Favorite Chicago Chinese Food 2017: Tienstin Restaurant

My 2017 top 10 places for Chinese food and boba in Chicago

1) MCCB
2) A Bite of Szechuan (RIP)
3) Yu-ton Dumpling House
4) Tientsin Restaurant
5) My Place
6) Town Kitchen (RIP)
7) Hello Jasmine
8) Dolo
9) Phoenix
10) Taipei Cafe & Bambu

Prior to MCCB opening, my favorite place for Chinese food was the Richland basement food court.  It should be no surprise then that a few places from the basement ended up on my 2017 top 10 list: Tientsin Restaurant, Town Kitchen, and Hello Jasmine.  Honorable mentions go to Tienstin Potstickers, Snack Planet, and the original dry hot pot stall.  I'll cover all of the basement places in due time, but first up is Tienstin Restaurant.

Though I typically order from multiple stalls for a single meal, Tienstin Restaurant is the one I order most often from.  Their strengths are their dough-centric items and noodle soups.  Here are the things I like the most from Tienstin.

Beef Rib Tomato Soup

If I had to describe this dish to someone I might describe it "Chinese spaghetti with red sauce," and I don't mean that in a disparaging way.  This bowl of noodle soup is warm and comforting.  The sweet and tangy tomato-based broth, pairs nicely with chunks of braised beef rib.  I like the fact that they leave the cartilage on the meat for some added texture.  Noodles, one of the few dough-based items not made from scratch, come from Korea and have a nice chewiness to them.

Xian Bing

Have I had better xian bing?  Probably.  Have I had better xian bing in Chicago?  No.  Can you even find another place that serves xian bing in Chicago?  I'm not actually too sure.  Is Tientsin's xian bing a little greasy on the inside?  Sometimes.

But really the only question that matters here is: is Tientsin's xian bing tasty and should you order it?  Yes.

This is probably the dish I've ordered most from Tientsin, and I think it's listed as "beef pancake" on the menu.  The texture on the dough has a good resilience to it and crunch from the pan.  The filling is extremely juicy, well-seasoned, and scaldingly hot.  I like to eat this with some black vinegar to balance things out.

Stir Fried Pancake W/ Pork & Cabbage

Much like other things that I enjoy from Tienstin, the star for me in this dish is the dough.  The combination of chewy and crispy is great, plus you get crunchy from the cabbage.  Add in a decent amount of wok hei and you have a winner in my book.

Boiled Dumplings

Tienstin's dumpling game is underrated and overshadowed by Qing Xiang Yuan's popularity.  There's nothing really special about their dumplings, just that they're consistently solid.  Plus, you don't have to hassle with uncomfortable seating, an obnoxious electronic tablet-based menu, and a horrible FOH like you do at Qing Xiang Yuan.