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I had never been to Golden Temple before but I had heard both good and bad things. People rave about its healthy menu options and late delivery hours (ending at 12:15 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 1:15 a.m. Friday and Saturday). It's location, right off the C-line and with parallel and valet parking, is also convenient.
On the other hand, I've heard that Golden Temple is simply overpriced, Americanized Asian fare in a hip setting. Hip it is: Golden Temple even boasts something it calls an E-Room, a special space for after-hours cocktails.
Food aside, Golden Temple is a large and impressive space. The interior is made to look like the inside of a temple with clean, white beams forming all kinds of arcs and arches.
Since it's the holiday season, there were also elegant golden and red bows on branches and ornaments hanging everywhere. All the tables were covered in white linen complete with candles for ambiance.
My roomate and I were seated in a comfortable booth where a decorative mirror strangely served as a divider.
Our waiter was extremely helpful in navigating the daunting menu. The first page of the menu tells patrons how to order: to relax and to take their time.
They also included information about their spiritual philosophy. Even though the menu could be compared to a short story book, my roommate and I spent most of our time in the noodle section.
We did end up ordering the chicken pot stickers as an appetizer ($6.95). These six dumpling-type entities came out pretty quickly and were filled with spicy ground chicken, carrots, and celery.
I ultimately ordered from the Cantonese noodle section, which are thin, round, pan-fried egg noodles, that as the menu describes, "form a nest." This dish is also prepared with snow peas, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, shredded onions, celery, and bok choy.
Adding meat, the chicken Cantonese noodles came to $12.95. Oddly enough, my dish did look like a nest.
The noodles on the outside were crunchy and not covered by the vegetables; this was a satisfying contrast to the sauce-covered noodles on the inside of the net.
My roommate selected the green tea buckwheat spicy sesame noodles with chicken ($13.95). This unusual sounding dish is made with thin, whole-grain buckwheat green tea noodles stir-fried with spicy sesame oil and peppers, scallions, bean sprouts, mushrooms, and bok choy.
Although she wasn't thrilled with her dish because she wanted it to be spicier (she even had to add ground hot chili pepper), I thought it was a hearty dish because of the density of the noodles. Overall, it was an interesting spin on a traditional Chinese dish.
I enjoyed Golden Temple but I did think our meals were a little pricey for what we got. I did, however, enjoy the atmosphere as well as the chocolate fortune cookies that were served at the end of our meal.
Golden Temple 1651 Comm. Ave. Brookline (617) 783-2966
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