Two solid return visits, both weekday lunch, at this mostly-watering-hole joint with an old school menu, combo plates all day, and apps in two sizes.
-- Barbecued Spareribs (appetizer): Very thoroughly painted with the red glaze, but with cross sections unpainted to reveal juiciness in addition to the glaze. Good flavor to the meat, which pulled off cleanly with minimal effort. More char would be more impressive, but as is, near-elite. I preferred these to the Roast Pork Spareribs tried last time, but would get both again.
-- Boneless Ribs (appetizer): Went with the small size and still got a more-than-ample portion of 3-inch strips. All had a good coating of the familiar bright red glaze, plus a pool of thinner brown liquid with honey notes underneath. Just a hint of dryness on some of them, but more were moist. Captivating flavor suggested some combination of five spice and hoisin along with the red. Well above average.
-- Lobster Sauce (on a combo): Served in a separate bowl on the plate, with very dark liquid, fairly large and tender pork crumbles, and no other flourishes. Simple, mildly oystery sauce, a bit runny, not salty, and piping hot. A little above average.
-- Chicken Fingers (on the combo): Four very lengthy and very crisp fingers with good meat-to-batter ratio and a light but very crunchy batter about halfway between tempura and what you usually get. Elite, and one of the best renditions I've ever had, though the fingers on the Sweet and Sour weren't as good.
-- Pork Fried Rice (on the combo): A little light and a bit of a Rice-A-Roni feel, but very moist and fresh both times, with plenty of pork nuggets and onions. Above average.
-- Beef Teriyaki (on the combo): Two sticks, meat deceptively thin, almost no char, but mildly pleasant flavor and very tender. A little above average.
-- Sweet and Sour Chicken (on a combo): Six fingers, just as crisp as the stand-alone ones, with nearly as good meat-to-batter ratio, but less of a tempura feel. Cherries and pineapple chunks, but a little light on the sauce, so I asked for extra and it came out delicious and hot. Dark ruby color, intense flavor, like a thicker, darker grenadine dialed to an 11 on the flavor knob. Well above average, though more for the sauce than the just-above-average this time.
-- Chicken Wings (on a combo): On combo #11 with Sweet and Sour Chicken, you get three whole wings (that's six pieces once split), a generous allotment. Tight, crisp skins, dark from cooking as well as the applied lacquer. Strong five spice presence and good moistness, with some pieces full-on juicy. Near-elite.
Bonus points for:
- A bowl of crisp nacho-like chips made out of a similar recipe to chow mein noodles, plopped on the table with a ramekin of duck sauce before the ordering. It's tough not to finish them all.
- Appetizers in two sizes for many.
- Combo plates available at lunch and dinner.
- A top notch duck sauce that's neither too light nor too dark. Think tea color. Good flavor.
- A server other than my own noticing my empty water glass and filling it up on her way to the kitchen.
- Pineapple chunks served with the check. And tingly sweet. There's something they're doing to make them really pop. But just having any is a thrill and a throwback to the days of old when it was a common practice. read more