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Type: Chinese
Hours: Sun.-Thur. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.
Good choices: Shrimp and tomato soup, vegetarian spring rolls, orange flavored chicken, sesame beef, Yu Hsiang scallops, Szechuan spicy string beans, gourmet chicken with pine nuts.
Credit cards: All major credit cards.
Access: Fully accessible.
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GOURMET WOK
118 Needham St.
Newton
(617) 332-9888
Restaurant reviewed 04/08/99 by Adam Pertman
During our first trip to Gourmet Wok, we couldn't help noticing that two of the four vehicles parked out front were minivans. When we pulled up for a second visit, it was three out of five (including our own).
That was no small hint of things to come. The restaurant was dominated by families with children ranging from toddlers to teens. The hostess, seeing the two small kids in our party, wisely escorted us to a far corner of the room. Then, when we asked our waiter for chopsticks, he politely advised us to keep them away from the young ones at the table, lest someone inadvertently get poked.
This is a restaurant that knows how to handle families. Which is not to say that the atmosphere is rambunctious, or that the decor is designed for the Teletubby and Gameboy sets.
Quite the opposite. The pale-jade room, trimmed with mahogany-stained woodwork, looks elegant and feels serene. The allure extends to the food, too.
Several themes struck us about the items we sampled. Most notably, nearly everything tasted as though the kitchen got ingredients directly from a market in the back. And the chefs were wise in veering toward understatement, rather than overpowering their fresh ingredients with excessive seasoning or sapping them of their natural taste by leaving them too long in the wok.
So the Yu Hsiang scallops ($10.95) were moist and not the least bit chewy; the onions and bell peppers were crisp-tender, and the tangy sauce achieved a palate-pleasing blend of sweet and spicy. Similarly, the orange-flavored chicken ($9.95) was stir-fried until it was just slightly crisp but still succulent, and was served in a light tangerine sauce that betrayed just a hint of ginger. And, while we were initially disappointed to see that the Szechuan spicy string beans ($7.95) weren't shriveled the way we usually like them, we were delighted when we crunched a mouthful of this not-too-spicy, crunchy-garlicky variation of the Chinese staple.
The notable exception to the delicate-and-ungreasy rule at Gourmet Wok was the bountiful serving of chicken fingers ($5.95). They were encrusted with a thick, tempura-like batter and actually tasted delicious; in fact (no surprise), they were the kids' favorite. But they were so oily that they glistened when they arrived at our table.
A couple of our fellow diners complained that the chefs, in their laudable efforts to keep from overseasoning, sometimes displayed too light a touch. The wonton soup ($2.50) was a good example: The homemade dumplings were nicely doughy and dense with pork, but the overall dish came off bland; the broth cried out for ginger, salt, or some other flavor-enhancer to lend a bit of character. We also agreed that the moo shi shrimp ($7.95) tasted too much like a bunch of shredded vegetables; nothing wrong with that, but a Chinese dish shouldn't need hoisin sauce - which comes on the side - or any other outside help to taste Chinese.
Another of the starters, the shrimp and tomato soup ($6.25 for a large bowl intended for two), was a hair too sweet for some of us, but did a generally good job of finding a balance between remaining subtle and retaining your attention. Specifically, its broth was thick enough to ensure a tomatoey zing, but not so thick as to drown out suggestions of garlic and rice-wine vinegar - or to rob the shrimp and peas in the dish of their distinct identities.
Several other selections also received high marks. Among the appetizers, the feather-light vegetarian spring rolls ($3.50 for two) won praise from young and old alike, and two main courses - the sesame beef ($10.50) and the gourmet chicken with pine nuts ($9.95) - left all the adults asking for more. The chicken was especially fun to eat, minced and served with do-it-yourself wrappers of iceberg lettuce leaves; while the beef was perhaps the most intensely flavored item we tried, fried until it was crunchy and then sauteed in a gooey, gingery, slightly sugary brown sauce.
Given its culinary quality, its family-friendliness and its enticing ambience, this would seem like the kind of place where you'd sometimes expect to wait for a seat. That doesn't appear to be the case, however, and we suspect there are two major reasons.
First, Newton and its surrounding communities are glutted with Asian eateries, many of them quite good. And the placement of Gourmet Wok, set behind a fitness-equipment store on a street crammed with strip malls, makes it neither easy to find nor particularly appealing as a couple's destination for a leisurely evening out.
This is, in short, a restaurant that deserves a better location.
Tips & hits
