By The Crimson Crave Board

There are a lot of scallion pancakes out there, but not all are made equal.  We, the Crimson Crave Board, set out to find which scallion pancakes reigned supreme.

To keep things fair, we set up a blind taste test. We randomized and assigned letters to scallion pancakes from five locations: 9 Tastes, Cilantro, the Kong, Spice, and Dumpling House.  A silent tasting and voting period yielded shocking results.

Pancake A: Spice

Caroline: These are pretty doughy and small, which I’m pretty thankful for because I don’t have to commit and suffer through eating a large but mediocre scal-pal.

Saranya: Where are the scallions? This is underwhelming.

Siqi: These pancakes are not crispy at all, but they have a good onion taste.

Pancake B: Dumpling House

Sara: Definitely a taste explosion and great mouthfeel. My oh my! There are scallions everywhere! Just the right amount of scal, just the right amount of pal.

Richa: Yes. This is correct.

Bovey: Nice and chewy, but the sauce is a little vinegary.

Caroline: I love how these have a mixture of textures, the perfect balance of crispy and doughy, packed with that addictive scallion flavor. The scallions in the soy sauce are also a nice touch.

Pancake C: The Kong

Richa: I’m actually offended by these. They taste like regret.

Sara: Mild on the palate, but so mild that it feels like it’s not even there. I feel like there’s no scallion in there… BUT, if you drown it in soy sauce it’s pretty good!

Caroline: These are super fried and basically taste like generic fried dough from the county fair. No scal either!

Pancake D: Cilantro

Bovey: Nice and crunchy, and good scallion flavor too.

Siqi: Good smell, super crunchy, and I really like the soy sauce!

Saranya: Almost too fried? But still really good.

Pancake E: 9 Tastes

Sara: Thick, nice shapes, cute… but lacking serious scal. Floury. The shapes are cute, and almost make up for the lack of taste explosion.

Richa: Same as the first one EOM

Siqi: Not crispy at all, and the salt definitely isn’t equally distributed.

In the end, Dumpling House and Cilantro tied for first and – brace yourselves – Dumpling House was far and away the worst (oh the humanity!) with a nearly unanimous vote.  If you’re as shocked as we are, take comfort in Sara’s analysis of the results: “At the end of the day, Kong delivers to your door at 2am and Dumpling House is far. So there’s that.”