Jindu

The only thing better than Chinese food is Chinese food and sushi, and this is one of my personal favorite places to get both. We are on Boston Post Road in Wayland, Massachusetts at a restaurant named Jindu. Jindu opened up in 2022 by owner Nick Fang, and he was determined to create an upscale Asian restaurant with a menu that has a little something for everyone.

Nick Fang: “My idea is to set up a comfortable, quality restaurant for people to bring their family. The menu is combined about Japanese and Asian Chinese.”

So there's authentic Chinese food, there's Americanized Chinese food, an incredible array of creative maki rolls and authentic and cutting edge Japanese sashimi. So whether you're ordering food straight onto the wok or you're getting something from the sushi bar, I guarantee you're going to taste something like you've never had before.

If you love Chinese appetizers. I mean crab Rangoon, chicken wings, this place is next level. I think my favorite appetizer on the menu is the spare ribs on the bone. Just look at the size of these ribs. These are huge, and you can see they prepare them a little differently. They sort of score the top of the ribs, which creates lots of these crevices on top. So these ribs are lumpy and bumpy, sweet and sticky, and as for the taste insanely good, sweet, tender, juicy. I mean, they have boneless ribs, but honestly, on the bone, that's how you got to get them here at Jindu.

Of course, you got to get some fried rice. And the house special fried rice here is exceptional. It has beef, chicken and shrimp, fresh vegetables, nice and light, perfectly done. If you're looking to warm up, get the Szechuan chili beef. Almost looks like a soup. You have thin sliced steak. It is flash fried, smothered in spicy Szechuan chilies with some napa cabbage and enoki mushrooms. Now that'll warm your bones.

The number one selling entree here is the General Tso's Chicken. The key to the General Tso's is balance. You want a balance of texture and a balance of flavors. You want a really crispy outside and a nice juicy inside. You want some sweetness and you want some heat, and this hits every single part. I mean, it's just absolutely gorgeous the way the light is shimmering off this sauce, of course, you got the broccoli around the outside. Everyone knows that's to make things healthy. General Tso, let's go. Awesome.

If you're a lobster lover, let me give you a little pro tip here. It's not on the menu, but they do have Hong Kong style lobster. I recommend you call in advance if you want this, and you should want this. They take two full lobsters, they chop them up into pieces, lightly batter them, and then it goes into the wok. It is quickly fired over searing high heat, perfectly cooked, so the big chunks of meat just come right out of the shell. Super easy. It is so tender. It is so sweet, and just that hint of the scallion and the ginger in there. Boom. Next level lobster.

Now, on the sushi side of the restaurant, that's where things get really exciting. It's run by Chef Masaki-San. He is a master of his craft. He has been slicing and dicing fish for over 40 years.

“I feel I'm very lucky. I met Masaki-San. He's very experienced,and he's a master.”

There's a cult following of people that come in just to watch Misaki-San work these knives. This beautiful looking roll is the Tokyo mango Maki. This has sweet shrimp and mango topped with more fresh mango, some tobiko and a special spicy mayo sauce. You have some tempura flakes in there for crispness. This is a good sushi roll for beginners, and I'm beginning to get really hungry. The Phoenix maki is a very popular roll. This has spicy tuna topped with salmon, and it has jalapenos tobiko and some spicy sauce as well. Sometimes you get a spicy salmon roll, and it's not that spicy. This one super spicy. But I mean that in the best possible way.

If you're looking for the ultimate sushi experience, you should get the omokase. Omokase basically means you just tell the chef, ‘make me whatever's good’. If I'm gonna trust anybody with an omokase, it is Chef Masaki-San. It comes out to your table, open it up, talk about a dramatic presentation. And by the way, it's not just about the flash, it's about the flavor. You get a wide variety of high quality sashimi, some seafood you can only get in Japan. It's laid out like a beautiful bento box, different flavors, different textures. Sushi doesn't get any more fun or fresher than this.

“Please come to try our Jindu Restaurant, and then for sure, you have a wonderful time.”

So whether you want Chinese food or an exceptional sushi experience, you can get it all under one roof at Jindu in Wayland.