Little Sister was available on Dine LA this season and I had every intention on testing it out. Dine LA always offers some great deals on places and their menu was no exception. Unfortunately, the universe was against me and I missed out.
But, the other weekend, I just so happened to be be driving through (on purpose) the Manhattan Beach area, and also happened to be hungry. It’s like it was meant to be 🙂
The decor in here is totally my style. Great lighting, and cool stencils on the walls.
I tried really, really hard to not over order, but Al was not having it. In the end we ended up with a compromise, more than I was intending, way less that what could have happened 🙂
Things we got:
Dumplings: pork, shrimp & crab with a spicy black vin dressing. These were really good dumplings, cooked to perfection and not too thick a casing. The sauce isn’t particularly spicy but it is good.
Chili salted baby octopus: this was probably the weakest dish of the lot. I didn’t not enjoy it but it was not a favourite. The salad that went with it was good. Al thought the Octopus was chewy, I did not. Al was drunk, I was not 🙂
XO pea tendrils: believe them when they warn you that it is spicy. It really is! Too spicy for Al, and yummy for me. There’s spicy pork with it that was hugely noticeable to me but the whole combination really worked.
Pan-fried eggplant: Yum. It has a little chili in it, but not too much and thin slices of sausage which was awesome. I also really like the nuts. I am obsessing over nuts in dishes at the moment.
Pork belly: Not for me, because I don’t like pork belly, but Al was in heaven. The sauce though which was a leek fondue was phenomenal. I need more of that sauce in my life.
Lemongrass beef: on a bed of noodles. Good, not outstanding. I didn’t have a lot of it as by this point I was full & tired.
And from the eastside provisions some red cargo rice (didn’t really need) and a black duck egg (weird, earthy egg).
So overall, I really liked it. I don’t think it’s a good place to go with a vegetarian friend as a lot of the veg dishes have meat in, but I am not a vegetarian. I’d like to go back on a non Sunday so I can try some of the fis dishes that sounds really good.
Jilltopia 