STRONGSVILLE, OH - The suburb has a lot of chain restaurants, but the city does have some locally owned gems. And in my humble opinion, one of these gems is Szechuan Gourmet.
Szechuan Gourmet opened its first location in Cleveland's Asiatown neighborhood. Then a few years ago, the restaurant opened its second location in Strongsville at 18086 Royalton Rd. I have gone to the Strongsville restaurant a few times and have been impressed by their food (especially their dry pots, which can be painfully spicy for me but are always wholly delicious).
During my most recent two visits to the restaurant, I tried some items off Szechuan Gourmet's new dim sum menu, which to my knowledge, is only available at the Strongsville location. Across the two trips, I tried the durian puff pastries ($8.50), pork shumai ($6.50), shrimp shumai ($6.50), and shrimp dumplings ($6.50). Off the regular menu, I also got spicy beef noodle soup ($11.95) during one visit and a dry pot with crispy fish ($17.95) on the other. I'm glad to say that I found the new dim sum menu to be a great addition.
Durian is a polarizing fruit due to its strong smell. I like durian, but I can acknowledge that it can be hella stinky. Fortunately, the smell of the durian in the puff pastries was pretty much neutralized, and what remained was the sweetness and creaminess of the fruit in the pastries' filling, which was surrounded by a delightfully flaky crust.
The shumai was also tasty. Both the pork and shrimp versions came out hot, juicy, and fresh, but I think the pork shumai had more flavor. I also liked the shrimp dumplings (aka har gow), which had a translucent white skin that melted in the mouth along with a juicy shrimp filling that was well-seasoned.
Though I enjoyed the dim sum, I did find it to be expensive considering the none-too-large portions, but the prices are on par with the dim sum options in Asiatown - maybe a little more expensive, but more or less reasonable for Strongsville.
Both the spicy beef noodle soup and dry pot with crispy fish offered better bang for your buck. The noodle soup came out in a large bowl that contained a decent amount of beef, a good amount of noodles, and a lot of spicy red broth. The soup had a nice kick but wasn't painfully spicy, and the noodles were soft without being mushy. I did find the beef to be a bit chewy, but it was tasty, especially with the soup.
But the dry pot continues to be my favorite item off Szechuan Gourmet's menu. My pot came with plenty of crispy white fish that was excellent with the spicy sauce that made my lips tingle even at a level 1 spice. The sauce also made the vegetables delicious. Having fluffy steamed white rice with the dry pot is a must, and luckily, Szechuan Gourmet was kind enough to give me complimentary refills of the rice.
If you want to check out the restaurant for yourself, you can find it at 18086 Royalton Rd, Strongsville, OH 44136.