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[REVIEW] Saaho Village, Great Neck, NY

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We’ve seen it coming.  The seeds were planted over the last few months, and now the bean sprouts have sprouted all over Great Neck  Great Neck could be coming the new epicenter of authentic Chinese restaurants.  First is was New Fu Run opening two months ago.  And now, Great Neck welcomed Saaho Village on Monday, and The Chinese Quest last night!

Saaho Village is located at 69 Middle Neck Road, Great Neck, NY 11021, almost diagonally across from New Fu Run.  I would suggest it is a very strategic alignment actually.  Authentic Chinese food is “foreign” to a lot of the residents here.  But as people discover one, or the other, they will be drawn back to try the other one.  And soon a third authentic Chinese restaurant will be joining those two in Great Neck Village.

Sahoo-Village-Chinese-Restaurant-exterior

Perhaps The Chinese Quest can take some of the credit, because we are starting to find more and more authentic Chinese restaurants opening all over Long Island.  Pretty soon you won’t have to travel far (to far off places like Flushing and Chinatown) to find really great Chinese food again!

But today we celebrate the Grand Opening of Sahoo Village with our review.

Sahoo-Village-Chinese-Restaurant-Grand-Opening

Sahoo Village’s Mission

Southern China is home to many styles of artisan noodle making,  For hundreds of years, Saaho, a small village in Guangzhou, was known to produce one such exquisite noodle – called “Ho Fun” or ‘Saaho Fun”, bearing the name of its place of origin.

Knowing that making rice noodles by hand is fast becoming a lost tradition, they have invested countless hours in learning and perfecting the time honored 8-step process for making Saaho rice noodles.  Spencer Chan, our founder and established restauraunteur in Modern Chinese cuisine, using organic rice, quality seasonal ingredients, traditional techniques, and innovative creative license, has created a deliciously exciting menu to showcase our take on handmade Saaho rice noodles.

With the experienced leadership of Spencer Chan, member of Les Disciples D’Auguste Escoffier, and recipient of many accolades, including the Star of Excellence for Achievement of Gastronomie, we’ve been successful in creatively reinventing and popularizing Hong Kong and Cantonese cuisine in New York, with our previous F&B ventures — Sweet-n-Tart, Golden Unicorn, and 20 Mott Street Restaurant. We now invite you to take this new culinary journey with us!

Let’s see how they did!

Our appetizers:

Caviar Fish Wraps (flounder, caviar, tofu sheet) – Gold Coasters can savor, and brag about this.  We’re going to boast about them too!  Lest one of us get shut out, we ordered two portions.  Like magic, we made them disappear!  Especially the caviar!

Caviar-Fish-Rolls

Shrimp & Asparagus Spring Rolls – We noticed they use a lot of asparagus in their dishes.  Perhaps chosen because they are in season now.  Also of note, is the ample use of bean sprouts.  I’ve never ever tasted fresher, nor better bean sprouts!  I loved this dish!

Shrimp-Asparagus-Spring-Roll

Fried Stuffed Eggplant (stuffed with fish) – What a colorful, and delicious little dish!  It’s getting to the point now, that I’m loving Eggplant (at least eggplant made the Chinese way).

Fried-Stuffed-Eggplant

Before we motor on to our Entrees, it bears noting just how fresh, and healthy their food is.  And, if you are Vegan, they have many Vegan dishes on their menu.

The Entrees

Shrimp with Broccoli Tiny Tiles (Malaysian belacan shrimp paste, okra, red & green peppers, onion, ho fun with diced broccoli) – I don’t know what those “tiles” are made of that adorn the rim of the serving dish they come in.  But they are not like anything I have ever eaten before.  It should be noted that all of their entrees are only slightly larger than most appetizers would be,  Be prepared to order more dishes off of the menu.   That said, we liked this dish.  We just wish that there was more shrimp.

Shrimp-Broccoli-Tiny-Tiles

Black Pepper Filet Mignon with Quinoa Tiny Tiles (filet mignon cubes, asparagus, black pepper sauce, ho fun made with organic quinoa) – Some of these bites of filet mignon were so scrumptious as they were slightly moister than others,  Even still, it was one of our favorite dishes.Black-Pepper-Filet-Mignon-Quinoa-Tiny-TilesSmoked-Duck

Smoked Duck Breast (osmanthus honey glazed crisp skin smoked duck breast, sugar beets) – Close up above; Full dish below.  I really liked the smoked flavor and taste.  No one would confuse this dish with Peking Duck.  The main reason being is that it isn’t!
Smoked-Duck-Breast

House Special Ho Fun and Eggplant (ho fun and eggplant, smothered in house special sauce made with dried squid and cured duck, steamed in lotus leaf) – Now we couldn’t write a proper review if we didn’t order one of their signature dishes, could we?  We appreciate the fine attention to detail in creating this dish.  But, to be honest, it wasn’t one of our favorites.

House-Special-Ho-Fun-Eggplant-Pork

Just Desserts – Saving first for last!

SesSahoo-Village-Chinese-Restaurant-Sesame-Balls-Granolaame Balls (crispy glutinous rice sesame ball, egg yolk cream, topped with granola) – We didn’t order this, but a friend of ours was wrapping up this meal with her friend just as we arrived and insisted on sharing it with us.  This was yummy!  Fair warning, the content were hot!!  The granola was, as was everything else, so fresh and moist, we hoped it would be served in a bowl with some milk!

Final Thoughts

We ordered a lot.  The portions were small.  The food was unlike anything we ever had before.  The service was impeccable.  The restaurant immaculate (You have to check out the rest rooms.  Wear earplugs.  The hand dryers were more powerful, and as loud as jet engines!  Sahoo-Village-Chinese-Restaurant-MenuWe can only assume that they had similar dryers in the women’s rest room).

The menu was very unusual.  It was difficult to flip through as the pages snapped closed if you let go.  It was on the small side.  And speaking of sides, on one side was the food menu.  You flip it over for the drinks menu.

The bill came out to $150 for five of us. 

And now, our rating of Saaho Village:

Sahoo-Village-Chinese-Restaurant-Rating

Humbly submitted for your consumption,

Mee Magnum (“Chop!  Chop!”)

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We've seen it coming.  The seeds were planted over the last few months, and now the bean sprouts have sprouted all over Great Neck  Great Neck could be coming the new epicenter of authentic Chinese restaurants.  First is was New Fu Run opening two months ago.  And now, Great Neck welcomed Saaho Village on Monday, and The Chinese Quest last night! Saaho Village is located at 69 Middle Neck Road, Great Neck, NY 11021, almost diagonally across from New Fu Run.  I would suggest it is a very strategic alignment actually.  Authentic Chinese food is "foreign" to a lot of…

Review Overview

Five Stars

Above Average

Summary : Unlike any Chinese food we had before!

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One comment

  1. Has anyone else tried Saaho Village yet? If so, your thoughts?

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