eat Home > Restaurant Reviews

We were crushed when Silk Road closed up shop at the corner of Charles and 33rd streets. Where would we go for cheap, satisfying, nonspecific Asian fare? Well, turns out Silk Road has reopened on Johns Hopkins’ Homewood campus, making Silk Road harder to find but still worth looking for.

The steamed veggie dumplings ($3.95), long our favorite, still don’t disappoint. The huge offering was as good as we remembered, with a new subtle hint of sweetness. The roast pork buns ($2.95), doughy buns filled with sweet—if disturbingly red—pork, were delicious. And the cold noodle salad with chicken ($5.50) was overflowing with long, fat noodles and hunks of chicken on a nest of lettuce, tomato, and cucumber, with an awesomely spicy peanut lime dressing.

Not every dish was a home run, though. The falafel ($4.50) was overstuffed with greens and understuffed with falafel, and it came dressed in a watery tahini sauce. The teriyaki tofu sandwich ($4.95) was as bland as it sounds, except for the pickled ginger mayo, which gave it some much-needed zing. The Middle Eastern platter ($4.95)—with hummus, stuffed grape leaves, salad, and pita—was hit or miss: The grape leaves were good and vinegary, but the hummus was too bland. Even if some of the dishes were less than perfect, though, hearty flavorful food at prices that give Subway a run for its money is worth braving Hacky-Sacking Hopkins students for.

E-mail Anna Ditkoff