Dish: Black Bean Sauce Beef Chow FunPlace: Regent Bakery and Cafe, Capitol HillPrice: $8.95 On the plate: The menu doesn’t offer any further description of the dish, but you’re getting rice noodles with beef, red and green bell peppers, onions, and fermented black bean sauce.Supporting cast/What to do: Same as with most of these dishes: Ask for chili sauce if you want more spice, and otherwise just dig in. These slippery, flat noodles provide a test of your chopstick skills.Noodling around: Chow means stir-fry and fun are rice noodles. I love wide noodles, which always draws me to this dish. At Regent, you can choose from several types of beef chow fun. For dry beef chow fun ($8.95), the noodles are stir-fried with a little soy sauce, but otherwise cooked “dry” to bring out the wok hei smokiness. Beef chow fun with sauce ($9.95) is wet-fried, so it comes with more of a gravy. A fan of fermented black beans, I went with the black bean sauce beef chow fun as it would offer the stronger flavor. (For a non-beef option, you can get spicy sauce shrimp and BBQ pork chow fun for $8.95.)This noodle dish has pungent appeal from the black beans, the sauce coating the noodles in slippery fashion. They’re soft with the slightest chew, the bell peppers offering a contrast in textures. There’s a generous amount of beef on the plate, and I detected underlying flavors of garlic, ginger, and I’d guess sesame oil (traditional ingredients for chow fun).As Regent is an American-style Chinese restaurant, you’ll find other “American” dishes in the noodle section of the menu (Singapore rice noodles and chow mein), as well as in the non-noodle sections (including, yes, General Tso’s chicken).If you want more: There are predictable appetizers like crispy spring rolls (three for $4.95) and Chinese potstickers (six for $5.95), as well as a selection of meat or vegetable skewers ($1.75 each), but why not take advantage of being in a bakery? Select from a wide variety of cake slices, like the luscious chestnut ($3.85). It’s spongy with layers of light cream and chestnut, and not nearly as heavy as many Western desserts.Be aware/beware: Regent Bakery and Cafe just opened its Seattle location (there’s also one in Redmond) on Wednesday, and was already drawing good crowds over the weekend. If you don’t want a full meal, you can come for a slice of cake (or a whole cake!) with coffee or tea (including bubble tea), or perhaps a pick of Chinese pastries–which are also great to go. Look for hot dog buns, pineapple buns, a variety of croissants, and much more. While you order your cake at the counter, the pastries are self-service. Grab tongs and a tray to collect what you want, then proceed to the cashier.Follow Voracious on Facebook and Twitter. Follow me on Twitter.
More Stories From This Author
For 50 years, Zeke’s off US 2 has served delicious burgers
It’s been a popular pit stop in Gold Bar for skiers and hikers, and the same family still runs it.
By
Evan Thompson • June 6, 2019 11:05 am
With ‘Game of Thrones’ ending, it’s time for a proper feast
How to make a meal inspired by the Lannisters’ and Starks’ world, fit for the King in the North.
By
Ben Watanabe • May 15, 2019 1:30 am
Stash Box: 2016-2019
Time to roll one for the road …
By
Meagan Angus • February 26, 2019 3:15 pm