Best Crab Rangoon in Columbus #78
Happy New Year goonthusiasts, and welcome back to 'Toastmuncher Thursdays' where I hunt for the best crab rangoon in the city. Feel free to comment any recommendations.
You know the drill. Link to the map where I have all locations recommended to me and color coded categories. Full data spreadsheet is here. Link to the hub where you can access all of my previous reviews is here.
This week, I headed to the southside to sample China Bear. Let's see how they did!
China Bear
4 for 5.95
Filling: 8.5/10
Wrapper: 8/10
Sauce: 2/10
Value: 3/5
Overall: 21.5/35
Filling: This is a very typical crab rangoon filling, and it is deeeelicious! It’s got a very strong onion and garlic flavor, and although it’s overall a savory filling, there is a hint of sweet that makes for a well rounded fill. There was a solid amount of filling to wrapper ratio which is well appreciated. I could see crab in the filling, but sadly couldn’t taste it. Overall, I think this is a great filling, but if I could taste the crab I saw, it may have been damn near perfect.
Wrapper: China Bear delivered an excellent wrapper! It’s a standard triangle wrap that left a ton of room for filling. It had the perfect oil level and really melted in the mouth. My only complaint about the wrapper is that the edges were a little too thick, but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this wrapper.
Sauce: The sauce was the definite low point of this rangoon. It’s a sweet and sour sauce, and while I generally enjoy that sauce style, this one did not do it for me. There was something off about it that I can’t quite describe - almost as if the ‘sour’ element had gone bad. The rangoon itself was very tasty, and honestly the sauce ruined it for me. I’m giving it a few points because although I didn’t like the flavor, there was a sweetness to it that gave it some depth, but overall, this was not a good sauce.
Value: At $1.48 each, these get a 3 for value.
Overall: China Bear has an excellent crab rangoon. The filling is a great example of a classic rangoon done very well, and the wrapper is well suited to the filling. Each bite is very well proportioned, and once I had finished eating them, I wanted more. What China Bear does not have, however, is a good sauce. This sauce almost tasted like there was something wrong with it and sadly ruined this crab rangoon for me. Overall, I think the rangoon at China Bear is well worth trying, but bring your own sauce.
