Tuesday Tastings :: Kam Hong Garden

It's funny thinking back on how I used to HATE eating Chinese food. I mean, HATE. I hated rice, hated Chinese soup, hated eating the same soy sauce chicken, or whatever Chinese dish my grandparents or mom cooked. When you're a kid, you want hamburgers, french fries, pizza, macaroni and cheese... the good stuff! Now, all I crave is Chinese dishes.

A couple of friends of ours told us about this place called Kam Hong Garden in Monterey Park. They ranted and raved about the Beef Noodle Soup. If you know anything about me... it's that I LOVE soup noodles. At least I do now. So, friendboy and I decided to go check it out.

Bean curd with cucumbers & peanuts in chili oil

Pan-fried Juicy Pork Dumplings

Beef Noodle Soup with Hand-Pulled Noodles

Personal Noodle Sifter aka. Friendboy

The beef noodle soup here is very clean and authentic tasting. When I say "clean," I mean that the soup tastes very pure. Not too much MSG. Not over salted. Very beefy without being too robust or overflavored. The noodles are thicker and chewy but are fresh and hand-pulled meaning they make their own noodles and actually have a guy that pulls and stretches the dough before it is run through and cut into noodles.

Bean curd is very common amongst the Asian culture. I used to remember eating this as a kid. It was one of the few things I actually did not mind eating. This particular dish is served chilled and was soaked in chili oil and had fresh sliced cucumbers and peanuts mixed in as well. Very refreshing and tasty (I also really like spicy food).

The pan-fried dumplings are quite tasty also. I personally really like vinegar and love to dip my dumplings into a soy sauce/black vinegar/ginger mixture. I don't know what it is, but it goes so well together. This isn't just "my" thing. It's common to do that with dumplings. I just REALLY like it, is all.

It is a little "hole-in-the-wall" place/mom & pop shop. Definitely worth checking out if you like beef noodle soup.