Big Fun Cafe — Restaurant in Quincy

As a big fan of rice rolls I've been meaning to visit Quincy for a while, solely to try Big Fun Cafe. After trying delicious shrimp rice rolls in New York I was hoping that I could find that same joy in the Boston area. We had to wait a while to get seated for Sunday lunch -- it's a small space and quite popular.

I of course got the shrimp rice roll with veggies. I didn't order it with eggs but that's what I got, which was fine. It wasn't the best rice roll I've had -- the rice roll itself was a bit soggy. The shrimp was a bit sparse and on the borderline of being tough. The chili oil on the side has quite the kick but also seems to have vinegar, so it ended up tasting a bit sriracha-y. I don't think I would come here just for rice rolls.

The fish fillet with eggplant ($17) was really good. It had very good flavor and cook on both the eggplant and the fish. The eggplant was still beautifully purple while being super tender, probably due to deep frying. There was very little fish relative to eggplant -- for the price, I would expect more fish, but I'm not upset about having a lot of eggplant.

We got the claypot rice where you could pick two meats, and got the beef brisket and spareribs with black bean sauce. The rice was meh -- it was just crispy on the outside and didn't have any flavor seep in. I prefer the rice at Claypot Cafe in Chinatown which has the soy sauce flavor cooked into the sides, and flavor from the meat on top permeating the rice. The brisket was quite tough and the meat got stuck in my teeth. The spareribs were okay, less tough but not the best treatment of the meat. Overall I wouldn't get their claypot rice again.

Overall I'm glad I finally made it to Quincy to try this place. I unexpectedly really liked the fish fillet with eggplant, but the other things we tried did not...

Fast, friendly, efficient service. I moved back to the area last fall and have been ordering takeout regularly from them since. I like that they use Menufy and hope it doesn't take too much out of their earnings. The prices are fair and with just two staffers running the whole front-of-house operation, I try to tip generously and encourage my fellow diners to do the same.

Their cheung fun is smooth and fragrant, as is their congee; the clay pot rice flavorful and crispy. I dare say they're the best in the area for each dish! My favorites in these three categories are cha siu, fish slices with ginger, and salt fish and minced pork. There are many other options to choose from, and the menu seems to have something for everyone.

I've tried some of their apps and my favorites are the mushroom and pork dumplings (so flavorful!), fried wontons, coconut shrimp, scallion pancakes, and fried mantou with condensed milk. The sauces they give you complement their respective dishes perfectly.

Looking forward to placing my orders...

Clay pot rice has been one of my new favorite Chinese dishes since moving to Boston, so I decided to give this place a try. Since they were located in a residential area, parking was quite difficult, and I decided to do a takeout instead. I was initially skeptical of getting a clay pot rice as a takeout thinking that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the crispy rice bits. However, I was glad to found out that they offered the same experience. Portions were also huge for the price, and I liked that they offered customizable topping combos.

Among the two clay pot rice I ordered, I enjoyed the one with the Chinese sausage and minced beef with poached egg. On the side, I also got the roasted pork steamed rice rolls which a lot of people seemed to rave about. They were good, but quite similar to what you could get at other places in Chinatown. They still did a fantastic job with the crispy rice bits, and I would definitely return to try more...