[Costa Mesa] [Taiwanese] 梅園 May Garden Restaurant

May Garden Restaurant
梅園
1400 Bristol St
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 751-9229

I've read about May Garden Restaurant on Wen's blog.  It was one of the restaurant I always wanted to try even when I was living in LA.  Our neighbor Charles and Tessa referred us to this apartment complex we're staying at right now, and they got $200 referring fee from it.  Instead of keeping the money for themselves, they decided to treat a group of friends to a Taiwanese dinner at May Garden Restaurant with the money.  That was so nice and generous of them.



The restaurant is only a few minutes away from our apartment.  Wen mentioned this before, but I have to say it again.  This restaurant looks very "Americanized" from the outside.  I would think this is one of those "P.F. Chang" style Chinese restaurant just by looking at the sign.




The inside of the restaurant also didn't look like your typical Chinese restaurant.  We were seated in the "library "room.



Even though the restaurant didn't look that "Chinese", they do offer a very traditional Taiwanese menu.


清炒絲瓜 Sauteed Luffa ($8.95)

Wen's hubby did a great job ordering all the food.  Our first dish was Sauteed Luffa.  The luffa tasted really fresh and sweet.


椒鹽蝦 Salt & Pepper Shrimp ($13.95)

I don't remember too much about the Salt & Pepper Shrimp.  It was alright I guess.  But nothing really stood out.


奶油龍蝦 Garlic Butter Lobster ($55.00)

Garlic Butter Lobster smelt heavenly when the waiter brought it to our table.  The garlic butter was super tasty.  The only complaint was the lobster was small, and didn't have too much meat.  Originally they wanted to charge us $85 for the dish.  But the waiter also saw how little the lobster was, and he adjusted the price to $55.  After we finished the lobster, the waiter took the plate with the garlic butter sauce to make us porridge with it.


清炒芥蘭 Sauteed Chinese Broccoli ($7.95)

I like Sauteed Chinese Broccoli a lot.  They chopped the vegetable to bite size so it was easier to eat.  The vegetable was fresh and crisp.  And the flavor was great.


番茄沙拉 Tomato Salad ($6.50)

Tomato Salad had a really tasty dressing.  I ate a lot of it.


清蒸全魚 Steamed Whole Fish ($23.95)

The waiter told us they picked a "smiling" fish for our Steamed Whole Fish.  It was kinda scary actually, because we could see the fish tongue.  I never knew fish has tongue.  The meat was really soft.  I like how they added gogi berry to it, too.


紫菜蝦捲 / 芋頭棗 Seaweed Shrimp Roll / Fried Taro ($38.35)

OMG!  Seaweed Shrimp Roll!  This one was my favorite!   I don't even know how to describe it, except that it was really really delicious.  The shrimp was chopped into really small pieces, and mixed with carrot, cilantro, and some other vegetable I think, then wrapped with a piece of seaweed, and fried.  It was just good.  The fried Taro was pretty good, too.  The taro was creamy and sweet.  But I was just blown away by the seaweed shrimp roll.


鰻魚米糕 Eel Sticky Rice ($14.95)

Eel Sticky Rice reminded me of the sticky rice my grandmother used to make.  I like it a lot.  It tasted very Taiwanese, very authentic.  It was Dr. P's first time trying Taiwanese sticky rice.  He didn't really like it that much though.  He said it has a strange flavor that he's not quite used to.  I think he just needs to have it couple more times, then he'll like it.  That was how I "trained" him to like intestine.  haha....


奶油龍蝦稀飯 Garlic Butter Lobster Porridge

The kitchen used the garlic butter from the lobster and made us porridge.  They added shrimp, scallop, and bamboo to it.  It was great.  Even better than the garlic butter lobster itself, I thought.  I had two bowls!



I found the lobster head in the porridge.  I guess they cooked the shell in the porridge to give it more flavor.


花生麻糬 Mochi with Peanut

After dinner, we waited for the complimentary dessert that Wen's family always get every time.  But the dessert never came.  Then Wen's hubby asked the waiter about it.  He said the customers have to ask for it to get it or something like that.  Hmmm....  Anyway, he did brought a plate of Mochi with Peanut after we asked for it.  The mochi was freshly made.  It was chewy and sweet.  The peanut sauce was crunchy and tasty.  Little Jonathan loves this dish!



$200 for 11 people.  The food was delicious.  Honestly, it was a little pricey.  But thanks to Charles and Tessa, we only paid $1/person for tips.



I like Orange County!  Because all the wonderful Orange County friends we have!  We should all get together for dinner more often!

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