Luckily Dave had grabbed a table because it was packed. I could see the women making soup through the glass.

We decided on sui kau with beef brisket and spicy pork with baby bok choy. The sui kau were packed with shrimp and pork and had a good fresh flavor. The beef was a bit on the fatty side, but soft and easy to pull apart. The broth it came in was terrifically meaty. I prefer the beef broth at Szechuan noodle bowl, but it’s just because of the star anise.

The noodles (you mein) are very fresh and chewy, but I am a fat noodle person. Give me chow fun anytime. These thin noodles feel too dainty.

And the spicy pork? I was underwhelmed. The sauce had little depth and the pork was a bit tough.

All in all it was some solid soup, but I was still hungry so we wandered over to Ambrosia for bubble tea.

I have a lot to learn about bubble tea. There was milk tea, but there were also shakes and fresh fruit smoothies. And any of them could be made bubble tea. There were even jelly additions beyond the usual tapioca–lychee jelly, coconut jelly, green tea jelly.

And the flavors. Taro, red bean, kumquat, lychee, black sesame….even longan.

Cobe and fell in love with longan in Vietnam. It tastes like lychee and looks like this.

I tried the fresh taro with tapioca, Dave had red bean with lychee jelly.

The taro flavor was wonderful, the texture could be a bit smoother. But I drank it down anyway, sucking up the bubbles in my fat straw as we wandered the streets in the sunshine. Succesful ID trip. I’ll be back.

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I was n the shower in 5 minutes.

I’ve been wanting to go to Green Leaf for months. It’s in the ID, a few doors down from Szechuan noodle bowl, and they recently spiffed up the interior. The walls are now a calming pale green and lit by fancy fixtures with some sort of asian writing. There’s even an upstairs.

Kyung and I were very excited about the upstairs. Until we went up there. I didn’t even know you could buy chairs that looked like wagon wheels.

But then really, when have good asian restaurants ever been about the decor?

Back downstairs in the peaceful wagon-less setting, we faced the menu, settling on a few appetizers and a salad. They have the usual suspects: pho, vermicelli. But I was looking for something a little different.

The fresh rolls came first, the usual shrimp and pork but here the pork was crispy fried. Mint, lettuce, shrimp, vermicelli and peanut sauce all punctuated by crunch– brilliant.

Chargrilled eggplant and green mango salad hit the table at the same time, the salad graced by grilled prawns, their bodies stretched taut on the skewers. They were sadly overcooked.
The salad, however, was amazing. The green mango is almost crisp and has a subtle green apple flavor. Mixed with carrot, jicama, peanuts and nuoc cham (a sweet and sour vinaigrette) , it was a perfect dish.

The eggplant was my second favorite, the smoky flavor of the grill blending with the mild flesh of the asian eggplant and again accented by the nuoc cham. Caramelized shallots were sprinkled on top, so well cooked they were almost meaty.

The vietnamese pancake (banh xeo) was our last dish. First came the plate of lettuce, mint and basil, then the bowls of nuoc cham, and finally a crispy fried thin pancake filled with beansprouts and pork.

“You wrap in lettuce,” our waiter said, demonatrating with his hands.

Unfortunately the oil tasted slightly old, ruining the beautiful freshness of this dish. Perhaps another day.

All in all a wonderful meal, a cut above the usual vietnamese fare. Oh and did I mention? They now have a bar. If you don’t mind sitting on a wagon wheel.

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Green Leaf

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But first a warning: they don’t take credit cards. I checked my wallet as I walked in. I had $8.

There were no tables but the waitress offered me a seat with another single diner, and I happily took it. The place smelled like noodles.

It’s very simply “decorated” (if you could call it decorated). Fluorscent lighting, drab pink tables, these odd framed photos of plastic ponies. It looks like every other drab chinse restaurant I’ve seen.

But every table was taken and the mood was high. You could tell many of these people were regulars, barely glancing at the menu before ordering. The table next to me had two moms with their young kids and the waitress obviously knew them, bringing them treats and commenting on how much they’d grown. It seemed to be a regular outing for them.

The menu is simple and very kid friendly. Dumplings and noodle soups and all less than 6$. I ordered the spicy pork and napa dumplings and left it at that. No green onion pancake. No braised greens. I was trying to stay under the 8$ I’d found in my wallet.

As I sipped my tea I watched the people around me slurp their noodles and listened to the cacophony of cantonese from the kitchen.

In a few minutes there was a steaming bowl in front of me– dumplings and pork and chili oil. They were fat and wonderful and tasted homemade. A far cry from the ones I buy in the grocery store.

I went back yesterday, this time with a bit more cash. It wasn’t so crowded, maybe because the sun was shining. But it was the same waitress, and she graciously pointed to a table by the door and brought me tea before I could even ask. I debated between the wonton soup and the beef tendon, and eventually settled on the szechuan beef noodle soup. And of course, the green onion pancake.

The pancake came first, steaming hot and pleasantly crisp with a chewy center. It didn’t have a lot of flavor on its own, but was set off well by the soy sauce and red chili paste. Then came the soup, beefy and redolent of star anise with thick homemade noodles and braised baby bok choy floating on top. It was wonderful.

I didn’t even come close to finishing my meal, and asked for a doggie bag on my way out. The waitress looked sadly at my nearly full bowl, “You like?” she asked, worried that my full bowl reflected my distaste.

“It was wonderful,” I responded “just too much!”

This is definitely no fine dining– it’s comfort food. For Seattle with it’s dearth of Chinese food, it’s a nice change. Simple and pure, good noodles, good broth, solid dumplings.

I’ll definitely be back. I still have to try that wonton soup.

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Szechuan Noodle Bowl
420 8th Ave S
Seattle, WA 98104

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