Good choices: Malacca lobak; beef rendang; oysters with ginger and scallion; half boneless duck with taro; stir-fried peapod shoots; Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce; crabmeat E-foo noodles.
Credit cards: Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express.
Access: One flight of stairs up from street level.
PEARL DYNASTY
25 Tyler Street, Boston
(617) 338-8770
Restaurant reviewed 02/18/98 by Fiona Luis
It was life imitating art. A crowded table, a bossy matron expertly doling out dinner. She fussed over young and old, holding court while exquisite morsels of food were consumed. It could have been a scene from Ang Lee's "Eat Drink Man Woman" but it took place last week in Boston's Chinatown, in a jade-hued, year-old restaurant called Pearl Dynasty.
The restaurant's odd layout - two rooms separated by a wall - has its plusses and its minuses. For one, it never gets too noisy and always feels rather cozy. But if you arrange to meet friends there, you might just miss your party (hint: they're hidden in that other room).
On a recent Sunday evening, the restaurant was packed with Chinese families. They were eating crab, picked fresh from the tanks near the entrance. They shared platters of steaming-hot noodles and sizzling claypots filled with aromatic vegetables. Everyone was busy eating, concentrating on their food.
Connie and William Moy, who are originally from Hong Kong, own Pearl Dynasty. Their son Tony helps them run it. When I asked him what was bringing in the crowds, he was succinct. "The food," he said, feeling no need to elaborate. I pressed on, asking who the Moys have working the stoves. "Four chefs, full time," he said. "One is from Malaysia, another from Hong Kong, two from China."
The menu showcases this geographic spread: taro pots, curries, and shrimp-paste dishes; ox tongue and bamboo fungus (wood ears); braised duck and Cantonese noodles. It's extensive, to be sure. If you go for lunch, resist the impulse to order those prototypical luncheon specials. There's so much to enjoy on this menu (ignore the typos), and the lunch specials just don't do the kitchen justice. The smart thing to do is to assemble a group of hungry friends and share everything.
And here's what you should sample:
Malacca lobak ($6.95), a platter of fried custardy tofu and shrimp fritters with a plummy dipping sauce, was a perfect communal appetizer. Beef rendang ($8.95), tender slices of flank simmered in a dark, spicy sauce smoothed out with coconut milk, was lovely over rice. Oysters fried with ginger and scallion ($9.95) were succulent, the mollusks' briny flavors marrying wonderfully with the heat and snap of the dish's accompaniments. The half boneless duck with mashed taro ($11.95) was triumphant, the starchy and smooth taro a perfect foil for the flavorful roasted meat.
Two vegetable preparations sparkled. Stir-fried pea-pod shoots ($9.95) glistened, their green tenderness perked up with just enough chopped garlic. At another meal, everyone's favorite dish was the crunchy, naturally sweet Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce ($5.95), which was the day's incarnation of the menu's "stir fried Chinese green." The dish, said Tony Moy, is treated like a vegetable of the day; whatever looks good at market is offered at the table that evening.
Pearl Dynasty offers a plethora of noodle dishes. One of the more subtle ones, crabmeat E-foo noodles ($5.95), was the best, offering just enough luxury on the tongue from the bits of sweet crabmeat and an earthy woodiness from Chinese mushrooms.
During two lunchtime visits, service was sweet and attentive. But on a night when the tables were full, our waiter was scattered and hard to flag down. Still, he made amends by showing up with heartfelt apologies and bowls of red bean and tapioca soup for everyone. The soothing dessert comes compliments of the house to every dinner table.
Alas, I did not get to try the taro pot with shrimp, which Tony Moy characterized as the most popular dish at Pearl Dynasty. It's one of several good reasons to go back.
Tips & hits
