Chicken Lab Towson — Restaurant in Maryland

Street Food By Water Song (Aug 31, 2023, Thursday, 6-7 pm-ish))

This is NOT your usual Chinese restaurant. If you expect the normal fare from Chinese restaurants in the U.S., you will be surprised. This is also a very difficult review to write even if I am an ethnic Chinese. There are multitudes of Chinese cuisine from the huge and very diversified country. Many of us are very familiar with some of them such as Shanghainese (Soup Dumplings), SiChuan (Mapo Tofu), etc. The tastes from each region is as varied as you can imagine. What I know of Yunnan cuisine is extremely limited. I know on the map of China where it is roughly located, I know from hearsay that its foods are generally spicier than other regional cuisines, and that’s it.

How I ended up trying out this restaurant was because of a trip to Baltimore Late August through early September. I like earning extra points with my airline mileage program, and this place, in addition to a sister location called Water Song Yunnan Kitchen, were listed in my search. Being intrigued with this, I decided to try it out this Baltimore trip.

This place is located just outside of Baltimore main in a place called Toson. It is one of the stores with others in a “row house” store fronts with a corner 7-Eleven store. The dining area is pretty large with the kitchen located on the right side once you enter. It is an open kitchen and you can see what it’s done from a distance. There is FREE WIFI offered, and the password is posted on the entrance wall facing inside.

My order was the Pork Belly platter (See photo, the streaks on the dressing/sauce(?) paste cup on the left is from my taste-testing with a fork.). Please note the red oil under the skewers indicating it is a pretty spicy dish, which I love lots. The meat was very well marinated, and full of spices that many I cannot identify. The salad consists of higher end vegetables and red onion, with a dressing that is unusual and I have not identified yet but tasted salty with hot spice. The yellow brownish paste in the cup is the unknown factor. I am not sure what exactly it is yet. (Would appreciate it if the responder to this review would educate me please.) The taste is EXTREMELY salty (Think salty canned or bottled Chinese bean curd, usually packed like small cubes in those containers.0. I dipped the meat in the paste and tasted salty so unsure how exactly to eat it truthfully. The pork belly skewers are a work of art. They are grilled to perfect. There is not much fat on the pork belly (The incredible edible pig!). I would have preferred more fat as I believe that would further enhance the meat’s flavor, which was already excellent. The best part is that these meat skewers tasted very good even after reheating in the microwave. I accompanied the food with a cold Pepsi, and the sweetness of the drink countered a lot of the saltiness of the food. I should have bought a cold bottled herbal tea instead, which I believe would have complemented the meal more effectively.

Overall, I enjoyed the meal, and would have enjoyed it more if I knew all the components of the meal. For the food, I would give it a solid 4.5+ stars. Adding in the pleasant front desk staff and the interesting small chat, the whole experience rose up to 5 stars easily. Next time I’m in Baltimore, I would definitely make a re-visit. This place is definitely worth exploring further.

Do visit and enjoy a unique experience, but bear in mind the food may have more heat than you would normally...

This place is a fairly new concept of Street Food style Chinese food that is available late nights to feed the curious foodie in its customers! There are so many moods you can feed on their regular menu (and the secret menu) that it keeps me coming back no matter what im craving. My first experience here was ordering the Giant Squid Skewer one afternoon on my lunch break and it was great garlic with Sriracha. Their Grilled Pork Belly Over Rice was perfect for a deliciously wholesome meal on an overcast day when you just want to snuggle up.

More recently, the owner started doing the surprise boxes where you can win a surprise discount on whatever that night’s specialty food is (which is also a surprise). This particular night, it was wing night and I got the super spicy wings and my man got the spicy sour. I kid you not, the Spicy Sour is the best wing I ever tasted and I CANNOT WAIT until it’s an official item on the menu!

The pictures I added were from tonight and the owner suggested I try 4 flavor wings and my man got the specialty chicken sandwich with a side of tofu skewers. He loved his meal and I loved all my wings!

I highly recommend coming here if you are enthusiastic about exploring new delicious flavors, and enjoying authentic...

Very sad to see that the menu has been cut down to be unrecognizable from what is listed online at their own website. All the interesting options such as candied sweet potatoes and pickled mustard greens have disappeared only in favor for basic fried chicken variations. They didn't even have any rice noodle options when I was in that evening. The one non-chicken dish I ordered, the pork belly rice bowl, came out burnt and chopped up, looking extremely different from the menu photo which showed long, thick slices as well as some greens.

They play the music obnoxiously loud and the atmosphere does not encourage dining in. If you are looking for good, interesting food, keep looking. If you are just looking for teriyaki or fried chicken, there are many...