A restaurant called Chin Up popped up quietly last fall on Gilman Street. It’s worth a stop if you’re looking for authentic Chinese cuisine.
The menu doesn’t include any descriptions of the items, but the staff members are happy to provide explanations.
Shashlik ($3) is a dish of meat cubes that are skewered and grilled, similar to shish kebab. You get a choice of lamb, beef or chicken, and they were coated in a spicy seasoning that brought a lot of heat. I thought both the lamb and beef could have been more tender, but that’s a bit of nitpicking for an otherwise excellent appetizer.
Other small bite dishes include the garlic fried chicken wings ($2) and the fried ribs with garlic ($2).
The Peking noodles ($12) is a specialty dish. The sauce was delicious, reminding me of hoisin. In it are tiny pieces of beef that soaked up the flavor and a bit of ginger. The sliced cucumbers were fresh and provided some crunch to this dish. I was surprised by the inclusion of peanuts since they weren’t listed in the description, but they worked well.
From the dinner section of the menu, I got the wonton noodles ($12). The broth–and consequently, the noodles–were quite bland, but at least everything else was a hit. The bowl came with some outstanding sliced beef flank. I also enjoyed the pork wontons, but frankly, I would have split these dishes into two: wonton soup and beef and noodles.
Even though it was a weekday, I was able to order from the “Saturday and Sunday” section of the menu. I strongly recommend the Melaleuca beef patty ($12). Think of the seasoned ground beef as what you may find in a beef bao, wrapped inside Chinese scallion pancakes (without the scallions). You end up with an absolutely delicious dish, and I don’t know of many other places that serve it.
A special lunch menu ($15) consists of the usuals like sesame chicken and Mongolian beef.
Chin Up is open for lunch and dinner every day.
