{"id":164,"date":"2005-05-26T11:04:58","date_gmt":"2005-05-26T11:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/updates.xephalon.net\/?p=164"},"modified":"2005-05-26T11:04:58","modified_gmt":"2005-05-26T11:04:58","slug":"restaurant-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/2005\/05\/26\/restaurant-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Restaurant Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>These past days have been a madhouse in terms of lab work. Looking back, I could barely remember anything except for what I&#8217;ve eaten. And since my blog is more or less a journal of my culinary adventures anyway, I&#8217;ll just leave you a taste of our recent eats:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.boston.com\/dining\/globe_review\/1137\">East Manor<\/a>, a huge all-you-can-eat pavilion right off Rte.1 in Saugus, served up some above-average food for a Chinese buffet. The decor was surprisingly elegant, if not for the makeshift gift shop in the lobby with el cheapo stuffed animals strewn about.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/boston.citysearch.com\/profile\/41665874\/allston_ma\/shanghai_gate.html\">Shanghai Gate<\/a> in Allston offers an eclectic menu of various authentic Shanghai dishes many of which we&#8217;ve never even heard of. Even the sights and smells from the neighboring tables were enough to warrant another visit&#8230; at LEAST!<\/p>\n<p>Located right on Newbury St., <a href=\"http:\/\/inqboston.com\/\">INQ Bistro and Bar<\/a> looks chic from the outside. But with its sharp red interior and dim-beyond-romantic lighting, it gave more of a 50&#8217;s stucco-gone-haywire feel, or as Barbara puts it, &#8220;kinda like hell.&#8221; The generic American menu was equally uninspired.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/castlehillfunctions.thetrustees.org\/index.cfm\">Castle Hill<\/a>, where Junne and Dave got married this weekend, is better known for their beautiful gardens and rolling hills. However, the reception dinner wowed us with hor d&#8217;oeuves like braised duck on a lotus chip or a portabella and leek p\u00e2t\u00e9 on a warm toast. Even the main course was blessed with a slab of juicy filet mignon with jumbo prawns stuffed with crabmeat. If only all weddings were like this&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>With its shabby but utilitarian decor, with hand-drawn signs of menu items plastered along the walls, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bostonphoenix.com\/archive\/food\/99\/07\/15\/MEN_TEI.html\">Men-Tei<\/a> gave the promise of an authentic ramen experience. But one sip of the salty soup and a bite of the dried char-sui and soggy noodles convinced us otherwise, sending us home ready to give up all hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These past days have been a madhouse in terms of lab work. Looking back, I could barely remember anything except for what I&#8217;ve eaten. And since my blog is more or less a journal of my culinary adventures anyway, I&#8217;ll &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/2005\/05\/26\/restaurant-reviews\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xephalon.net\/updates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}