Henry's Bento
502 S King St
Seattle, WA
(206) 624-2611
Cuisine:
Taiwanese, Eatery
December 8, 2008
Hole-in-the-wall Taiwanese eatery is the real deal
This new eatery finally brought my search for a great local Taiwanese restaurant to a happy end. This chef sold Rocking Wok in Wallingford and brought his nuanced, robust traditional Taiwanese flavors to the International District. The authentic stuff is handwritten on wall posters—my mom and I didn’t try the “bento” items listed on the small index-card-size menus at the tables. My mom is from Flushing, NY which is like NY’s second Chinatown and she says it’s one of the best she’s ever tasted in the states. We went numerous times in 2 weeks
Dishes I tried:
classic BEEF NOODLE SOUP--YEAH!
Comes out fast with substantial portions of fall-apart-tender meat and robust spicy-tangy-sweet flavors in a huge bowl. Do not miss this!
STICKY RICE HANDROLL
It’s made with that purple rice that I had never tried before is supposed to be healther for you. The purple rice but actually made it that much better with a hearty, springy texture. Filled with dried pork sung, fried cruller, and some crunchy pickled veggie if I remember correctly.
PAN FRIED LEEK "BUN"
Also stuffed with minced pressed tofu and glass noodles in a potsticker-type skin. With two large buns per order, it’s almost too much. They will also serve you soybean milk hot or cold, which I like with the leek buns since I think of it as a brunch item.
HOT RED BEAN DESSERT SOUP
I died and went to heaven. Instead of lotus seeds, we asked them to substitute homemade small sweet taro rice balls the owner told us they had that day and weren’t listed on the menu. This is the real deal, with the essence of red bean and taro perked up by the aroma of the grated tangerine peel which rose with the steam. (The second time I ordered this, they didn’t have the taro balls and they forgot the tangerine peels so it was disappointing.)
pleasurepalate
03/09/2009Is there any other great Asian dining worth mentioning in Seattle?