Once a dumpy but beloved Cantonese joint, the reinvented Best Little Restaurant now features scrubbed-up good looks evoking an illicit Chinatown gambling den. The menu occasionally alights on South China classics like the weird-but-good honey-walnut shrimp with mayo sauce, but as often strays into fusionminded updates like whole trout (roasted instead of steamed) and mooshu pancakes with Francophilic duck confit and Brussels sprouts. It’s wild, woolly and fun: a useful bridging of the old Chinatown and the new.
BLR by Shojo
13A Hudson St., Boston • (617) 338-4988
blrbyshojo.com
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- bestlittlerestaurant.com
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2018 Winner: Blossom Bar
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- (617) 734-1870
- blossombarbrookline.com
Photo Credit: Maddie Malhotra
