Restaurant: Meizhou Dongpo
Location: 400 S Baldwin Ave #2045, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 538-4136
Date: December 4, 2022
Cuisine: Beijing/Szechuan Chinese
Rating: A bit better than its Century City brother
I’ve been to the Century City Meizhou many times, and I’ve even been to this Arcadia branch (which oddly opened LATER) for lunch, but I was always skeptical of going out here for dinner as there are so many other places in the SGV (and after all, we have one close by).
But off I went anyway.
They do have EPIC private rooms. This one is huge, decorated, and has a nice “sitting area.”
Sichuan Dumplings. Pork dumplings with chili oil. Pretty nice version with soft skins, good filling, and a tangy/spicy sauce.
Spicy cucumber salad. Very solid version. A touch spicy, nice sweet and tangy sauce.
Dongpo sausage. Two types. Actually a touch spicy/sweet. The light colored one was incredibly delicious in a sweet pork sort of way.
Cold mung bean noodles with chili. This was a spectacular version of this Chengdu street dish. Tons of flavor and a hot of heat.
Cold noodles with chicken and spicy sauce (not pictured). You mix it up and douse in the sauce. Quite nice cold noodle dish with good texture and flavor.
Sole Filet with green onions. Very lovely as well with nice thick filets. Super silky texture.
Lobster with Ginger and Scallions. The meat was tender and the sauce flavor was great.
Meizhou Special Fried Rice.
Condiments for the peking duck.
Out comes the peking duck!
For more detail on the whole duck thing in LA, check out my Ultimate Peking Duck Guide.
The do it table side, which is sadly rare here.
MDP skin was very thin and crispy but there was less of it because of the split skin cut = 6
Carving away.
The meat is served with legs in a separate dish. Each duck turns into two of these plates. We had three whole ducks this time around!
Meat was super juicy, even a touch pink, with real jus. Excellent. Some was served with the skin on = 9
Great thin pancakes. Pancake was thin and resilient = 9
The condiments. They include sugar for dipping the skin.
Hoisin was very good, but a touch savory = 7
Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual, but extra point for sugar = 8
The “burrito/bing” together was a 7/10 because the pancake/hoisin is the most important component of that.
Cumin Duck Bones. A bit boney and dry, but great flavor.
Duck Soup. They gave us this for free. Actually very pleasant, with a flavor like a great chicken soup.
Eggplant in chili garlic sauce. Nice but a little sweet. Texture was very good though. Very temperature hot as is typical with this dish.
Wok-Fried String Beans. Nice version of the dish.
Beef Filet with Black Pepper. A bit boring, but nice enough.
Steamed lobster with garlic and vermicelli. As good as the first lobster was (we actually had two of each!) this one was even better. Super moist and tender, just great lobster meat with garlic flavor!
Braised pork hock with special sauce. Super delicious umami/msg/savory sauce. Rocked.
Kung Pao Shrimp. It’s supposed to be a touch spicy — it wasn’t — it was sweet with nice crunchy peanuts. Despite the sweetness, it was delicious and addictive. Maybe a little too addictive. Texture was great.
Chocolate Butterfinger Crunch Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Peanutbutter Cream Cheese Ganache and chopped Butterfingers! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #creamcheese #ganache #icing #peanut #butterfinger
A rarity with our Asian dinners, people under 30! (some adult children of some of the other guests).
The wine lineup.
Overall this was actually an excellent Chinese meal. Not only do they have the great private rooms (which really elevate Chinese dinners and make them a lot more fun) but MDP Arcadia is a touch more precise than the Century City version. Service is good at both, and the menus are almost the same, but there seems to be an extra level of consistency here that takes it up a notch.
I just wish they would balance a little bit less “sweet” and a little bit more sour/spicy. That would take it up from an 8 to a 10!
For more LA Chinese reviews click here.
