Taste of Spices

Spencer K

This is an authentic Cantonese restaurant that serves dishes from shrimp wonton noodles to Cantonese roasted duck. It is a welcome addition to the line up of Chinese restaurants in the medical center/west U/Rice university area. We ordered 3 main dishes, 1 appetizers (small pork buns) and a Singapore style fried noodle. I posted the receipt and the photo of each dish. The small pork buns have good flavor (the buns take time to steam) but the skin is a little on the thick side. These are not soup buns, they are just regular pork buns but mini size. There are two versions of small buns in the menu, the waitress was unable tell us the flavor difference. The description simple says one is with sauce. Maybe we will try the one with sauce next time. Of the three main dishes, the beef tenderloin with green beans and shredded mushroom is the best. The beef tenderloin is vey tender and tasty. I definitely recommend it. The presentation and flavor of this dish are excellent. The shredded pork with chive flowers (you can't really see the flowers since chive flowers are tender green stalks with a small white flower bulb head :) should be a good dish, unfortunately, some of the chive flower stalks were a little tough and the shredded pork was very salty. The braised pork with taro takes a long time to steam so it was the last dish to be served. Taro, for those who appreciate this root vegetable, was soft, melty and full of flavors! They cooked the taro with pork bellies but the star of the dish really is the taro. We ate the taro but left most of the pork bellies since they are a little too fatty. The Singapore style fried noodles was ultra spicy but with muted flavor. All in all it was a satisfactory dining experience. We will definitely be repeat customers and look forward to trying their other dishes. The restaurant is new with clean and pleasant interior. The background music was pleasant and definitely not obnoxious so we could carry on a conversation. Utensils were clean and dishes were without creaks or chips (one of my biggest pet peeve). For a quick lunch, you probably don't want to order anything that takes a long time to steam. However, if you have the time, some of the slow-cook dishes are worth the wait. We went during a slow time (3 pm) so the wait staff was attentive.

3 years ago

Anastasia Dushman

Came here as our unusal go to Chinese restaurants were busy and I wanted Asian without going all the way to Bellaire. Spotted this recommendation via Google and glad I stop by. The restaurant is tuck in a strip mall and it's more Cantonese Chinese cuisine. The menu is pretty extensive. They had a lot of noodles dishes that hopefully I will be able to try next time. The cup of tea I ordered was huge. I only managed to finish it half way. The food itself is very good. It's not salty and the flavor are subtle. My kiddos really enjoyed it and they are more picky eaters. Definitely will be coming back to try other items on their menu.

3 years ago

Diego

Came to try their food since I used to eat here back when it was Jimmy Wok. The redesign of the restaurant is nice, but the food? I wasn't really pleased. I assumed that maybe the recipe would be the same, but it wasn't. I was a huge fan of Jimmy Wok's fried rice, ordered the dish here, was not amazed. The rice just tastes like oil, there's not really any flavor to it. The shrimp on it is okay, but still don't taste any flavor on it. Maybe my mistake was assuming that it'll be the same and I'll own up to that, but regardless, I'd expect some flavor on my dish. But the service is very good, which is why I'm at 2 stars rather than one. Maybe I'll come by in the near future to possibly update my review and see if anything as changed, but as of now, I'll pass on this restaurant.

3 years ago

Paulina Tran

My family and I came here for lunch right when they opened. They were a little slow to grab our order and seemed a little unorganized. Once we placed our order they finally got into a groove. We ordered the egg rolls, wonton noodle soup, shrimp fried rice, dry fried green beans, and this eggplant/beef dish. Everything had very good flavorful and wasn’t overly greasy. The eggplant/beef dish was very good. The beef was super tender.

3 years ago

Cathrina Tactay

Ample parking space outside. The plaza is large! What a lovely new Cantonese restaurant. Their restaurant is so clean and well designed. I was promptly seated by the waitress and I decided to be brave and order the Five Spices Pig Ears & the Traditional Bao which has mushrooms in it. The restroom is very clean and well maintained. I washed my hands in there before returning to wait for my food. She prepared my table while I was away and brought me iced water. I'm not sure if they have other options for drinks. My food came out very quickly. The pig ears came with chili sauce and a garlic vinegar sauce that I loved so much. They also served it with a bowl of hot white rice. It paired well with the dark sauce of the pig ears. Great texture. Chewy but delicious. The bai was so soft and had yummy meat and veggies as well as mushrooms inside of it. Super filling. I could've just ordered the 6 piece bao and been satisfied. I would recommend this place and would return again to try other dishes on the menu.

3 years ago