a little thicker so it has a more velvety mouthfeel. The mango dices, though still tart, are not in any way fibrous this time around. The highlight of the dish? It’s still the sweetened beancurd cream aka tofu flower/dou hua. It has the same silky and cloud-like texture that instantly melts on my tongue. I would imagine that this tofu flower is as good as it can be!
I was a brave solo served by 7 (!!!) staffs. Service was phenomenal. Duck was amazing. But my heart shattered the moment they took the bones away LoL
The overlooked veg - pea sprouts, an after thought for pic but it was really nicely done.
Duck was only one course?