Dishola: Reviews by the Dish

705 W 24th St, Austin, TX
(512) 469-0232

chon_jee on 12/16/07

This is an interesting bubble tea spot to say the least. They actually brew fresh tea made with loose leaf teas/flowers/herbs. Try any of the drinks whose names don't quite make sense.

228 W Cermak Rd, Chicago, IL, 60616
(312)842-7818

chon_jee on 12/27/07

Szechuan style hot pot. You know you're in a serious Chinese restaurant when in the back of the chop-suey menu is all written in Mandarin with no translations. Double Li serves Szechuan food, and they mean business. The hotpot comes with two different soup based, spicy and not spicy. The clear soup is most likely chicken broth based with some cilantro for aroma. The fiery red spicy soup is based on garlic, ginger, chilli peppers, and of course, mouth-numbing Szechuan Peppercorns (Ma La). The rest is up to you, it's like ordering off a sushi checklist. We opted for fish fillet, thinly sliced beef and lamb, Xiang Cai (it's a vegetable, it's good, and i don't know the translation), enoki mushrooms, tofu, and pig's blood--tastes just like tofu, really. There's really nothing special to this hot pot but its authenticity. But it's really worth trying; i've heard the menu items are even better. (Native Chinese speaker reccomended)

2139 S China Pl, Chicago, IL
(312) 328-0001

chon_jee on 12/27/07

Fresh Avocado Smoothie with Fruit Cocktail. This is one of the main reasons I love Chicago. It was friggin 24 degrees outside, and YES, I want my cold smoothie. It's a very smooth, sweet avocado smoothie, made with fresh avocados. You could taste the buttery flavor and texture of the avocado as you sip it through your straws. It's piled high with fresh fruits on top that compliments the drink very well (kiwi, mango, watermelon, cantaloupe). This reminds me very much of the fresh avocado juices I get back in Indonesia. Everything else from Joy Yee is always made with fresh fruits, even the durians. I know for most, you wouldn't consider Avocado as a dessert; but if one would rid oneself of that perception... trust me, it's worth it.

11220 N Lamar, Ste 200, Austin, TX
(512) 837-7800

chon_jee on 12/27/07

Thick egg noodle soup with chicken and fried shallots. To be honest, I don't really like this place. I have given it a couple of tries, and both of them disappointing... Third time's the charm? A friend told me about a dish so good, that him and his roommate have visited this place three times in a week. "It's like the noodles back home," he said. The dish is apparently new enough that it's not on the menu, and all it has is a number--31. Don't bother looking at the menu, just say "31 with thick egg noodles." It's a very simple dish of egg noodles topped with slices of chicken meat and smothered with fried shallots. It comes with the chicken broth soup on the side, and of course the complimentary piles of vegetables. The broth itself is very basic, very light, and aromatic. The chicken meat is slightly seasoned with salt, and the noodles drizzled with soy sauce and other seasoning. But the combination of all this (plus the mounds of fried shallot goodness on top), makes this to be a quite worthy dish to return to. And yes, it does reminds me of the noodles I can get back in Asia at the side of the street (minus the bacterias).

West Fanyi Rd., Shanghai, ROC

chon_jee on 12/20/07

It costs ¥5 (~US$0.50), it exists in almost every Shanghai street corners, it will surely cause increase in blood pressure and cholesterol, people with heart disease or problems not recommended to eat this dish. You could taste the thin layer of oil as you sip the broth, and as you slurp the homemade egg noodles. The meat on top was salty, spicy, and who-knows what kind of meat it really is. The noodle's hot, and it's hot in the overcrowded shop too; it's over a 100 degrees as you sit in a short wooden stool in a very sanitarily-questionable establishment. And it's soooo good. The point is, it pays to be random, it pays to be adventurous, and you will pay for it the next morning. But there's nothing more enlightening and more direct way to experience the culture of another world through the everyday food that everyday people eat.