Rice Box - Los Angeles

Rice boxes are a huge staple to the every day Chinese fast food. But calling it fast food is a huge understatement. I watched tons of Hong Kong soap operas as I was growing up and a lot of times these "Fahn Hup" were known as fast food for the working class. When we think about fast food here in America, we are familiar with McDonald's. In Hong Kong, you would find white rice, and proteins like BBQ Pork or Roast Duck with a side of gai lan.

Rice Box is a new up and coming concept coming in the near future to run with the modern approach of Cantonese BBQ. They will be at Unique Markets in Los Angeles this Saturday & Sunday, 04/30 - 05/01 from 11AM - 6PM. They will be featuring a few of their Rice Boxes. We had the pleasure to taste a few of their items before this event. I can't tell you how excited I am about how incredibly delicious the food was. It really reminded me of great comfort rice boxes when my parents would bring some home.

One of the first dishes we had was this Sesame Cold Noodle. It's made with organic noodle, house pickled carrots & cucumbers, organic tofu, sesame dressing, and house made chili oil. This was very fresh and slightly creamy from the sesame dressing.

Growing up, I hated these things. I think I disliked them because it was something my parents always ordered when I wanted egg rolls instead. But once I started getting older, and I start eating less with them, I find myself not having these as much as I used to. And now, I really really love them. The daikon cake is made with daikon, rice flour, bacon (hormone/antibiotic free), dried scallop-shrimp-shiitake, house made chili oil and garlic sweet soy sauce. The cake is normally steamed first before pan fried.

Get it? This is for the absolute mushroom funk lovers. This daikon cake is made with daikon, rice flour, dried wild porcini, oyster mushroom, wood ear, and shiitake served with house made chili oil and garlic sweet soy sauce. I could eat these during any sports game.

One of the ultimate fahn hup's I grew up eating. Rice, BBQ Pork, Gai Lan, and a sunny side up EGG ALWAYS. This organic, hormone & antibiotic free pork shoulder was not shy of any flavor. Their eggs are also organic served with some organic quinoa rice. The best parts are the burnt ends that has been caramelized in the open flame.

Soy sauce chicken is one of my favorite Cantonese dishes. It's hard to find made right. A lot of times, it's extremely dry from staying under the heat lamps for so long. People just don't appreciate this style of chicken anymore. This was perfectly executed. The chicken breast was extremely succulent and I can't say that a lot about chicken breast. The soy sauce was not too salty, but perfectly balanced with the sweet marinade. Served with house ginger scallion sauce, and charred Gai Lan with sesame seeds on organic quinoa rice.

This is for the Vegan/Vegetarian peeps. You get the same marinade as the Cha Siu pork, but with a Cauliflower Steak. Have you ever had a Cauliflower steak? It changes you.

These are for the spicy lovers. Beware because these poppers pack a lot of heat! The organic tofu is deep fried then doused in minced jalapeño, scallion, garlic, salt and pepper. I could take the heat, but I'm not going to lie that I sweated a little.

Roasted Pork belly. It's pretty self explanatory. This might be one of my top favorite ways to eat pork. It's a huge staple in our culture. Something that is served for celebratory events, holidays, or just a Friday night special. The pork belly is the best cut of the whole roasted pig. Rice Box focuses solely on the belly. Yeah, it's good.

To wrap things up, everything we had was phenomenal. To me, this is what Chinese BBQ is all about. If there was a restaurant that made food this great in a rice box, I would be there in a heartbeat almost everyday. This is also something I know a lot of older generations would love.

Don't forget to check them out at Unique Markets. Tickets are sold $10 at the door -Cash Only, but you can always purchase your ticket online by clicking HERE.

Stay tuned as Rice Box is working into becoming a brick and mortar.