Egg rolls are a popular American Chinese appetizer served in Chinese restaurants. Dictionary.com defines an egg roll as “is a cylindrical casing of egg dough filled with a minced mixture of meat or shrimp, bamboo shoots, onions, etc., and fried in deep fat.” Summer is around the corner, and I decided to taste test this popular appetizer that is often served at farmers’ markets.

I am going to compare egg rolls from around the Valley and decide which one is the best.

Through research and proximity to my house, I went to three eggroll specific restaurants: Hmong and Asian Foods, Eggrolls Inc. and MyLee’s Egg Roll House. I ordered all pork egg rolls to keep the flavor consistent. I judged the rolls on taste, appearance, texture and cost.

First, I went to Hmong and Asian Foods, which is located in the Ridgeway 66 gas station off of Hwy 76. The pork egg roll cost $1.26 before tax. These egg rolls were the smallest out of the three I compared. It had a light brown crisp wrapping, a soft inside with small chunks of pork, and cabbage filling. The roll had big flavor and was easy to eat with its small anatomy. It tasted like a little bit of heaven in the mouth. 

Matthew Glen, a local egg roll enthusiast said, “I think the egg roll from here are amazing. They have quick service and the egg rolls are always hot and ready to go.” I can report, this statement is accurate and I had a great experience.

Next, I went to Eggrolls Inc. located in Grand Chute off of Mutual Way. These pork egg rolls cost $3.49 each before tax. They were the biggest and most expensive. I had never heard of this restaurant before my experience. The egg roll was tightly wrapped with a soft outside, the wrapping had no crunch, and was chewier than the other egg roll I tested. This egg roll was baked compared with fired like most egg rolls. It had visibly large chunks of pork and had a soft cabbage filling. I thought this roll was hard to eat because of the larger size and thickness.

“Healthy Hmong eggrolls and finger food, combined with a fast casual experience, convenient location, quick and friendly service and the result is pure bliss,” Eggrolls Inc. claims. Overall, that is an accurate remark. They had great customer service, and the employees were super friendly.

Finally, I went to MyLee’s Egg Roll House located in Appleton, off of Richmond St. the cost of a single egg roll was $1.50 before tax. This egg roll had a crispy outside, with a nice soft inside. When biting into the roll, the outsides crisp fell off and onto my plate. This egg roll had the most meat for its size. It had a strong pork taste with visible pork chunks. The roll melted in my mouth. I thought it was great, and I thought the size was perfect, but some inside fillings came out when eating.  

“MyLee’s Egg Roll House is committed to serving the finest and freshest foods. We provide the best ingredients to make your dining experience exceptional,” accurately reported by MyLee’s Egg Roll House. Service, unfortunately, was a little slow, but the great tasting egg roll made up for it.

Over the course of my adventure, I thought the best egg roll would have been from Eggroll Inc. because of its large size and high price. Logically I assumed the high price meant better quality and the bigger size meant more “bang for your buck,” but that was not the case. I thought the egg roll lacked big pork taste, and the inside cabbage filling was too mushy. Finding a good egg roll is like finding a needle in a haystack. After narrowing down my decision between Hmong and Asian Foods egg roll and MyLee’s egg rolls, I determined Hmong and Asian Foods has the best egg roll. It was a hard decision to make because they both had great flavor, but my choice came down to how easy the roll was to eat. I thought MyLee’s Egg Roll outside wrapping fell apart too easily and left too much of a mess.

Utimately, Hmong and Asian Food’s egg roll had everything one is looking in for a quality roll: great texture, taste, neatly wrapped, and low price! In my opinion, all egg roll lovers have to try an roll from here, it would be crazy not to!