Bonbon Cafe — Restaurant in Silver Spring Township

This was such a fun find while we were out here at the car dealerships! The inside is super cute with tables, booth style seating, and high tops. There's even games on a shelf when you walk in. We've never been, so we weren't sure whether to sit at a table or to order at the tablets up front first. We ended up ordering at the tablets and taking an order number to a table. We went after the lunch rush around 2:45 pm so it was pretty dead inside except for constant to go orders.

We ordered a ton of food just to see what we like here! We got a bbq pork bun, soup dumplings (pork), and crab rangoons for an appetizer. The soup dumplings and the sweet soy dumpling sauce they came with were incredible. 10/10, so flavorful, and they were served in a steamer dish so they stayed hot. The pork bun was good and the rangoons were okay, but you have to pay extra for sweet and sour sauce for them. I could live withou

We got the pho, shrimp lo mein, and sesame chicken with white rice for entrees. The sesame chicken blew us away. It was piping hot yet super crispy in a delicious sauce. That was my favorite dish. The lo mein was also pretty good! The pho was my least favorite. The broth wasn't flavorful at all and there was sriracha available to add but not hoisin. I will say it had a good amount of meat in it, but I wouldn't order it again.

Service was incredible! We were given awesome table service even though there's a little walk up area to refill drinks - it was done for us! We will be back for the soup dumplings and more chicken...

It's been a few year and it was nice to be back to this cute little Asian fusion place. I was happy to see MANY new items on the menu. Can't try them all on this trip, but here's what I sampled:

Cheese Steak Rolls $5.95 . Comes with 2 rolls. Don't let the picture fool you. I was very disappointed with the size. They are like those skinny spring rolls (vs fat egg rolls) except they put meat and a little bit of cheese in them. Super hot and crispy. Taste isn't bad. But really should be bigger, or serve with quantity of 3. Not a fan here.

Spicy Dry Noodle $6.95. Another new item but a dish I'm very familiar with. Well, I wasn't disappointed. Sesame paste with garlic and scallion. Not spicy, but I am not sure it is supposed to be spicy except for the name sake. Don't be fooled by its simpleness; both the taste and the texture of the pasta are super addicting. Highly recommend.

Karaage Chicken $7.25. This was the dish that introduced me to Bonbon Cafe 7 years ago. I can't believe the price is still so affordable after all these years. Huge plate of boneless Japanese fried chicken thigh meat. Very good except the meat was a bit too tough. Oh, and they took out the signature bonito flakes which would make this dish come alive.

Overall, it's still got the X factor, offering many dishes that are not so easy to get in this area, all under one roof.

PS. They’ve upped their service - you don’t have to bus your plates any more. So tip...

I ordered a Kung Pao beef. The sauce had incredibly low viscosity and lacked fragrance. Flavor was dominantly salty and spicy, low complexity profile that was reminiscent of dishes spiced with only salt and cayenne in other local Thai restaurants... A bit disappointed about that. I think it'd have done them more favors if the peanuts were first flash fried golden, rather than just tossing them in as a garnish.

Taro milk tea was mid. Not a lot of flavor but acceptable for older folks who don't want something too sweet. For me, it seemed a little watered down.

Now, my sister on the other hand ordered the eggplant with garlic sauce. That one was done well and I wish I had ordered that dish (and I'm not even a vegetarian). The texture was perfect and flavor was just right.

For dessert, we ordered a set of each taro, red bean, and custard bao. They're all good and rank in order, last one being...