Monday, January 10, 2011

Golden Temple, Brookline

Sometimes you just need to give in to those cravings.  Over the past week or so I have been craving BAD Chinese food.  You know the kind- completely inauthentic, greasy, salty- and of course, utterly delicious and indulgent Chinese food.  Every so often I get this craving.  I think it stems from the first few years after I graduated college when I was constantly experimenting with "diets".  Believe me when I say that the quotes are completely necessary.  One of my friends and I would come up with new forms of diets every couple of weeks- the sandwich diet, the soup diet, and my all time favorite- and the beginning of the Chinese food obsession- the Five and Two diet.  We had convinced ourselves that if we were really good during the five day work week (Monday through Friday), then we could cheat on Saturdays and Sundays.  I might have abused this a bit, but it allowed for Sunday night cheat nights of take out Chinese food.  In some strange respect- it made Monday morning better, and I think that now I always attribute it to happy memories. 

So finally, on Saturday evening, I got my wish.  We headed over to the Golden Temple, located in Washington Square area of Brookline, to dine on some American Chinese food.  I suppose it isn't completely fair to compare Golden Temple to your basic take out place.  Golden Temple is a very large full service restaurant.  It is clean and modern inside, and the waitstaff tirelessly pleasant.  They also have a fantastic drink list full of fun cocktails just crying out to taste tested.  Each that I have tried have been rather potent as well as delicious. 

As is my tradition with Chinese food- we started with some beautifully pan fried pot stickers.  These little purses of doughy goodness are stuffed to the gills with well seasoned ground pork, full of the flavor of soy, green onion, and ginger.  One side is seared golden brown and contrasts the opposite soft texture of the non seared side.  I love these little guys- I could eat MANY of them- many.  I always pair them with a nice mixture of sweet duck sauce and that lovely spicy mustard that is served. The duo is a perfect match.

I love that Chinese food is meant to be eaten family style so we ordered several dishes, counting on sharing, and taking the leftovers home.  Saturday evenings selection included Curry Chicken, Ginger Spiced Pork and Spicy Hot Green Beans. Curry is a flavor that I am just getting into, but this dish was a lightly spiced, heavily sauced presentation of diced chicken and large spears of broccoli.  The curry was not overwhelming in the dish, and rather gave just hints of its flavor rather than dominating.  The flavor was delicious, though both the chicken and the broccoli appeared to be drowning in the thick sauce.  The Ginger Spiced Pork contained a much lighter douse of sauce which was tasty, sweet and full of ginger, though lacked any actual spice to it.  The pork though was tender and well cooked, paired with much fresher and lively looking broccoli than the Curry Chicken.  One interesting side note, this dish seemed to have been lightly tossed with iceberg lettuce.  I am unclear as to why.  Finally, the Spicy Hot Green Beans.  Green beans, in a slightly hot sauce, tossed with delicate wisps of pork.  This may be one of my favorite dishes on the menu- especially when I mix in more of that spicy hot mustard that always seems to clean out my sinuses.

Golden Temple serves its purpose. It provides fast, delicious food, utilizing the spices you would want in Chinese cuisine, in a sit down environment that is better than take out.  The servers and hosts are very friendly and always ready to answer a question, or four.  The drinks are delicious, and include all those wonderful fruits and frozen mixtures you might want.  Golden Temple is not, by any means, authentic Chinese fare.  Though sometimes you don't want authentic- you just want easy and tasty.  Then Golden Temple is your place to go.

Golden Temple on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

Kristen said...

I used to live right down the street. gosh I love that place.

Emily @ A Cambridge Story said...

Y'know, I actually really like Golden Temple. Have you ever been there when part of the restaurant turns into a dance floor? Pretty hilarious. Thanks so much for the soup vote ;)

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