Restaurant: Northern Cafe

Location: 9608 Las Tunas Dr, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 286-5288

Date: May 5 & July 23, 2023

Cuisine: Northern Chinese

Rating: Great private room experience

Normal Northern Cafe is a solid but casual fast casual spot but…

Northern Cafe in Temple City sure is a bit different than the ones in Century City or West LA as we shall see in this special dinner organized by Eve and another I put together myself.

The normal dining room is fairly normal NC.

But they have 5 private rooms, a smaller one being shown here.

We set up in this larger one.

It’s pretty big.

It even has a bit of a lounge area, perfect for organizing our wines.

I think this is the “regular” menu.

And this epic tome is the special menu!

Spicy Cucumbers. Nice garlicky cucumber salad.

Cold Flavored Pork Head. Very chewy texture that was offputting to some with a lovely, but highly porcine, flavor.

Up first came this big installment of Geoduck sashimi. This is the body meat and it was served on ice with Astrea Caviar that Eve brought. Turns out geoduck is excellent with caviar! And this was some very fine geoduck with a very clean mild sea flavor and a nice chewy texture.

It was served with soy sauce and (faux) wasabi.

We had pre-ordered several large live lobsters and the tails were served as sashimi. Probably the best “Chinese” lobster sashimi I’ve had. Quite lovely and subtle.

Eve also brought her own King Crab! They sell it on the menu, but she BYOCed.

King Crab Salty Egg Yolk. The crab might have been a touch overcooked in this prep but the yolk batter, which is not normally my favorite, was quite good as it wasn’t too salty or too pasty.

Bamboo Shoot with Shredded Pork. I loved this dish. It was a pretty classic brown sauce, but very tasty, and the crunchy bamboo was delightful with that bit of porky flavor (classic Chinese velveted slivered pork).

Pork Spareribs with Garlic. Chewy, salty, and very tasty.

Pork and Scallion Pancake. This is a kind of classic Beijing meat pie with a filling that is probably the same as standard dumpling filling: pork, ginger, green onions. They were super greasy, but great.

House Special Smoked Duck. It was served with a bit of hoisin and some Northern style pancakes. The meat was really flavorful, but VERY salty, almost to the Smithfield ham level. Speaking of that, because it was salted, smoked, and cured, it tasted not unlike ham — just ducky ham.

This are the flaky pancakes for the duck.

Next they brought out this lovely Cloisonné hot pot.

This is the basic broth, but Eve ordered it as “mushroom chicken” and so…

They added a mess of mushrooms and…

Some raw chicken.

This mix was allowed to boil for 20-30 minutes (covered).

Here is the result.


First we were served cups. The broth was incredible, with a very deep woodsy and comforting chicken and mushroom flavor. The short boil had extracted a lot of flavor.

For extra things to add to our hot pot we kept it fairly simple, enjoying the legs of our crab. Boiled for 20-30 seconds they were incredibly sweet and succulent.

These lobster “bits” were chopped up and reason to be tossed into the pot.

Also some tofu.

And greens. We kept drinking this broth (with the stuff) throughout the evening as it was delicious.

As was this incredible delicious of live Grouper.


The grouper meat cooked in a bout 30 seconds and was subtle and delicious.

Rib Eye and Lamb Shoulder to boil in the pot. These meats, alone of what we had tonight, is better (IMHO) with the spicy broth served at various Sichuan hot pots.

Some extra fish was also fried up “salt and pepper” style — aka MSG style.

Clams with Basil. This is the classic Chiuchow dish that’s a bit Vietnamese/Cambodian. Some nice basil flavor and a good number of succulent clams. I enjoyed this, even if the clam meat was a bit evasive.

Sauteed Cabbage. I always love this classic and it didn’t dissapoint. This was a simple rendition with a lot of garlic and oil, but cooked perfectly. It didn’t have either the ham (and its nice lardy flavor) or dried shrimp or chilis that some versions of the dish have, so it wasn’t the most flavorful I’ve ever had, but the crunchy texture on the oily cabbage was lovely.

French Chopped Beef with snowflake. Chunks of filet with black bepper sauce. I don’t generally love this dish as I consider it a bit boring, but this one had a real black pepper kick which in combination with the onions was quite enjoyable.

The geoduck neck came back fried. Quite nice, but not nearly as delightful a fry as the Longo version.

Eve also brought not one but two Turbot!

Turbo steamed with ginger, garlic, spring onions, and soy. This fish is best done this way, simply, so that the soft mild flesh and generous cartilage can be enjoyed “as is.”

Crab Custard. This is the third dish from our King Crab.

The custard was a bit stiff, and while still delicious, didn’t have that silken texture I really love.

Yang Chow (or everything) fried rice. Absolutely awesome fried rice with big whole shrimp and chunks of fried pork.

Walnut Shrimp. Fu ordered this guilty pleasure classic, joking that it was for the white guys, but this was a first rate example. The shrimp were succulent and the fry nice and crispy, perfectly offset by the sweet mayo and walnuts.

Fried fish with green batter. This is a Hangzhou dish. There green tea is added to the batter. I’m not sure it was tea here or some other variant, but it was a nice tempura-style deep fried fish. Right out of the frier too as it was very hot and juicy.

House Special Smoked Duck. Very salty, but very good. With that smokey cured pastrami-like flavor. Lots of “flavor.”

Pea Tendrils with Garlic. Great version of this basic dish.

MaPo Tofu. Not a bad version at all. Some Ma and a bit of meat.

Beef & Scallion Roll. Awesome version of this with some hoisin and cilantro. Quite lovely.

Boiled dumplings. Probably pork. Delicious for sure. I didn’t (finally) manage to get some black vinegar for them. Really I like a proper dumpling sauce, but vinegar will do.
XLB. Solid versions.

Scallion pancake. Bready, but really tasty — particularly with some black vinegar.

Inside.

Pan fried dumplings. I’m not sure if this was the same filling. It was late, but they were also good. Skin was a little thick on these, not like the amazing You Kitchen variants, but like all decent dumplings they were hot and delicious.

Nocciola Crunch Gelato — Nocciola (hazelnut) base made with egg yolk and Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste mixed with Nestle’s Buncha Crunch — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — new higher fat base formulation — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #hazelnut #nocciola #Chocolate #Nestle #crunch

Hojicha Latte NSA Gelato – Ceremonial Hojicha Roasted Green Tea base with No Sugar Added (Allulose) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #matcha #Hojicha #GreenTea #Allulose #NSA

Cannoli and Baklava’s Evil American Lovechild — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — Base crafted from Galbani Whole Milk Ricotta and Sicilian Toasted Noto Romano Almond Paste with a touch of the sugar subbed out for Sicilian Honey. Mixed in is Malibu Honey, California Pistachios, and house-made Gluten Free Honey Graham Crackers (almond flour and so good you can’t tell them from the wheat flour version)! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #dessertgasm #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #ricotta #almond #RicottaCheese #cheese #Sicily #honey #GrahamCracker #pistachio

Cap’N Crunch Gelato – Smooth Peanut Base with house-made White Chocolate Coated Crunch Berries! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — oh my! — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #peanut #cereal #CrunchBerry #CapNCrunch

Fu makes off with a bit of booty for the family.

Meal 1 (May 2023), was a super fun night. Awesome wines — and only one red thank Dionysus (given the food). Company was amazing too and the food really stood out. I enjoyed this slightly northern twist and they seem to have an excellent and very flexible Chinese kitchen and great private rooms. Who would have thought at a Northern Cafe? Service was super friendly and excellent too. We did get too many dishes too fast because no one gave them the “one at a time” instructions and fast is the Chinese default. Still, an awesome time and awesome food. That broth was really amazing!

Meal 2 (July 2023).

For more dining reviews click here.

Just a bit of great wine!

And some fire water.