I still lament the loss of Village Kitchen, the little Italian-Mediterranean outpost in Huron Village that for 20 years served up one of the best tuna subs you might ever have (no mayo, oil, olives and peppers). As sad as that is, its replacement, Fupo – which in Chinese means “rich lady” – demands attention too, and in many more ways.
Pizza looms large on the menu, which is surprising for a restaurant billed as Chinese street food; it also makes sense, as Village Kitchen left behind ample pizza oven resources. And at Fupo, pizzas roam far beyond the traditional. The individual flatbreads or thin crust pies can come with cheese, peppers and pepperoni – but also tofu and Chinese mushrooms, or bananas and cheese. One comes with the prickly Southeast Asian fruit durian, often used in Chinese cuisine but not often seen here.
The showcase dishes at Fupo are the beef and lamb flatbreads, which are not quite pizzas, but doughy shells stuffed with the beef and peppers or tender, juicy lamb meat. The outer crust comes up crisp in the outside and airy and moist in the middle, not greasy, but with just good simple yeastiness.
For nearly every savory item on the menu, there’s a playful sweet version for the littles – that stuffed flatbread can get whipped up with brown sugar and sesame. For noodles, you can get your pasta done with creamy peanut butter.
Since it’s hot out, Fupo can keep you cool with cold noodles with shredded vegetables, arranged with the elemental sectioning of sliced and julienned veggies – not unlike bibimbap – with shredded chicken.
Still, the noodle dish to have is the Sichuan peppercorn spice shrimp pasta, which is not that spicy, but more a slightly zingy bite of casual comfort with succulent prawns. Other intriguing noodle options are the black pepper beef and creamy mushroom and bacon. There are also plenty of stir-fried veggie options (bok choy, zucchini and broccoli) and tofu galore. The tofu and spinach soup is hearty and healthy, and pretty much large enough for two to share. Want some bite? There’s a spicy tofu soup version, and on that sweets-side slide, there’s a black sugar tofu pudding.
As you might expect, dumplings, chicken wings, fried rice and stir-fry combinations dot the menu, and there are rotating seasonal specials such as a ham and pea dumpling that to my eyes is anything but a dumpling – more the deconstructed sticky rice filling of a lotus leaf you’d get at dim sum. No matter, it was moist, sticky and flavorfully packed.
Fupo’s also playfully inventive on the drink side of the house, with a matcha banana milkshake and an Americano coffee that is … half orange juice and half coffee? Like much else on the menu, it sounds a bit just to the left of what you’re willing to put down the gullet – until you give it a try and have a gastronomical epiphany. I’m not sure what the Chinese phrase for “comfort outside your comfort zone” is, but that to me would be a more apt moniker.
Fupo is open for lunch and dinner and, given its vast offerings and flavors, you’re likely to keep coming back for that unique something different that caught your eye that you didn’t try. Come back and be pleasantly surprised.
Fupo, 359 Huron Ave., Huron Village, Cambridge
Cambridge writer Tom Meek’s reviews, essays, short stories and articles have appeared in WBUR’s The ARTery, The Boston Phoenix, The Boston Globe, The Rumpus, The Charleston City Paper and SLAB literary journal. Tom is also a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and rides his bike everywhere.
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