Din Ho Chinese Bbq Restaurant
Fri., Dec. 25, 1998
Daily, 11am-10pm
We were eight strong, strapping folk -- professional eaters one and all -- embarking on a culinary journey to Hong Kong, without ever leaving the dining room of Din Ho Chinese BBQ Restaurant. The vehicle for our sojourn was the "House Special Combination Dish" menu, a lavish assortment of banquet dishes for groups of three people or more. We chose a hybrid menu for nine diners (which isn't on the menu, but Jackie, the owner, is very accommodating) that costs us a grand total of $14.87 each, tax included. This is, without question, the best dining deal in the city of Austin -- it would be worth much more than that, even if the food weren't so damn good.
First a word about Din Ho: It's a large, airy, bustling restaurant located in the same shopping center as Hong Kong Supermarket, at the notheast corner of Ohlen and 183. Don't let the "BBQ" part of the name fool you; Din Ho has one of the most complete Chinese menus in town, as well as killer barbecue. Be sure and check out the huge list of daily specials posted by the front door; you'll be amazed at the variety of dishes offered.
But back to the meal at hand. Item number one of our banquet was Seafood With Fish Maw Soup. A tureen large enough for seconds all the way around held an ethereal blend of scallops, cheek meat (any fisherman will tell you it's the best on the beast), egg thread, and the aforementioned maws (thin strips cut from the gullet). It was a delicate soup with perfectly cooked components: the scallops just done, the maws gelatinous and melting in the mouth, with just a hint of the sea.
Number two was a platter of Din Ho's Barbecues: Chicken, Duck, Char-Siu Roast Pork, and a Roast Pork with little crunchies on top (cut from a whole side of piglet), served with several sauces and a never-ending platter of sweet and sour Pickled Vegetables that had a nice finish of ginger. All the meats were moist, rich, and flavorful, the veggies a perfect palate cleanser.
Number three brought us to Sizzling Beef With Black Pepper -- thick slices of marinated loin with onion and pepper, the meat charred, moist, and fork tender, the carmelized sauce satiny smooth and subtle. It was one of the better beef dishes I've had in town.
Course four was Pork Chops-Chinese Style -- lean chops, dusted in rice flour and flash fried, tossed with a sauce of citrus, ginger, rice vinegar, and soy just to coat. They were fall-off-the-bone tender, with all our travelers licking their fingers for every last vestige of the glaze.
Next, the Double Lobsters in Creamy Sauce arrived on a huge platter. Two crustaceans that had been swimming merrily in the tank only moments before were chopped and split, and wallowing in a sauce similar to Cantonese Lobster Sauce suffused with butter. The meat was impossibly fresh, sweet, and tender, the sauce delicate with a hint of garlic (but slightly cloying as it cooled).
Keeping in the fresh-from-the-tank vein, our next visitor was a Steamed Tilapia on a platter with a light sauce of red vinegar, scallion, garlic, ginger, and cilantro. It balanced well with the just-steamed freshwater flesh, a perfect interlude to the lobsters.
Three Family Seafood with XO Sauce was the next to arrive (and was a real crowd pleaser). Perfectly done shrimp, scallops, and porcupine-cut squid were served with snow peas, celery, and shitake mushrooms in a very light glaze with smoky chile rings and bits of Virginia ham and dried shrimp. Very simple in preparation, but yielding many layers of flavor.
Number eight on the itinerary was a stewed Lamb Brisket Hot Pot arriving in a cast-iron vessel. Chunks of tender, stewed lamb with ginger, garlic, water chestnuts, and whole black forest mushrooms were combined with the nutty taste and great texture of dried tofu skin, and the tang and richness of a miso-like "fermented, wet tofu sauce." You don't find this kind of dish at any other place in town.
The ninth dish was Dried Scallop with Snow Pea Leaves. I know, it sounds pretty weird to Western ears, but being the adventurous lot we are, we dove in unabashedly. It was definitely one of our faves. The dried scallop was cut into a fine shred, and the perfect foil to the greens, which were like a blend of chard or beet greens combined with snow peas, all bathed in a delicious coating that hinted of garlic and oyster sauce. I will never grow snow peas for the peas again -- the greens will be my goal.
For dessert, we were served small, icy bowls of citrus-y lichee fruit in syrup, a nice palate touch to end our trip, along with the ubiquitous fortune cookies. Topped off with another round of hot Oolong Tea to wash it all down, we were stuffed, sated, and sassy.
Service at Din Ho was hovering without being obtrusive. We wanted for nothing during our feast, and all of our many questions were promptly answered. The wokmasters in the kitchen produced the successive dishes with adept timing, giving us ample time to absorb each round. Sauces were clean and refined, with no hint of grease -- kudos to the chefs slaving away in the back.
I can think of no better way for a group of foodies or friends to get together for a communal dining experience than to meet at Din Ho for the House Special Combo Banquet. Nowhere else in Austin can you get food this refined and flavorful, with such variety, and for the price, as you can at Din Ho. I plan on becoming a fixture there, with friends or without. -- Mick Vann
