Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Hop Woo

I took a bookmaking class at Nucleus Gallery, so I happened to be out in Alhambra. Stupidly, I didn't really eat lunch before class, and ended up out of class at 6:30pm, starving and ready to keel over. Bryan was cool enough to hang around until after my class ended, and we walked down the street to go to Hop Woo, which had some sort of red egg and ginger ceremony going on. They assured us there was seating in the back, and we were lead to a tiny table underneath a flatscreen playing a basketball game. I wasn't going to complain too much though, I was starving!
Hop Woo
Our first order was honey walnut shrimp. The shrimp they used were jumbo sized, so they had a lot of meat to them, and they were PERFECTLY fried. Not too much mayo either. The candied walnuts were great too. A well done version of this dish, I hope to have it again soon.
Hop Woo
Dry flat beef noodles, a favorite of my brothers' (me too!). This was also a very good version, good "wok hay", noodles were noodley tasty, nice and coated with the XO-soy sauce, and the beef was nice and tender. Good amount of sprouts, too. Delicious.
Hop Woo
Because I was craving something super comforting, I ordered a hot pot - beef and turnip stew. The rich gravy kept me going back for more. The turnips were soft to bite into, and slightly sweet tasting. The tendons of the beef were the best part of this hotpot - cooked down, they had soaked up all of the flavors of the sauce. The texture of the tendons were like savory jello...that doesn't SOUND good but it sure tastes good.

I was pleasantly content with the place, even though they had a huge banquet going on, they were fairly prompt and the food was great. If I'm back in Alhambra again I want to come back!

Hop Woo
1 W. Main St. (Garfield Ave.)
Alhambra, CA 91801
626-289-7938

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