Mas’ Islamic Cuisine – Anaheim, CA – Sunday, October 5, 2008
Posted October 12, 2008 at 10:28 pm
There are only a handful of Islamic Chinese restaurants in Southern California, none better than Jamilla Ma’s Anaheim restaurant.
She used to own Jamillah Restaurant in Tustin. For a little over two years, she and her family have run Mas’ on a primarily industrial stretch of Oglethorpe Avenue. The parking lot was packed when we arrived. We passed underneath the pathway to enter the dome-topped foyer. The dining room is Old World, with wrought iron and earth tones.
The best time to eat at Mas’ Islamic Cuisine is from 11 AM – 3 PM, when the restaurant offers 56 different lunch specials, huge portions ranging from $6.50 to $7.95 apiece.
Each lunch special includes a soup of the day, spring roll and steamed rice. Egg rolls are normally greasy afterthoughts, but not at Mas’. Their golden, cabbage-filled egg roll came with a dish of sweet and sour sauce dotted with hot mustard. We each received a decent bowl of egg drop soup with corn kernels and scattered bits of ground chicken.
Fish in spicy bean sauce is a fairly common dish at Shanghai style restaurants in L.A. However, it’s never been as fresh, flavorful or unique as at Mas’ Islamic Chinese. At Chang’s (an outstanding Chinese restaurant), Henry Chang slathers his fillets with a fiery red chile sauce. It’s unclear where the beans even come into play. At Mas’, Sliced Sole Filet in Spicy Bean Sauce ($7.50) is scattered with tan and black beans and sheets of crunchy water chestnut, finished with scallions.
For Eggplant w/Curry Sauce ($7.50), we had the option to order a veg version of top our slabs of tender, curry-soaked eggplant with ground chicken. We chose the latter. The chicken didn’t add much except for texture.
Thin sesame bread layered with sweet red bean paste ($10.95) was dynamic. I’ve eaten the Islamic bread at China Islamic in Rosemead thick and thin, with and without green onions, but a red bean version is a first. Mas’ version is also better than the L.A. based alternative, even suppler, with browned sesame seeds. The earthy red bean paste wasn’t overly sweet. 16 pieces spanned over a foot across and would have easily been enough to feed eight people.
We ate a ridiculous amount of delicious food, exited carrying leftovers that must have weighed five pounds and spent just over $15 per person. Mas’ Islamic Chinese appears to be an Asian treasure, and we can’t wait to return to put more of the vast menu to the test.
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