NiHao — Restaurant in Baltimore

This was my first trip back to Baltimore since I left 2 years ago. Having lived there for 12 years, there were surely a few spots I wanted to visit. It was very good to see a lot of them survived the pandemic, but many did have shortened hours and more days closed during the week. My heart does go out to all the restaurants in the north that couldn’t serve outside during the winter months and were scraping by through these tough times. @nihaobaltimore was one of the few places open on a Monday and a relative newcomer (at least to me anyway). On a main thoroughfare in the Canton area of the city sits this charming modern Chinese restaurant. I haven’t had quality Chinese in quite some time, so this was certainly a refreshing find. The crispy eggplant and cauliflower dish were both quite delicious and thoughtfully prepared as well as quite generous in portion. The spare ribs were coated in a delicious peanut dusting and just fantastic as they melted In your mouth. On top of a bed of sweet and sour cabbage that I just love, accented the dish nicely. The winner was the Peking duck which while certainly not cheap, was well worth it. Having ordered the whole duck, which was quite larger than expected, it’s certainly enough for a few people with the other dishes you will want to try. They serve the duck completely ready to eat. No picking or sifting through inedible parts. By trimming the layer of fat between the skin and meat, you’re left with the skin that is just perfectly crispy and a delicious moist piece of meat. Accompanied by two delicious sauces and the steamed buns, it’s really a must try...

Disappointing food, the wrong beer, and no mooncakes for vegetarians.

I’m new to Baltimore and thought it would be nice to try out NiHao in the middle of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is a Chinese holiday focused around the full moon. During this festival, it is a tradition to have moon cakes. I saw on NiHao’s menu that it had moon cakes and was excited because they’re difficult to find in the Baltimore area.

Well, we showed up at the restaurant for our reservation a bit early and they said they couldn’t seat us, even though there was an empty table by the window. But whatever, we were early so we hung out at the bar. My partner ordered a beer, and the bartender gave him a beer with a different name. But whatever, it tasted fine so we just went with it. Then they finally sat us at the table that was empty when we showed up.

When I tried to order a moon cake, the waitress said they were only available with the $98 prix fixe menu, which we didn’t want because it featured a lot of meat and I’m a vegetarian. So…they, a Chinese restaurant that leans on claims of “authenticity” to justify charging $14 for a plate of broccoli, refused to let us buy a moon cake during the Mid-Autumn Festival and suggested we come back in a few days (after the festival) for them.

On top of all of this…I ordered Szechuan noodles, which were described to have tofu skin and they brought me cold glass noodles with some cucumbers and like 2 tiny pieces of tofu skin.

Also, the scallion pancakes were weirdly hard but fine.

All in all, I had high hopes for this Peter Chang related establishment and was very...

NiHao was  delicious! We started with the Spring Rolls, which came out hot and crispy.  The tangy soy sauce to dip them in complemented the Rolls very well.

For entrees, my girlfriend and I split the Blue Crab Buns, the Honey Roasted Pork with Peanuts, and the Chow Mein.

The pork was easily the best dish of the night. And that shouldn't detract from the other dishes, it was just that good. The pork was cooked perfectly and crispy and the sauce was a great addition. The peanuts offered an additional element that really brought the dish together.

The Blue Crab Buns were like a crab cake steamed inside a bun with a very mild green curry dusting on top. They were excellent. They were steamy, crabby, and the curry was awesome.

The third dish was the Chow Mein. The noodles were spiced perfectly and proportionately. The noodles were still slightly crunchy, which was awesome. The chicken was cooked well and took on all the flavors of the rest of meal. Again, excellent.

The only thing that was amiss was the service and I took that with a grain of salt. I believe they were at Covid capacity and all of the servers were helpful and hustled but it did take some time to get drinks and our food came out without silverware that we had to ask a few times for. But as I try to give an honest review, I feel that is a little nitpicky given the circumstances.

Overall, it was an excellent dining experience and we really enjoyed the food. And, as a bonus, the meal turned out to be incredibly inexpensive. We'd definitely go back and have already...