Operation HB - Stage Two

After having to resort to shopping mall Chinese food to get our fix, both U and I decided we had to do something about our Chinese food craving. I pulled out my iPhone and googled Chinese restaurants in our neighbourhood.

The first place to come up was located above the train station and had pretty bad reviews (bad food, no atmosphere, rude service...) so we quickly continued our search.

Next up was a place that had decently rated food but seemed to have a wide fan base. We knew the area it was in and had no trouble finding the restaurant. The atmosphere was great and we were both very excited about the possibility of having found such a fun place. We ordered our standbys - mapo tofu and hui guo rou (pork and cabbage stir fry).

The mapo tofu came and neither of us knew what to say. The dish had no meat or veggies, just chunks of tofu in a brownish clear sauce that could really only be described as "gloop." It was nearly as bland tasting as it was bland looking. Instead of being rich and spicy it was cloyingly sweet.

The hui guo rou proved to be similarly weakly seasoned - this time the strongest flavor was burnt cabbage and sauce.

The jasmine tea was lovely but at 300 yen each for the pot, that was to be expected!

If the same restaurant listing site hadn't recommended a fabulous little Thai place we now frequent regularly, we'd have given up on Mr. Google. As it was, we were very disappointed to discover the food nowhere measured up to the atmosphere.

The search continues...