Dew Drop Inn

After years of driving by this place, I finally got the courage to "drop in".  To tell you the truth, it was the name of the restaurant, a notoriously "cute" play on words, that actually got me to stop and wonder about this little hole-in-the-wall that serves Northern Chinese Cuisine.  Since my first visit, I've been back a couple of times, and each time, I've had something different.  Most of the dishes that I have tried have been excellent.

The inside of the restaurant feels cramped when it's crowded...and believe me, there have been times when it's been really crowded, but tonight there's a nice crowd, with a few of the tables up for grabs.

What I find really interesting here is the menu.  It's actually a small photo album filled with pictures of the dishes, their names (written in Chinese and English) and the prices.  I didn't think of snapping pictures of the menu and will do so on my next visit here.

Since I'm dining with a couple of friends, we decide to each order a dish and see how it ends up.  We start by ordering the pepper salted pomfret (US$11.95).  Before tonight, I've never eaten pomfret, but I'm told that it is one of the most widely eaten fishes throughout Asia.  This dish doesn't disappoint.  Crispy skin, nice balance of flavor and firm meat (and no strong "fishy" taste), make this fish something that will be cooked in my own kitchen.

To complement the fish, we ordered the stir-fried tofu with mixed vegetables (US$6.75).  I'm a big fan of tofu, and this dish is an excellent balance to the fish.  The pieces of tofu are nicely fried and there are a wide assortment of vegetables in this dish:  choi sum, snow peas, mushrooms, baby corn, cabbage, zucchini, carrots, broccoli and water chestnuts.  The vegetables are crispy and the gravy just superb. 

After perusing the menu, I decide on a noodle dish instead of rice.  At first, I thought of trying the Shanghai noodles, but instead, chose the Singapore-style fried noodles (mai fun, thin rice noodles) with curry sauce (US$6.95).  Now, the reason why I chose this dish?  We were all intrigued.  I was dining with two Singaporeans and they had no idea what this was.  So the dish was ordered more of out curiousity than actually having tried it before!

Let's just say that this dish was the biggest disappointment of the night.  It didn't have much of a curry flavor to it, but that said, everything else about it was just OK.  I guess we had expected it to be much more than it actually was.  This dish, however, contained shrimp, cabbage, shredded chicken, spring onions and carrots.  Nice blend of flavors...but not good enough in my opinion.

If you're passing by, make sure you take the time to "drop in" and try the food at Dew Drop Inn.  Their interpretations of Northern Chinese Cuisine are superb.

Dew Drop Inn
1088 South Beretania
Telephone:  808.526.9522

Comments

[Renee]

heehee... I spy your pomfret...
yes, it always amuses me that food bloggers on opposite sides of the planet so very often have the same food thoughts.
amazing! such serendipity.
(btw, pomfret with sambal is absolutely delish!)

yeah, I'm always very amused to read menus outside of Singapore that state "Singapore style fried rice", "Singapore style fried bee hoon/mai fun/rice vermicelli", because such a thing doesn't exist in Singapore.
even in HK, I've seen such listings.
but in the "West" these Singapore style dishes are for some odd reason always cooked with curry powder, and that just doesn't happen in Singapore. I've actually received quite a few emails asking about such Singapore style fried rice/noodles, and people are shocked when told that curry powder with rice & noodles just doesn't happen in Singapore. LoL!
I guess it's like "Hong Kong style fried noodles"... it exists everywhere, even in Singapore, but most definitely not in Hong Kong, and Hongkongers in HK would be rather "insulted".
Hee... strange how dishes take on a cultural idenity like that. : )

[Reid]

Renee...it's really funny to hear you say that. I'm always amazed when people tell me they want to eat Hawaiian pizza! What is Hawaiian pizza? Anything with either ham, or Canadian bacon, and pineapple on it...or so it seems. Don't ask me why it's called Hawaiian... It doesn't really make sense! The pomfret was really very good. I must try it with some sambal soon. Pomfret fish here is very expensive. When I went to the market the other day, it was US$5.99 per pound and the fish was not even fresh!

[Renee]

LoL! so true! about the hawaiian pizza.
hey, speaking of hawaiian food... what is a "typical, true blue" hawaiian food? maybe you can do a post on it someday? ; )

[Reid]

Renee...I'll do a post on Hawaiian food soon. I don't really eat it too often. There are actually a lot of dishes that I enjoy, but not very many restaurants that make them well. Keep an eye open!

[Maya]

Hi reid

Yah, agree on the Hawaiian pizza. Maybe because they put pineapple on top. There are two types of pomfret eaten here in Malaysia. One is the darker coloured one (the one you tried above which is good as a fried fish dish). The other is a whiter one, smooth when steamed with ginger and scallions. Then there's the royal pomfret or what the locals here know as "tau tay" ... it's a bigger version of the whiter pomfret and very expensive. Also great steamed or cooked in a Nyonya spicy sourish curry. Yum!

[Reid]

Hi Maya...well, welcome to the site. This was actually the first time I tried pomfret fish and I must say that it was quite good. I'm looking forward to trying the "white" pomfret steamed! I'm sure that it will be just as nice. I'll be heading to S'pore and Thailand in August/September. I'm still contemplating a trip to Malaysia...when I'm there, I must try all of my favorite Malaysian and Nonya style foods!

[Shanna]

Hello, my experience with Singapore Style Fried Rice Noodles is so-o-o-o different. I have loved it since my first bite more than 10 years ago! The best place is Hop Li in Los Angeles. They use so much curry that the noodles are very yellow and is much drier than it appears in your pic. I have only seen it at 2 other places and they were not bad. I ended up on your sight because I wanted to try to make a vegetarian version and was looking for a recipe. You may want to try it at another restaurant. Happy chow!