ROC, a restaurant with delicious Chinese cuisine known for its Xiaolongbao soup dumplings, impressed my taste buds. With its wide variety of options, each being just as scrumptious as the next, the dishes felt like comfort food that I often crave.
The soup dumplings come in a wide variety of options and combinations that suited to your liking. The Dungeness crab and chicken dumplings were my favorite. The flavors between the two were nicely balanced, as the light flavor of the chicken balanced out the richness of the crab. The crab, on the other hand, added a nice twist to an ordinary chicken soup dumpling. When the soup dumpling gets split open, piping–hot, salty broth oozes out, and, with the addition with a little bit of vinegar, the broth has a nice sour taste.
The scallion pancakes were also scrumptious. The crispy dumpling paired with soy sauce is the perfect appetizer before your soup dumplings.
I was also delighted with the pan-fried chicken potsticker. While crunchy, the shell of the dumpling still had the enjoyable chewy texture. The chicken, seasoned to perfection, melted in my mouth.
The shrimp fried rice was to die for. It had that perfect balance of butter; not being too dry and not being drenched. Just one bite, I promise will make you unable to resist another.
Lastly, the string beans topped off my meal. Usually I am hesitant to order such a mundane vegetable at a restaurant. However, the string beans are sautéed in butter and garlic, making them addictive, which is very abnormal for a vegetable.
The prices at ROC are very reasonable, with almost every well–portioned dish costing around eight dollars. I recommend, however, ordering family style because there are so many yummy things to try. The chain has three locations: one on Sawtelle Blvd, one in Beverly Grove and one in Playa Vista.
One thing I would have caution about, however, is that the restaurant on Sawtelle doesn’t take reservations and is extremely busy during meal time. So, if you plan on going to that location, I suggest you be prepared to wait or come in at a non-busy hour.
My favorite part about the restaurant is that it isn’t formal. It feels like a place that you can show up to in sweatpants and a sweatshirt for a fantastic meal and no one would care. The restaurant is very clean and the staff is extremely friendly, thus making it a very relaxed, enjoyable setting.
