Grandma's Home 外婆家 — Restaurant in New York

I visited "Grandma's Home," on July 3rd. It was known for its authentic Hangzhou cuisine. As soon as you entered the restaurant, you would see a reception area that combined stone walls with wooden furniture, creating a simple yet warm atmosphere. Antique ceramic jars, bamboo baskets, and other decorations were neatly arranged on wooden shelves, adding a sense of depth to the space. The addition of plants and soft lighting further enhanced the dining experience, making it very relaxing. By six in the evening, the restaurant was almost full.

The interior decor was a blend of traditional and modern elements. I noticed they attempted to use Chinese screens, which ultimately divided the private dining rooms from the main dining area. Additionally, there were many lanterns with Chinese calligraphy on them, and each table was adorned with ceramic chopstick holders representing different Chinese zodiac animals.

Although the spacing between the two-person tables was not very generous, with the small tables just able to hold four dishes at once, the distance between the large tables was relatively spacious, making them suitable for family gatherings and parties with friends.

Here are the dishes I tried that time:

Crispy Imperial Chicken

Judging by the size, they probably used a young chicken. The skin was indeed crispy, and the meat was moist, pairing wonderfully with the sweet and sour sauce.

Silky Gourd in Superior Soup

The standout feature of this dish was the rich fish broth. When the dish cooled a bit, you could clearly see a thin film forming on the surface. The gourd absorbed some of the sauce flavor, but the broth helped balance out any fishiness perfectly.

Hangzhou Scallion Oil Noodles

This dish was super simple but quite tasty. When served, the waiter mixed the noodles in front of you, making it a great photo opportunity. After the "performance," you were left with springy noodles coated in scallion, soy sauce, and lard.

Grandma’s Braised Pork Belly

This dish featured bamboo shoots and pork belly as the main ingredients, with the bamboo shoots placed at the bottom. The braised pork had a glossy, rich sauce, and was tender without being greasy. There, it was served with lotus leaf buns. Red pepper strips and scallions on top added a...

There is another Grandma’s Home in China, Hangzhou, so we wonder if these restaurants are related. Conclusion: I think and hope they are not. Way style over substance.

Us four ordered 1 appetizer, 1 dim sum, 1 chicken, 1 pork, and 1 veggie.

Tofu Skin Rolls (湖畔素烧鹅) Its Chinese translation is very deceiving as it does not mean what this dish eventually displays. The English translation is more accurate. This is mixed vegetables and black truffles wrapped in tofu skin. The texture is just simply soft with flavor being sweet with umami from truffle. The truffle flavor is very obvious, yet it is obvious there is no real black truffle (maybe some bits and grinds on top?) but majorly only truffle flavorings. A very boring dish.

Pan-seared pork buns (生煎包） Not Authentic at all. The Bao is puffy and it is not good. The only things similar to a pan-seared pork bun is that it is seared, there is sesame seeds, there is pork fillings, period. I mean, there is so much more to a real pan-seared pork bun. As a person who reside in Shanghai majority of her life, I feel offended. It is 炸包子.

Green-tea claypot chicken (外婆茶香鸡） Even Costco’s 5 dollar rotisserie chicken is better than this. Over-cooked, over salted, not a single hint of tea, and it is hard to cut due to its overcooked roughness. Please avoid it. This place can rob me, yet it decided to give me a chicken.

Hong Shao Rou (红烧肉） The braised pork belly is sweet and cooked to tenderness, too tender and is breakable upon touching. Though we didn’t like how greasy it is, we agreed the flavor profile is correct. The bamboo shoots at the bottom of the pan was the nicest thing in this dish: umami and absorbed all meaty flavors.

Loofah Melon in Broth (上汤丝瓜） The nicest thing on the table, but still makes me feel like a fool. It is no way a “broth” dish by what we expected from “上汤”. The dried shrimp was the most umami thing in here, and the melon grasped all these notes. It is good, but not authentic at all.

In conclusion: please don’t come if you are looking for something authentic to Zhejiang region, nor if you want to get flavors from Grandma’s house in Hangzhou.

The service also is kinda pressuring. We were constantly asked if I want our unfinished dishes removed. I didn’t like...

Summary first: avoid this restaurant if you expect nice food. If you are looking for a quiet uncrowded place to take a rest and don't want to go to a cafe, this place might fit your needs. Bottom line is this is definitely not a restaurant offering su-hang style food.

Now the details. You can see the menu is very simple. Even though they offer a few signature dishes, the total variety is very limited. Many dishes are actually not representable in the region that the restaurant would like to represent. Even during the peak lunch hours, there were only about 8 tables with customers. We ordered four:

Lotus root with sticky rice: this is an appetizer/small dish. It is supposed to be very well steamed such that the lotus root will be soft to eat. It should come with osmanthus syrup and be served cool or cold. What was served in the restaurant is warm, dry and mildly sweet. It was premade probably not on the same day. They just reheated it, dropped some syrup and took it to the table. So that's why it was dry and became a warm dish. The sticky rice filling is not that sticky as well. Not recommended.

Pan seared pork buns. This is not freshly hand made as can be told from the texture of the bun skin. It's more like the prepackaged microwave reheatable buns that you can get from any grocery store. The black sesame and green onions are not spread while cooking (or reheating to be more precise) the buns as the onions are completely raw when served. Definitely not recommended.

Loofah melon in broth. The broth tasted like it was made with broth powder. The loofah is not fresh as some are a little bitter. There are about 16 dried shrimps which are not very well soaked before cooking. So they can be a bit challenging for your teeth to chew.

Sweet and sour pork. The coating over the meat is not even. The meat is fried overly so they are dry and not juicy. The green onions are raw again which means once the dish was cooked the cook didn't spread the onions on time so the remaining heat of the dish dissipated and not enough to heat up the onions. Order it only if you want some sweet meat to eat. BTW,the meat is not tenderloin as mentioned on the menu by its...