Food Fit for a Princess

I'm breaking this out into its own post, because although this wonderful meal ended my week, I feel as though it deserves its own write-up.

Today we celebrated Alice's 100 days, and what a celebration it was - Chinese banquet-style. And while I have been to plenty Chinese banquets, not many other babies have received a full 10 course menu.

Thu and Jeff chose to host this special day at Ming's Seafood Restaurant in Malden Center, which has opened fairly recently. This interior is slightly more modern than most Chinese restaurants (as in, this one doesn't have a giant gold dragon on a wall). And the bathrooms are nice and actually clean, but you can definitely see into the bathroom doors, which I found really strange.

And while Asian banquets never start on time, I was disappointed that the food wasn't served until an hour after it was scheduled. I should really bring snacks to all of these events.

The pink and red eggs - props to Jeff's mom for boiling and dyeing all these eggs.

Crab rangoons (really good) and fried calamari (eh). The calamari was on the salty side, and not crispy enough. I really wanted to steal some jellyfish and char siu from Thu's table though haha.

 Melissa's bean curd and vegetable dish.

Seafood and egg soup - a little sparse on the seafood, but overall a decent soup.

Honey walnut shrimp (minus walnuts) - If I come back to Ming's, it might be for this dish. I just hope the walnuts make it in there next time, as I do love them in the mayo. But the shrimp were cooked really well - crispy and sweet. And who can say no to fried milk?

Gold sand stir fried lobster - hm. Interesting. Different. But I found this just okay. It needed something.

Fried fish fillets in creamy corn sauce - also different. But I wish I had a bowl and a spoon to actually get a better taste of the sauce.

Crispy skin chicken - even though it looks like duck, this chicken was really good. Flavorful and not dry.

Shiitake mushrooms, bamboo, and Chinese broccoli - I don't think I've ever had bamboo like this, but it worked. I still prefer the strips of bamboo shoots though.

Sweet and sour pork - also really good. Crispty pork in a really great sauce. But would have been sooo much better with white rice.

Fried rice - not as oily as some places, which is a plus in my book. Bowl and spoon, please.

Longevity noodles - I know this dish is a must, but it's just so plain.

Thankfully tomorrow is Easter, so this cake wasn't hugely out of place hah.

















For a Chinese banquet for over 100 people, Ming's definitely held its own. Spotty in some areas (slow to start, and a really long intermission), but overall the food hit the right marks. I might come back and try some of these dishes with rice though.