Ever since I started going to Fat Rice, my mom has been wanting to join us. And today we finally had that chance. What better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than hanging out with family at one of our favorite restaurants anywhere. To start off, we met in the secret waiting lounge that’s accessed through an unmarked outside door.
Almost as soon as we sat down, I saw owners Adrienne Lo and Abraham Conlon. We met on social media, but now I feel like we’re old friends. It was so much fun talking about their forthcoming book next year as well as their recent trip to Hong Kong, Macau, and Melaka. Thanks to their amazing hospitality, we started with this dish of pickled cabbage:
Peanuts with lotus root:
There was another dish of pickled vegetables, but the rest of my family ate that before I had a chance to take a photo. But check out these delicious vegetable curry dumplings:
And pork dumplings. The dumpling wrappers screamed homemade. They’ll make you never want to buy store-bought jiaozi again.
The dumplings were a bit on the spicy side, which my husband Tom, son Jake, mom, and I couldn’t get enough of. But they were a little spicy for my younger kids. More for us! We also loved these fried vegetable pastries. I’m not always into fried food, but I’d eat a whole plate of these any day.
The clams are new to the menu since we were last here for brunch. The blurry photo doesn’t do them justice, but all three kids ate the clams and loved them.
Because it was my mom’s first time at Fat Rice, of course we had to order the eponymous dish. This clay pot is filled with seafood, meat (chicken, sausage, char siu), tea eggs, clams, giant prawns, olives, and pickles all served over rice with golden raisins. I probably forgot several of the ingredients. We had a little left over and 16-year-old Jake made sure we took it home for his breakfast tomorrow. Nothing goes to waste when we go to Fat Rice.
With extra prawns on the side!
I will never turn down a chance to order their Hong Kong French toast. Not only does it bring me back to my Hong Kong days, but it tastes so much better than any other version of Hong Kong French toast I’ve tried before.
For dessert we ordered the most amazing Portuguese egg tarts I’ve ever eaten.
And the out-of-this-world serradura, or cream cheese mousse with guava and tea biscuit crumbs. Although we shared it six ways, I could have eaten the whole thing myself three times over!
Thank you, Adrienne and Abraham, for bringing delicious Macanese food to Chicago. It’s truly a treat and a treasure for those of us half a world away from the former Portuguese colony.
Fat Rice is located at 2957 West Diversey Avenue in Chicago. Check them out on Twitter and Instagram @eatfatrice.
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