Benser - tasty?

Sunday, May 25, 2008 13:49

I’m not really sure what the English name for this restaurant is, but it’s on the corner of Life Plaza. It initially was just a dessert place specializing in Chinese desserts like mango pudding and shaved ice, but now it’s on the hand-shaved (dao xiao) bandwagon.

Benser Tasty

The BF ordered the house special vegetarian noodle soup. The noodles were decent and chewy, but the broth tasted like a boullion cube. It seemed like someone just threw in a bunch of vegetables like bok-choy and tomatoes into a pot of water and powdered vegetable stock.
Benser Tasty

I got the house special beef noodle soup. It was supposed to be spicy, but I couldn’t taste it at all. There was a bit of the Szechuan peppercorn taste, but it was pretty weak. The broth was also lacking in depth. I had to dump a bunch of chili oil and vinegar in it to make it taste better. The beef was surprisingly tasty though and had just the right amount of seasoning.
Benser Tasty

For dessert, we shared the peanut rice-ball which is just glutinous rice balls (like mochi) covered with sweet crushed peanuts. It’s simple, but delicious.

I don’t know if it’s because they’ve only started branching out into non-dessert food, but I thought both of our noodle soups were mediocre. Next time, I’ll go somewhere else to get my noodle soup fix and go to Benser for dessert.

Louise absolutely LOVES filthy, cheap places! (See more of her posts). You can also find more of Louise's writing at her own website NakedSushi.

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4 Responses to “Benser - tasty?”

  1. Tastymealsathome says:

    May 25th, 2008 at 9:53 pm

    Which Life Plaza did you venture to? Monterey Park or Rowland Heights?

  2. Eileen says:

    May 25th, 2008 at 11:03 pm

    I am wondering which life plaza are you referring to as well.
    The beef noodle soup looks delicious in your picture.
    But from your writing, it didn’t sound as good.
    I guess pictures do lie.
    But I’m still getting hungry just looking at them….

  3. Louise says:

    May 26th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    I went to the one in Monterey Park. It’s on Valley between New and Del Mar. I guess I should have included a map like I usually do, but I forgot oops.

  4. Will says:

    May 27th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

    I believe this is it:

    Hui Lau Shan La
    250 W Valley Blvd Ste A
    San Gabriel, CA 91776

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