FuLoon Restaurant

On Friday night, based on my sister's recommendation, my parents, my sister and her husband, Bryan and I trekked out to Malden to check out this restaurant.

Our conclusion? The chefs at FuLoon know what they are doing. The food is authentic and expertly prepared. The local Chinese population attests to this - over three quarters of the diners were Asian. The restaurant specializes in a type of Chinese cuisine with which I am not as familiar - it's not your typical Cantonese fare.

We ordered a Jingdu pork pancake, a twist on the normal scallion pancake. Instead of scallions, the pancake is filled with little bits of ground pork. Most people thought this was very good.

FuLoon also makes an excellent Madarin style whole fish. The entire fish is lightly dusted with cornstarch, deep-fried, and covered with a flavorful sauce. The dish was well executed - the fish stayed crunchy while the sauce coated and flavored the individual fish pieces. This dish was several people's favorite dish out of all the ones that we ordered.

We enjoyed the stir-fried congxin tsai (hollow heart vegetable) with garlic, which was expertly executed.

Bryan suggested ordering the tea-smoke duck, which is one of his favorite dishes. The "smoke" flavor in this duck was particularly strong. My brother in law remarked that it smells like someone started smoking and blew the cigarette fumes onto the duck. I'm not sure if it was THAT strong, but the smoke flavor was definitely VERY intense. Bryan thought it was tasty. My mother (who eats pretty light in general) thought the dish was too salty.

The waitress had recommended the homestyle steamed pork shoulder, saying that it was one of their specialties. I actually did not try this dish, but several people thought the flavor was a bit bland and that they had tasted better versions of this dish in other restaurants.

Over all, the food at this restaurant was good. If you're in the area and you're craving some good Chinese food, it's definitely worth the visit. The food is authentic, refreshingly different, and well prepared. I've been told to order off the Chinese menu (the one with all the pictures). Apparently they also serve a lunch buffet, which is more Americanized and not as good.

http://fuloon-restaurant.com/default.aspx