Chinese American chef Ming Tsai is known to foodies all over the world through his TV show, Simply Ming, which apparently is into its 11th season. Greedy Girl and gluttonous husband have enjoyed lots of the recipes he demonstrated that fuse east and west and it was a no brainer when we arrived in Boston to head to his restaurant, Blue Ginger.

This necessitated a trip to the suburbs, to Wellesley. On a stormy Friday night with peak hour traffic clogging the roads, we decided to try Boston’s commuter rail. Too easy. We navigated the right line and found ourselves in a very leafy, quiet enclave less than 30 minutes later.

The kitchen at Blue Ginger is open to the dining room, which is a little old-fashioned (not in a bad way) and quite homey. Settling in with a Cosmopolitan (for Greedy Girl) and a Dogfish Head pale ale for gluttonous husband, we watched a row of chefs in their white uniforms go about their business and enjoyed spying the plates come out. The chef himself appeared a little later in the evening in a plain black uniform.

We opted to share three starters (appetisers) and two main courses. First up was, arguably, the best tuna dish Greedy Girl has had in a long time, pictured above. This was described on the menu as a “Bigeye tuna poke”. Chunks of the most luscious tuna sat on top of a crispy sushi rice cake, topped with a microgreen salad. The little dots of green sauce you can see are a watercress emulsion with wasabi and an egg yolk. It was seriously good. The tuna was utter perfection, dressed with sesame oil. The crispy rice underneath was also delightful. While Greedy Girl quite enjoyed all the items together, gluttonous husband hoovered up his half as separate elements. A very, very good start.

Next were foie gras/shiitake siu mai dumplings, served with a sauternes/shallot broth. These were also seriously good. The broth was slightly sweet but a very good foil for the dumplings, which were just delicious. The combination of foie gras and mushroom was excellent.

Foie gras/shiitake siu mai dumplings

Foie gras/shiitake siu mai dumplings

sauternes/shallot broth

Sauternes/shallot broth

Next up were shiitake/leek spring rolls with a chilli dipping sauce. The waiter instructed us to wrap the spring rolls in the lettuce leaf, adding a little of the slaw you can see at the front of the plate and then dip into the chilli sauce. These were very enjoyable but paled a little alongside the lusciousness of the first two dishes.

shiitake/leek spring rolls

Shiitake/leek spring rolls

Already starting to struggle, we received the first of our mains. By this time, Greedy Girl had moved to a Charles de Fere blanc de blancs from the Loire Valley while gluttonous husband was on to a Ghostrider pale ale. Before us was the first entree. This is sablefish, one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. It’s also known as butterfish, with good reason, as it tasted quite buttery. The fish has been marinated in a sake-miso mix and is served with wasabi oil (extraordinarily hot), a soy/lime syrup and vegetarian soba noodle sushi rolls. The fish was not a strong flavour but very, very rich. The sushi rolls were a nice touch (and quite spicy) but the wasabi sauce was well beyond Greedy Girl – who likes wasabi. It was deadly.

sablefish

Sablefish

Our final dish of the night was lobster. This is paired with one of the chef’s noted sauces made from garlic and black pepper. Gluttonous husband has made this a few times at home and remarked how much runnier the chef’s version was to how his turned out. It’s presented with a bit of flair. The lobster head had been hollowed out and filled with lemongrass fried rice. The tail meat and some of the claws were presented on the plate coated with the garlic and black pepper sauce (which was quite subtle, considering the number of cloves used in making it) and a pea tendril salad was served on top. The lobster was delicious and the sauce was delightful; maybe because we don’t eat lobster (or crayfish) all that often in Australia, we tend to prefer more simple accompaniments. Still, it was an accomplished dish.

Lobster with garlic and black pepper sauce

Lobster with garlic and black pepper sauce

Bellies groaning, we declined the offer of dessert (which looked quite decadent in the various guises we saw being ferried to other tables) and headed out in the drizzling rain, to make our train back to Boston. As we arrived at the station, we took pains to wait on the opposite platform from where we had arrived. Hah. A train arrived on that platform but it was going the ‘wrong’ way. The stations are unmanned in this section of Boston’s commuter rail, so we asked some girls standing on the other side. One kindly explained that, between the hours of 2.30-7.30pm, the trains ‘switch tracks’. Just as well we asked …

Blue Ginger is a large restaurant with no doubt a very loyal local following. The food was excellent and the service very good. Greedy Girl will be looking through the recipe book collection once she’s back home to look for more from Ming Tsai.


Blue Ginger

583 Washington Street, Wellesley

ming.com/blue-ginger

Blue Ginger Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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