Nestled away from all of Cambridge's college students and business professionals waits a mini-Chinatown: the Porter Exchange. The Exchange, as many know it, is hidden inside of a large, yellow building, which stands out among the many small shops and boutiques along Massachusetts Avenue, just outside of Porter Square, towards Harvard. The Exchange's location makes it easy to miss, as there are no signs on the street indicating what lies within.
Hidden in the back of this building are eight restaurants offering samplings of many different types of East Asian food including Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Thai.
There are bakeries, a bubble tea vendor, and even a Japanese grocery store, which offers many foods usually only sold in Chinatown, including a la carte sushi-grade fish and Japanese candy.
One of these restaurants in the Exchange is ChoCho's. It is the same size as most of the other restaurants, with seating for only about 25 people. ChoCho's features delicious, value-driven meals and is a welcome change from restaurants like Panda Palace and Dragon Garden. Best yet, ChoCho's is authentic, and offers more than MSG-filled, deep-fried, Americanized Chinese food. Authenticity comes as no surprise as Eurmi Cho, the restaurant's founder, moved to the Boston Area in 1976, emigrating from Seoul.
ChoCho's has a fun, relaxed atmosphere, in which college students eat alongside adults and families with young kids. On the wall hang mirrors, rainbow sconces, various bottles of oil, some small plants and some simple sculptures. ChoCho's is a relatively young restaurant and will enjoy its fourth anniversary in the Porter Exchange in April.
While one can't go wrong with any of these restaurants, ChoCho's is definitely one of the more popular. It is easy to see why this restaurant is frequented by college students, as the most expensive of its large dishes is priced at only $11.95.
ChoCho's offers mostly Korean entrées, with some Japanese, some Chinese and some Thai dishes. The menu features many safe options, such as tempura, crab Rangoon and a modified scallion pancake. Additionally, the restaurant has creative offerings such as Bibim Bap, an entrée that sells for $10.95, and is made from "eight seasoned veggies, marinated beef and fried egg over rice, served with Korean spicy sauce." One of their many delicious, home-style specialties is Soon Buboo (Soft Tofu Stew).
For those counting calories, there are the so-called "Healthy Combo Meals" boasting a "mixed green salad, a choice of hot and sour soup or miso soup and a choice of white or brown rice" to be combined with any variety of meat, seafood or tofu. The quality of the entrées varies, but sticking with the Korean and Thai dishes won't disappoint
Even after trying Pad Thai from many different restaurants in the Boston area, including 9 Tastes in Harvard Square, Brown Sugar Café in its three locations around Boston, and Sugar and Spice in Porter Square, ChoCho's Pad Thai isn't bad. In traditional form, the Pad Thai is served with bean sprouts, cucumber and a lime wedge and comes garnished with a fern sprig.
While ChoCho's Pad Thai is surely not the best in the city, it's certainly some of the best priced. It's only $7.95, and portions are very fair. With a small appetizer, even especially hungry eaters will find satiation. The only unsatisfactory aspect of the Pad Thai is that it was a little mild, and that the lime wedge had little to no juice in it when squeezed.
Another hit at ChoCho's is the edamame, which at $1.95 is a great deal. It comes garnished with carrot gratings and some salt and tastes fresh, but is slightly soft, a sign that it was a little overcooked. ChoCho's more ethnic Korean dishes and their udon, especially the soups, tend to be served in large portions, but they remain relatively light and consistently delicious.
Just as their slogan, "Eat Better, Live Better," says, ChoCho's can certainly be part of a balanced, healthy and happy lifestyle and it's definitely worth a taste.
ChoCho's1815 Massachusetts AvenuePorter Square in Cambridge(617) 868-4246
