Food Terminal Revisit

This massive "Malaysian" street food court has been fucking killing it since day one with zero PR or adverts... Word of mouth is stronger than any paid PR garbage with their email blasts and this is ethnic food, too... On Buford Hwy. There were a ton of gwailos up in this piece and they don't even serve tacos here... El Rey is up the street, brodudes. How can this be? It was a goddamn zombie herd in this joint for the first couple weeks... You couldn't even get in the door without waiting in line outside in the dense pollen. But they do try to get the brain sucking tourists in and out as efficiently as possible with their army of staff and cooks. They got like 35% of Atlanta's Asian population working here... It's ok, tho, we breed like rabbits. The shit comes out quick and relatively fresh and made to order. It's obviously not the best ethnic street grub you will ever have but for this town, it will totally do. I was not super impressed with some of their dishes in the beginning... People went more to see what the fuss was about. This joint is a FOB's dream come true... It's obvious that Sweet Hut's fingerprints are all over this place but it's a bit more classy and mature. The menu, shit... Who can not comment on that ginormous menu. It's like reading the 10 commandments etched on the stone tablets. I don't get the whole giant laminated picture filled menus, it's like they ate at Royal China one night and said, "Hey, this is a great idea! Let's do it, too." I guess I'm ok with the giant cartoony menus because the FOBs dig it, but the product is what I'm here for... The first few visits were good not great, nothing craveworthy enough that made me want to come back over and over again. So, once the initial hype and crowd has been through the joint a couple of times, it was time for the pouch to go back and see if they have improved their work flow... Let's go check out the lunch time service. I need a little something to tie me over before my real lunch...

Shiitaki Ground Pork Cheong Fun. This was good the first time except that the rice noodles were over steamed and gummy... This time around it was pretty much spot on. It had good texture and a nice bounce to it. The shiitaki and minced pork bits and the sweet and savory soy sauce basically makes this dish. Definitely get this and the XO one is good, too.

Five Spice Shrimp Rolls. Ok, when I saw this on my first few visits, I was like Jesus fucking Christ, c'mon, how fucking roundeye is this... But I had to try it at least once in my measly life... And it was pretty decent. It was crispy, crunchy and the minced shrimp paste filler had a nice bite to it. I finally had this dish and I'm prolly not gonna get it again.. No that it was bad, it was just kinda average and boring.

Salted Goji Herbed Chicken. Similar to the Hainanese Chicken Rice but with the distinctive Goji berry flavor. I liked this better than the Hainanese cheekan. This also came with the chicken rice but they forgot the sauces.

Crispy Pig Ears. I get these every time I'm here... Yeah, they're that good. Git yo some.

Grandma Wonton BBQ Pork. I had to get this again to see why everyone loves this so much... The fried wontons are still as gwailo as fuck, I mean it's like something you give to kids to shut them the fuck up at the table. But everything in this crap in a bowl was pretty damn decent and the bbq pork was a lot better this time around, the thin noodles are great. This is not a real dish, it's something they made up, they call it a family recipe... Ok, whatever to honor your paw-paw.

6 Hour Braised Beef, thin noodles, beef broth, pickled mustard greens, spring onions, cilantro. The broth could be a little more richer and complex but it's totally acceptable when there's a heaping pile of tender as fuck meat flesh in there. They didn't skimp on this bowl... And it's also loaded with their kick ass thin noodles underneath all that meat flaps. It's totally satisfying and great for nursing a massive whiskey hangover.

Black Pepper Rolling Hot Plate, ground beef, zucchini, bell pepper, mushroom, egg, fried shallots, spring onions, tomato braised rice. Looked like my 8th grade science project... Where do I add the vinegar and baking soda in this rice volcano? It also looked like a giant titty to me... Yes, I'm a sicko... And fat. On some demented level, this specimen kinda reminded me of this skank with a botched boob job that worked at a bowling ally I dated many moons ago... I wanted to finger it and throw it into a gutter. I just need to get my head outta the gutter and just use the spoon to mix it all up... Let's go ahead and do that, now... Move along move along...

First off, can I tell y'all that I friggin love that giant heated stone bowl, too bad it won't fit in my jacket... Perhaps I can hide it under my pannus flap. No one will question me let alone be the one to pat down the pouch. After mixing it all up it transforms itself into a ridiculous tasty fried rice concoction... Why I didn't order this before was just plain stupid on my part. I'm not a smart man but I know what love is and I loved this dish. The portion is huge and the price is low. Easily, one of their best dishes.

After a few visits, the pouch can safely say this street food joint is a solid choice for a quick bite or a feast with friends. It's fun food, so don't expect anything on this menu to blow your mind and pouch. The prices are affordable but they add up real fast because the giant menu is designed to trick you into ordering more and more dishes... Which the pouch will instinctively do with any menu anyways. In my younger days, I used to look at a menu and say "OK" to the waiter. Shit, I came here for a quick bite and ended up over ordering... Again. No wonder I'm such a fucking fat slob. They are getting their beer/wine/sake license pretty soon, so, those fuckers will be seeing a lot more of the pouch when they do. Here just take my money and shut the fuck up and feed me. Pweez.

Squirt.

5000 Buford Hwy NE
Chamblee, GA 30341
https://www.foodterminal.com