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I met up with some friends for dinner tonight in the SGV. One friend suggested Tasty Garden, a Hong Kong-styled cafe. I heard that the waiting times for tables on weekends are long, so I jumped at the opportunity to try out this restaurant on a weekday.

We ordered French Style Filet Mignon. I don’t know what French style is supposed to be, but this beef was juicy and tender. I always tell people that chopsticks are the ideal eating instrument, and they always counter and say “What if you need to cut stuff?” Well, the Chinese have already figured this out: just cut everything into small, manageable pieces before serving it! These bite sized pieces of beef are a perfect illustration of that.

Next came the stir fried long beans or string beans. I never know what they’re called in English. These were pretty standard and stir-fried perfectly. The small bits of garlic and preserved vegetables and the fact that the string beans are fried in such a high heat are key factors to making this dish good. I always order this at a restaurant if I can because it’s hard to achieve the right texture on the beans at home without a high heat-output stove.

Since Tasty Garden is known for its clay pot dishes (called hot pots on their menu), we had to order one or two. For the meat eaters, we ordered the salty preserved fish with chicken. We didn’t know it came with tofu until it got to the table, but it was a nice addition. The tofu was silky, soft, and absorbed the umami flavor of the preserved fish. Some people say that preserved fish smells awfully fishy, but I actually enjoy the pungent aroma. A spoonful of this dish ladled on a bowl of rice makes some darn good comfort food.

For the vegetarian, we ordered the tofu and mushroom clay pot. Make sure to tell them to make this vegetarian by leaving off the regular sauce. Our server was helpful enough to inform us that this was usually made with a type of satay sauce which has dried shrimp in it, so we asked to just get this with soy sauce instead. It might be more bland with soy sauce, but at least vegetarians won’t be eating a mouthful of shrimp. Despite the lack of satay sauce, this dish was still flavorful. I don’t know what it is about a clay pot that makes everything taste delicious and earthy. I especially liked the contrast between the fried exterior of the tofu and its custardy soft interior.

I can’t say I’m a big fan of plain steamed or boiled chicken, like a lot of Chinese are, but I really liked the House Special (half) chicken. It was either steamed or boiled with just the right amount of salt added to it. If the saltiness of the chicken isn’t enough, it also comes with a delicious dipping sauce made from green onions, garlic, ginger, and chicken oil. It sounds gross, but it’s fantastic.

Last but not least, came the Hong Kong style waffles. The other dishes were good, but the waffles are what I’d be returning for. They’re crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The Chinese have taken the American waffle and perfected it with this bubbly shape that achieves the best crunchy to soft ratio. The batter is sweeter than an American waffle, but definitely not as sweet as say, a cake. I bet it’d be good with some condensed milk on top too.

The weird thing about Tasty Garden is that they bring out a plate of rice for each dish you order, so we ended up with a lot of rice. It seemed wasteful, but I guess they want to make sure you get your money’s worth in rice. I would have preferred just a bucket of rice for the table to share. The serving size of the dishes is smaller than what you’d expect in a family-style restaurant in the SGV, but the four of us still had leftovers.

I usually don’t eat Hong Kong cafe styled food that often, but I can see why there are lines in front of Tasty Garden on weekends. The food is good and the service is above average, especially for a Chinese restaurant. The servers all seem to speak English too, which makes this good for people who don’t speak Chinese. They also have free refills on their iced teas.

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Tasty Garden
288 W Valley Blvd
Ste 110
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 300-8262

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.