15 Feb Please The Palate Pick of the Week: A Classic Chinese Culinary Feast at Bistro Na’s in Temple City, CA

The Year of the Rat is here! January 25th marked the 2020 Chinese New Year and the festival lasted through February 8th. To celebrate the Lunar New Year, a group of friends and I went out for a classic Chinese culinary feast at Bistro Na’s. Bistro Na’s is located in Temple City in the San Gabriel Valley. It is also the only traditional Chinese restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star in Southern California and it is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Walking into Bistro Na’s feels like walking into a scene from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The restaurant looks like a traditional Chinese home. The main dining room looks like an enclosed formal Chinese courtyard. Musical instruments hang above the gold and red room with bamboo trim and high-hanging lights. Past the dining room are private banquet rooms, each elegantly designed with Chinese accents.

Bistro Na’s is unlike most Chinese restaurants in Los Angeles. It is not Cantonese or Szechuan or a Dim Sum restaurant. Instead Bistro Na’s serves Chinese Imperial Cuisine, dating back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). This was a cooking style reserved traditionally only for the Emperor and the royal family.

At Bistro Na’s you can order a la carte but they offer six different banquet menus. We selected the menu which included King Crab. We took our seats in our private room and our feast began.

Soon our table with filled with dishes!

Okra in Seasoned Dressing

Truffle Mushrooms

Hidden Treasure Lotus Root

Chili Tofu Skin Salad

Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs

BBQ Kurobuta Pork

Na’s Drunken Chicken

Chef Su’s Pork Feet Jelly

That was round one! Favorites from round one were the Okra in Seasoned Dressing , Chili Tofu Skin Salad, Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs, and Hidden Treasure Lotus Root. Round two then arrived.

Crispy Shrimp – the shrimp is fried at such a high heat that the shell is super crispy, edible and super yummy.

Diced Black Pepper Honey Angus Beef – The beef was so tender and the sauce was sweet and spicy.

Na’s Braised Pork Belly – Meaty cuts of pork belly in ginger and garlic and served with mushrooms and winter vegetables.

Steamed Thorneyhead

My personal favorite on this round was the Crispy Shrimp but I also really liked the tenderness of the Diced Black Pepper Honey Angus Beef and the Na’s Braised Pork Belly

And then it was time for the King Crab three ways!

Baked King’s Crab with Salted Egg Yolk

Steamed King’s Crab Legs with Hua Diao Wine Sauce

Steamed Crab Shell with Egg

But that was not all! There was still more to come.

Stir Fried Pea Sprouts with Mushrooms

Squid & Shrimp Fried Rice

Braised Sea Cucumber with Beef Tendon

After 18 dishes, it was time for dessert. We started with a fresh Fruit Platter to cleanse the palate.

And we finished with Na’s Assorted Eight, a beautiful wooden tray filled with various pastries made with red bean curd and dates.

Enjoy a Chinese Imperial Cuisine banquet at Bistro Na’s and you will see why it is the Please The Palate pick of the week.

Bistro Na’s
9055 Las Tunas Dr, Ste 105
Temple City, CA 91780