As we love Asian food, we often go shopping for grocery at Asian Supermarkets. Great thing about them is that they have food courts, offering all sorts of Asian food as well, so we usually get lunch there while we shop. We recently found this spot called Big Bowls Little Plates inside H Mart in Paramus, with great looking food. We shop at H Mart at a different location, but we wanted to try their food, so we decided to drive over there for shopping and lunch. As other Asian supermarkets, they had a food court with several different vendors. Here at H Mart Paramus, the food court was called Market Eatery Food Hall. Big Bowls Little Plates is actually located outside of the Food Hall (even though they are a part of the Food Hall), so just look for them right outside the area.
The Food Hall is pretty nice, it is not huge, but it has a good amount of seating. Mitsuwa in NJ has a huge food court with many more vendors, but I think that also comes with the size of the supermarket itself as well. This H Mart is smaller, but newer and with that comes a nice modern design of the space.
After looking around the Food Hall, we went back to the Big Bowls Little Plates to order. As we were placing an order, I noticed their big beverage dispenser and asked about it. The staff told us it contains complimentary hot tea for customers. Awesome! So we got their tea with our order. The hot tea for the day was ginger peach. It was really good!
For food, we got dumplings, buns, and a big bowl to share. Don’t they look great! And look at the container that the big bowl comes in! So cool!
For dumpling, we chose something that sounded interesting. General Taos Chicken Dumpling ($5.95), and we asked them to be pan fried. Five pieces of dumpling came with the order.
It was very meaty, not much veggie in there. I expected them to be spicy, as General Tao’s Chicken is spicy, and it had “spicy” sign on their menu as well. But, it was not very spicy at all. They were plump and meaty, but didn’t have much of General Taos Chicken flavor, which was a bit disappointing.
For the buns, we chose Pork Belly Buns ($5.95) made with sautéed with leeks and chili pepper. Two buns came with the order. They were sweet and tangy, with a little kick to it that comes later. Soft and fluffy buns, juicy pork. Very tasty, but not many pork in there though.
And of course the big bowl! For this, you pick the topping, or the main, and then you pick the base. We chose Cajun Pork Chop ($9.95) as our main, and Fried Rice (additional $1) as the base. Cajun Pork Chop is made with pork chop pan-seared with Cajun spice. Fried Rice is made with white rice cooked in a wok with bean sprouts, eggs, scallions, onions and seasoning.
Pork chop had a great marinate flavor with loads of spices. It had almost crispy exterior, while the inside was very juicy and moist. Packed with flavor! Some pieces had bone still attached, some say that is the best part of the meat. Fried onion strings on the top was very tasty too. Rice was fluffy and light, not oily. Nice amount of fresh veggie. It was really good! Bowl is nice and deep, so it had a good portion of rice underneath. Super filling!
It was really nice lunch here at Big Bowls Little Plates, we enjoyed the food and they were very affordable too! Even though we shared the bowl and two “little plates”, we were both very full and satisfied.
So, we went back again a few weeks later for more! We got a different big bowl and two side dishes. This time, unfortunately, their beverage dispenser was broken, so sadly, no tasty complimentary tea. They do have bottles and cans of beverages for purchase by the ordering counter.
The first little plate of our choice was Stuffed Shiitake Mushrooms ($6.95), made with shiitake mushrooms stuffed with seasoned crumbs, celery, onions, peppers and herbs. They looked good, but were just a-ok. The mushrooms were plump, but not much other texture as a whole. As it has crumbs in there, I thought it would have some crunchy texture as well. And it didn’t have as much flavor as I expected and wanted.
The second little plates was Peking Raviolis ($5.95), made with pork butt, baby bok choy and scallions with a traditional seasoning. It sounded very interesting, so we wanted to try it.
It was served with spicy Szechuan sauce, so it had lots of red pepper flakes, and yes spicy! I was meaty with nice flavor, but it was more like wonton than ravioli, which I was ok with.
For the big bowl, we chose Short Rib French Onion ($12.95), with Lo Mein as our base. It came with their version of French Onion Soup, without any bread or cheese, which was interesting. We asked the staff if we were supposed to pour the soup in the bowl, and he said we don’t need to. A bit confusing…we decided not to pour the soup in the bowl. It had lots of soft onions that were thinly sliced. Nice broth, a bit on a salty side but nice flavor.
The ribs were huge, and a good amount of Lo Mein underneath it also. It certainly had some weight to it. We were so excited to dig into this dish.
The ribs were super tender and juicy, melt in your mouth. Tangy and sweet sauce, it was excellent! Lo Mein was fat and chewy in a good way. The sauce can get heavy if you are having this dish alone. Best to share with loved ones. We really enjoyed it!
The second lunch at Big Bowls Little Plates was mostly positive, as the first one. We definitely enjoyed the big bowl dish, the side dish can be a hit of miss. But overall, they were tasty, the potion was good, and the price was right. They had many other dishes we haven’t tried, so I am sure we will be back again for more in the future!
Big Bowls Little Plates – 60 State Route 17 North, Paramus, NJ 07652