About a month ago, I got an email from the people at MyBlogSpark asking me if I’d be interested in attending a “thank you dinner” at Ben Pao, an “upscale Asian restaurant” in the heart of Downtown Chicago. It was a thank you for reviewing two of their products, which I did here and here.
What was I going to say, no?? Of course I agreed to go, and looked forward to it for weeks. Something came up and Adam wasn’t able to join me, so I brought my friend Sarah from camp. We joked all day that we were going on a date, and lucked out by not hitting too much traffic after camp. We were also lucky in that my friend Kristin was home, who lives all of three blocks from the restaurant, so we were able to park in her building and go up to her condo to change our clothes and freshen up.
I hadn’t been to Ben Pao since a really bad date almost 8 years ago in which my date wouldn’t allow me to bring my leftovers home since he’d paid for them. Yeah, bad date. Ben Pao was one of the first “upscale” Asian restaurants in the area, and it hasn’t changed much in the last few years.
We checked in at the door, and were told that there was a video crew there, so we needed to sign a release. Since the whole evening was sponsored by My Blog Spark and General Mills, the release mentioned something about footage being used for marketing purposes. Pretty cool!
Sarah and I sat down and were greeted warmly by the server, and had a special menu on the table.
My adorable dining companion (She’s 22, no matter how old you think she looks!)
Since we’d had a super long day at camp, we both agreed that we’d be enjoying the one included alcoholic beverage we’d been offered. I had an Asian pear saketini and Sarah had the red dragon. You can see the descriptions here, and yes, they were as good as they sounded and looked!
Almost immediately, the food started coming out. We both commented that it was a very fast meal, but I guess that’s what happens when the restaurant was closed to the public!
The hot and sour soup was salty, garlicky, a bit spicy, and had a very subtle mushroom flavor.
We’d barely started to eat the soup when our plates of appetizers came out. There was one plate with cigar-shaped crab Rangoon, vegetarian spring rolls, and chicken potstickers served with a quad of different sauces.
From front to back, those sauces are: Chili-mango for the crab Rangoon, vinegared soy sauce for the potstickers, sweet and sour sauce and hot mustard for the spring rolls
We also had a plate of chicken lettuce wraps with a pineapple hoisin sauce, reminiscent of P.F. Chang’s
While the crab Rangoon and Spring rolls were good, my favorites were the chicken potstickers and the lettuce wraps. I’m such a sucker for dumplings!
We were asked to choose our entrees from the list on the special menu. I selected Sweet and Spicy Shrimp, and Sarah ordered the orange chicken. Again, we were surprised by how quickly the food came out, but were still hungry, so we didn’t argue. I immediately noticed how few shrimp were actually in my meal, and how evenly the vegetables were cut:
And then I was struck by how similar Sarah’s chicken looked.
We were served a bowl of fluffy white rice that escaped the camera somehow. I asked for brown rice instead, but I was informed that they didn’t have it for the special event. No big deal, but still a bit disappointing…
About halfway through eating our entree, I said to Sarah, “Wouldn’t it be funny if this were one of those ‘these unsuspecting food bloggers thought they were getting a restaurant meal but it’s really a frozen entree’ things?” As we ate, the camera crew came around and filmed us eating, taking pictures, laughing…
We started talking again about the food. We noted that the appetizers and soup were fantastic: crispy fried stuff, flavorful soup, interesting sauces. We talked then about the entree. The fried bits of chicken were a bit soggy and tasted, as Sarah said, “Like a chicken nugget in sauce.” There were way too many vegetables and too few protein pieces in both our entrees. So few, that if it had been a paid meal, we would’ve sent them back. I had prepared myself for a salty meal, but I began my salt bloat after just a few bites. The rice, however, was fabulous. Perfectly fluffy, flavorful, and absorbed the right amount of sauce. Does this sound familiar yet?
I finished picking the shrimp out of the entree, our plates were whisked away, and the My Blog Spark hosts came around with a basket of fortune cookies. Upon opening mine, I found…
I was right! While our appetizers and dessert (to come) were Ben Pao’s own, the entree was a frozen Wanchai Ferry meal. My opinion of the meal didn’t differ much from Adam’s when he reviewed the Beef and Broccoli a couple weeks ago. When we were asked by the camera crew and My Blog Spark hosts about our opinions on the meal, I couldn’t lie. But I didn’t want to be negative, so I complemented the rice! I think Sarah put it best, “I’m not going to lie, the rice was FANTASTIC!” I guess I was the only one who was honest and said she suspected the swap, but the camera crew asked me for my name and blog name, and apparently they were filming a commercial, so be looking for it!
We continued with dessert: Chocolate egg rolls with a honey-peanut dipping sauce, and mini lemon-ginger cheesecakes.
I really liked the chocolate egg rolls…
In all, it was a fun evening, even though the main part of the dinner didn’t live up to my expectations. We were provided with coupons for free Wanchai Ferry entrees, as well as a discount at Ben Pao the next time we visit. You can enter to win the Wanchai Ferry coupons by writing on the wall of the What’s For Dinner? fan page! I’ll select a random winner on Thursday, just in time for my next big (trust me, this one is BIG) giveaway!
Sarah and I left Ben Pao and walked to visit my sister at her new restaurant and have a drink… you’ll have to wait a week for a post on that place. It deserves more attention than a tack-on at the end of another post!
My birthday week celebrations begin soon, and I’m so excited! Usually, I love my birthday, but I’m actually THRILLED to be turning 30!
Have a great week, and TGIM!
**The coupons and dinner were provided to me by MyBlogSpark**
