Lunch #48: 663 Bistro

The MSG150 crew was seven lunchers strong today as we headed back past the intersection of Weller and Maynard to find our next spot in the Heart of the DLZ. Just next door to Ho Ho is the simply named 663 Bistro (at 663 Weller). Program note: Semi-vegetarian Rob is back with us after an extended battle with the flu. Welcome back Rob!

663 Bistro, Seattle
Address: 663 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Congee, Chinese: Noodles, Chinese: Cantonese, Chinese: BBQ
Average rating: 4.3 chopsticks
Lunch date: 4/18/2008 @ 12:17:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 8 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 53 minutes
Chopstix quality: Really Nice Plastic
Do they use MSG?: Yes
Where is the owner/chef from?: Canton
Number of tables: 18
Number of occupied tables: 11 (61%)
Number of business lunch tables: 2 (18%)
Number of "local" tables: 9 (81%)
Healthcode Score: 20
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Noodles in Soup with BBQ Pork and Wontons - $5.95
Rating:

Emmett's Review

The first time I came here, Geary and I tag-teamed an entire duck. For some reason we thought we could put it away ourselves. But they brought this humongous piece of fowl against which we had no chance. It was delicious, I looked forward to our return.

663 is another bright Cantonese spot with an extensive menu covering soups, noodles, congee, etc. We had a good crew, affording us the opportunity to try a few different things. I wanted to do soup, cause I had such a good experience at Ocean City II with their soup. I ordered the Noodles in Soup with BBQ Pork and Wontons.

They offered three different types of noodles - Cantonese noodles, wide rice Noodles, and thin rice noodles. I opted for the Cantonese, which are the standard. Their soup was fantastic, and the pork was as savory as Ocean City II. It held up well to Mike's Noodle House. I also got to sample some of Rob's Curried Fish Fillet, which was fantastic, and the other assorted Beef and Noodle dishes.

Everything was solid. I'll return.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: XO Sauce Pan-Fried Noodles with Sliced Fish + Pea Vine Greens - $7.95 + $9.95
Rating:

Geary's Review

663 Bistro has a medium-sized dining area that is clean with appealing, but muted, decor. Even though it isn't much of a name, it is unusual for a Chinese restaurant to have a name that doesn't immediately identify it as Chinese. And it puts them in the same neighborhood as Travis Shred and his neighbor, The Beast. 663 has a sizable menu and no specific lunch specials (YAY!). The menu selections include noodles, soups, congee, BBQ meats, and various other southern Chinese favorites. I was in the mood for noodles so went with the XO Sauce Pan-Fried Noodles with Sliced Fish. I noticed our waitress delivering a plate of greens to a neighboring table, so threw in an order for some Pea Vine Greens of our own.

Rob's fish arrived first and was a clear winner. He was kind and shared bites. The curry was thick and flavorful. The fish was fresh, moist, and flaky. My XO Noodles were also great. I wasn't sure what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised. It was similar to beef chow fun, except with fish. The fish wasn't deep fried, like Rob's curry. It was just stir-fried in with the noodles, onions, and sprouts. The sprouts and onions gave it a nice crunch and the XO sauce added a tangy flavor. Yum! The Pea Vine Greens were cooked perfectly and were a welcome companion to the heavily noodled main course. The fish balls, however, were a bit too fishy for my taste.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Noodles in Soup with Roast Duck and BBQ Pork - $5.95
Rating:

Adam's Review

The menu for 663 Bistro was pretty damn huge... so I was having a hard time deciding what to get. I thought the 663 was because of their address, but it turns out it's the number of items on their menu... <groan>. I saw some Meat in the Window, so I knew I wanted to get something with that. I opted for the Noodle Soup with Roast Pork and Roast Duck.

I didn't actually get roast pork in my soup, there was a bit of a miscommunication, and I got the Honey BBQ Pork. This little mishap ended up being quite a little pig-tastic blessing. The Honey BBQ Pork is sweet and salty (as opposed to just salty like BBQ pork from some other MIWs), and lent a nice flavor to the soup that it was in. The roast duck was good, but I wish there had been more.

I was going to give this place a solid 4-chopsticks review, until I tasted the Curry Fish Fillet on Rice. The curry sauce was very flavorful and creamy. The bowl that contained the curry was nearly overflowing with fish... they crammed-in at least 2 servings of fish. This is one of the best lunches I've ever tasted, and I'm heading back to this place to specifically get this dish! It was so good, I didn't even mind that the Vegetarian Rob ordered it.

Great prices. Great food. One of the International District Gems.

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: Curry Fish Fillet on Rice - $6.50
Rating:

Rob's Review

I'd been to 663 Bistro once before well over a year ago (and I sat at the same table in almost the same seat), and the dish I had was fairly unremarkable (what Joey got, but sans beef). This time, however, I went with the curry fish fillet, in no small part to Joey telling me, "The curry is pretty good here," and I must say that I won today's lunch lottery (they even served me first!). The curry is actually pretty great -- creamy, flavorful, with a decent kick (didn't need any extra hot sauce) -- generously poured over an ample amount of breaded, tender, and moist flounder, onions, bell peppers, and potatoes. One of the best curries I've had in quite a while, in fact. The pea vines in garlic sauce was a great side dish to the curry -- the garlic sauce was nice and light (a smidge too salty on first taste, but fine on subsequent ones). So, there are great things here at the 663, but you have to choose wisely. Today was my first msg150 lunch in three weeks (I was out sick with a horrible, horrible flu and what have you), and it felt so good to be back that I didn't even mind Adam's feeble attempts at humor.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: Tossed Noodles with BBQ Pork and Roast Duck - $6.25
Rating:

Michael's Review

I had the opportunity to sample most of the dishes on the table and with the exception of Joey's RMV everything was far above average. My noodles with duck and pork, Rob's curry, and Geary's pan fried noodles were all spectacular.

This isn't your usual boring lunch fare with breaded chicken covered in sugar. Fresh noodles, tasty broth, juicy barbeque, and the most awesome pea vines in garlic sauce make this bistro a big improvement over the usual 'lunch special'.

If you consider that this feast cost maybe 10 bucks including tax and tip you will have to agree that this is one of the best lunch spots we've found in the ID.

Luncher: Torrey

Lunch: Noodles in Soup with BBQ Pork and Wide Rice Noodles - $4.95
Rating:

Luncher: Joey

Lunch: Beef and Fresh Vegetables on Rice - $5.75
Rating:

663 Bistro Photos

663 Bistro


Menu


Curry Fish Fillet on Rice


XO Sauce Pan-Fried Noodles with Sliced Fish + Pea Vine Greens


Tossed Noodles with BBQ Pork and Roast Duck


Noodles in Soup with Roast Duck and BBQ Pork


Noodles in Soup with BBQ Pork and Wide Rice Noodles


Pea Vine Greens


Beef and Fresh Vegetables on Rice


Noodles in Soup with BBQ Pork and Wontons


Curried Fish Balls

Lunch #45: Ocean City II, Noodle Cafe

On our first visit to Ocean City, we noticed that the space was split into two different dining areas: one is a large dining room that serves mostly Dim Sum for lunch, the other is a small noodle house. The second area, called Ocean City Restaurant II, Noodle Cafe, seemed separate enough that it deserved its own visit, so today we headed out with a comfortable group of seven to give the sequel a shot.

Ocean City II: Noodle Cafe, Seattle
Address: 609 S Weller St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Noodles
Average rating: 3.6 chopsticks
Lunch date: 4/11/2008 @ 12:00:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 10 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 45 minutes
Chopstix quality: Nice Wood
Do they use MSG?: Didn't Ask
Where is the owner/chef from?: San Francisco
Number of tables: 13
Number of occupied tables: 4 (30%)
Number of business lunch tables: 1 (25%)
Number of "local" tables: 4 (100%)
Healthcode Score: 0
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Congee with Pork and Thousand Year Old Egg + Chinese Doughnut - $4.50+$2.50
Rating:

Geary's Review

The Noodle Cafe is part of the same building as the large main dining room and shares a main kitchen, but it has a separate entrance, its own small kitchen for noodles and soups, and its own menu. In fact, we were given three menus. In addition to the Noodle Cafe menu, we were given a short lunch specials menu and the full Ocean City menu. It's a nice cozy space, about the size of Mike's or HHKC, but with no crowd. It's perched up half a story above the street with lots of big windows that give a nice perspective on the lunch traffic walking and driving past.

Since the few other guests were eating noodles, I figured it was safe to skip the lunch specials without violating rule #2. I missed out on the congee at HHKC so I went with the Congee with Pork and Thousand Year Old Egg and added in an order of Chinese Doughnuts for good measure. The food arrived quickly and we dug in.

The congee was good with ample pork and egg enhanced with spices including slivers of lemon grass. The doughnuts were great, larger and crispier than the ones we have had at previous spots. If you are not familiar, the Chinese Doughnut (Youtaio) is not sweet. It's a crispy deep fried log of dough cut into large bite size chunks each a couple of inches long and the circumference of somewhere between a nickel and a half dollar (these were in the half dollar range). It is very light and full of holes, sort of like a miniature loofah. The doughnuts are often served alongside congee and eaten like crackers in clam chowder.

Mike's and HHKC have a better selection for noodles and congee, but for if you want a less crowded alternative with good food and friendly service then Ocean City's Noodle Cafe is a great option.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: BBQ Pork Dumpling Noodle Soup - $6.25
Rating:

Emmett's Review

Ocean City, like Jalisco, has a sibling - Ocean City II. This place is more my style - quiet, nondescript, good food. It also exemplifies the goal of our quest - to find good eats otherwise overlooked. In fact, we almost overlooked this place as it is housed in its Dim Sum serving brother. Good thing we didn't - this place was awesome.

We were seated at a large table in the back of the small, bright place. I had a seat by the window, and had a nice elevated view of Weller. They have three different menus - a Noodle menu, a Lunch Special menu, and a regular dinner menu. I went for the Noodles, and got BBQ Pork Dumpling Noodle Soup. The soup was fantastic. The broth was flavorful, the noodles were tasty, the dumplings had a nice consistency, and were plentiful. The BBQ Pork was the highlight - sweet, juicy, melt in your mouth delicious. They didn't skimp on the puerco either.

I have noticed I tend to give all of the places that serve noodle soups a higher than average rating. Other restaurants should heed this advice - you can't go wrong serving a delicious noodle soup. I'll be back.

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: BBQ Pork Braised Noodle Soup - $5.95
Rating:

Adam's Review

After Ocean City's mediocre showing for Dim Sum, I didn't know what to expect. Although, they weren't showing their true guns like they should, because this Noodle place is actually a Meat in Window joint! My favorite kind of joint.

I had to hurriedly pick my food from one-of-the-three menus because I was late to this lunch party. I picked the first thing on the first menu I was handed: BBQ Pork Braised Noodle Soup. The star of this show was definitely the BBQ'd Pork. It had an excellent flavor. Wasn't fatty. Wasn't too salty. And one side had a gentle crisp to it. ZOMG, I'm in love.

The braised noodles and soup that came with it were good, but nothing too special.

If you're heading into Ocean City, you'd do well to turn left into the Noodle place.

VIP Luncher: Joe from Joe's Blog

Lunch: Roast Duck Lunch Special - $7.95
Rating:

Joe's Review

The MSG150 folks were kind enough to let me tag along for today's lunch at Ocean City's unassuming little annex. It's a cramped dining area which is either called Ocean City II or Noodle Cafe, depending on which one of the three different menus you want to believe. The only remarkable feature of the place is an enormous roasting oven that takes up about 3/4 of the kitchen counter, just tempting you to order one of the birds or swine hanging inside.

Unable to resist that power, I ordered the Lunch Special with roast duck. It included a cup of hot & sour soup that might have been the high point of the meal. It was perfectly hot in both senses of the word, and chock full of the stuff that goes into hot & sour soup (bamboo?). The broth was thick and savory, just the way I like it.

The main course came with a scoop of fried rice that was pretty standard, an egg roll that I didn't eat, and about 8 small pieces of roast duck, still on the bone. The duck pieces were rather inconsistent. Some were crunchy, others soft. Some were choice meat, others fatty or sinewy. The one consistent thing among all of them was the delicious roasted skin covering the whole thing.

The portion was on the small side. I probably wouldn't come back here a second time. Also, no fortune cookies! What was the deal with that?

Luncher: Jeff

Lunch: Roast Duck Lunch Special - $7.95
Rating:

Jeff's Review

I missed the original voyage, so my only frame of reference is the sequel: Ocean City Part Duex!

The cafeteria style venue had me wondering how "take out" this was going to feel. I decided to order directly off the lunch special menu – which seemed to be written specifically for visitors looking for standard unintimidating Chinese food.

That said, I ordered the Roast Duck which was probably the most adventurous of the pre-fab lunch plates. To be fair, the H&SS soup was good. Not the best I've had in the ID, but better than main-stream Chinese in the suburbs. The generic fried rice left a lot to be desired. It was pretty bland. At least the texture was good. The Duck was pretty darned good. The ducks themselves were only 10 feet away in the roaster so my confidence was high. The duck was nicely prepared and flavorful. I was glad I ordered it. My only complaint was the quantity. They gave me a ton of rice – but not much Duck when you remove the bones from the mass served. For $7.95 it wasn’t the most affordable of the lunch specials – but I didn’t feel it was over-priced either.

Luncher: Michael

Lunch: Roast Duck Won Ton Noodles - $5.95
Rating:

Michael's Review

Given the choice of going to OC1 or OC2 I'm going with Ocean City 2. Fast and cheap with a side of awesome. My soup was just right, with savory wontons and chunks of duck to chew on. The dim sum next door was really nice, but this is what lunch is supposed to be. I stole a chunk of Adam's bbq duck when he wasn't looking and it was amazingly tender and fresh. Next time I want duck and pork!!

Luncher: Torrey

Lunch: Roast Duck Won Ton Noodles - $5.95
Rating:

Ocean City II: Noodle Cafe Photos

Ocean City II, Noodle Cafe


Lunch Menu


Noodle Cafe Menu


Inside the Noodle Cafe Menu


H&SS


Congee w/ 10k y/o Egg & Pr0k


Roast Duck Lunch Special


BBQ Pork Dumpling Noodle Soup


Roast Duck Won Ton Noodles


Roast Duck Won Ton Noodles


BBQ Pork Braised Noodle Soup


Chinese Doughnuts


MiW


Noodle Cafe Shrine

04/15/08 - Fixed typos. Thanks Rob.

Lunch #39: Homestyle Hong Kong Cuisine

WE ARE FREE! No longer are we trapped in the sterile confines of the UFC. We are back on the street experiencing a real Chinatown, not a Disney version of one. To be fair, Uwajimaya is not quite that bad, but when there is so much to offer from independent, owner operated establishments with table service there is little that will take me back to the food court again.

Today the MSG150 crew headed out with a new spring in our step. We passed by the Oasis Tea Zone since it fails the test of Rule #1. They offer a couple of snack items, including Popcorn Chicken Bites and Fried Tofu, but not really enough to call it primarily a restaurant. Following our preordained path, took us back onto the south side of King and under the awning of Homestyle Hong Kong Cuisine. Although we have passed by many a time, but this was the first visit for each of us.

Homestyle Hong Kong Cuisine, Seattle
Address: 612 S. King St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Cuisine: Chinese: Congee, Chinese: Noodles
Average rating: 3.7 chopsticks
Lunch date: 3/17/2008 @ 12:05:00
Time taken to be seated: 0 minutes
Time to take order: 0 minutes
Time for food to arrive: 16 minutes
Total lengh of meal: 49 minutes
Chopstix quality: Nice Plastic
Do they use MSG?: We didn't ask, but it feels like there was.
Where is the owner/chef from?: Hong Kong
Number of tables: 8
Number of occupied tables: 8 (100%)
Number of business lunch tables: 2 (25%)
Number of "local" tables: 7 (87%)
Healthcode Score: 35
Links: Yelp!, Urbanspoon

Luncher: Adam

Lunch: Beef and Chicken Congee - $4.75
Rating:

Adam's Review

FREEEEEDOMMMMMMM!! We're out of the UFC, and it feels damn good. I wanted something that was the opposite of what I could get in the UFC, so I ordered Beef and Chicken Congee.

My bowl of Congee came out BOILING hot. It definitely hadn't been sitting on a steam table or under a heat lamp. There was plenty of delicious chunks of beef and chicken that were flavorful and not from Uwajimaya. Every bite of this congee was delicious. Half-way through the bowl, I decided to throw some hot-sauce on there... and that perked it up a little bit more too.

Just before we finished eating, the table next to us leaned over and asked: "Hey... are you those MSG guys?" ZOMG!! We are famous! Random people in a restaurant know who we are!

Good Food. Good Prices. This one is a keeper.

Luncher: Emmett

Lunch: Pork Chop with Salted Fish Rice Stone Pot - $7.80
Rating:

Emmett's Review

Though crowded, we quickly scored an occupied table that sat the six of us comfortably. (I love it when you show up to a place and the owner makes some poor couple move to make way for you.) Menu: full of chinese stuff - lots of congee, rice, etc. I'm still not won over by Congee, so I went for the rice dishes in a Stone Pot. Stone Pot! This has gots to be good. Lots of options, hmm, pork chop salt fish -- done.

It took awhile to come, but the result was good. My one complaint - it was pretty ordinary. The rice was okay, well cooked in the stone but, but not conveying any intriguing blends of flavor. The pork was good, had some decent flavor, and the salt fish was super salty, and not plentiful.

I did have a taste of the congee, it was quite good. I'll have to try it next time. Good service, nice selection. I'll come back.

Luncher: Geary

Lunch: Minced Pork with Chinese Sausage Rice Stone Pot - $7.20
Rating:

Geary's Review

H₂KC is a tiny restaurant. It is similar to Mike's Noodle House, but is even smaller. And like Mike's, it always seems to be full. When we arrived, they were able to move a few folks around and quickly free up a six top for us. The staff was friendly and efficient, but didn't quite have the rhythm of Mike's.

H₂KC has a huge menu for such a tiny place. The largest sections are the Stone Pot Congee and the Stone Pot Rice Bowls. Each has multiple pages of meat options including frog and thousand year old egg. Others were ordering congee, so I went with a Shredded Pork and Chinese Sausage Rice Stone Pot. We also ordered steamed pork dumplings to share.

The congee orders arrived first still boiling in the super heated stone bowls. Each person is given a extra, small bowl that makes it possible to ladle the molten soup into smaller portion that will eventually cool to an palatable temperature. It's also handy for sharing. Next time I come I will order family style. As it was, I was able to get some tastes of other's congee. It was delicious. The steamed dumplings were also good and worth ordering again.

My rice bowl was good, but nothing spectacular. I would not go with the rice bowl next time since the congee was so much better. Both the pork and sausage were good, but in the end it was just meat on rice. The fiery hot stone bowl is a nice touch and makes all of the rice on the bottom all brown and crunchy. Yum!

Even though my meal was on the average side, the tastes of congee I had and the delicious dumplings bring H₂KC up to four chopsticks for me. Plus, it's not in a food court. Yay!

Luncher: Rob

Lunch: House Special Cart Noodle with Vegetables and Tofu - $6.00
Rating:

Rob's Review

Vegetarian Warning! There really is nothing to eat here if you're a strict vegetarian. I still chow down on egg, dairy, and some fish, so I thought I'd be able to find something to my liking, but that turned out to be difficult because most of the seafood items included shrimp and the like, and I don't do shellfish. Sigh. Maybe I should take a chance and try those mysterious "fish balls" some time. One of the two women dining at the neighboring table who had heard of our little lunch blog (not quite MSG150 groupies, but close enough in my book) recommended the curry fish balls. Anyway, after perusing the incredibly long menu, I finally went with the Cart Noodle with vegetables and tofu. It looked good when it showed up: lots of bok choy, cubes of fried tofu, and a generous helping of skinny rice noodles. The skin of the soup, however, sported small circles of what looked like animal fat, and a quick slurp revealed a fairly strong chicken broth taste. Harumph. I ladled in some hot sauce to mask that flavor and did my best to ignore it. The soup needed the extra kick, regardless, I thought. So, aside from my moral chicken soup dilemma, I thought my lunch was all right, but until the last few remnants of my veggie principles (such as they are) become completely compromised, I won't be going back.

Luncher: Joey

Lunch: Seafood Congee - $5.25
Rating:

Joey's Review

The animated gif says it all. This was probably the hottest congee I’ve ever had. In Cantonese cuisine hot = good, but it’s still gotta have good taste to go along with it, which this did. I’m pretty sure they used msg , because the flavor was too good to not have msg. :-)

Luncher: Jared

Lunch: Beef and Pork Congee - $4.75
Rating:

Homestyle Hong Kong Cuisine Photos

Homestyle Hong Kong Cuisine


Window Menu


HHKC Menu


Seafood Stone Bowl Congee


Beef and Chicken Stone Bowl Congee


Beef and Pork Stone Bowl Congee


Steamed Pork Dumplings


Chinese Doughnuts


House Special Cart Noodle with Vegetables and Tofu


Pork Chop with Salted Fish Rice Stone Pot


Minced Pork with Chinese Sausage Rice Stone Pot


Animated Congee

3/25/08 - Fixed typos & Urbanspoon link