New Years Meals in Philly Chinatown

[orion]

I don't remember seeing things like this in years past (maybe I just didn't notice), but this year it seems at least a few restaurants a doing set New Year group meals. As I was perusing Chung King Garden's menu online today, I noticed they have a set menu they are offering for groups of ten for a couple weeks in February. (It didn't look all that exciting to me, honestly).

Also, when I went to pick up my lunch from Szechuan Tasty House today, they have a big sign in Chinese advertising what seemed to be two menu options, one for something like $270 and one for around $150 I believe (I may even be interpreting the sign incorrectly). Though they didn't have any information inside in English, I was told I could call ahead and set up my own a groups of 6, 8, or 10. I'm tempted to put a group together but I'm not sure I'm up for the hassle of it. Thought some of you would like to know though.

[Rich Pawlak]

See the post and thread further down the page for info on the DDC's Chinese New Year dinner at Joe Poon's studio. First night is sold out, looks like we're going to be adding another night.

[philadining]

A few of us squeezed-in a New Year's dinner at Xiao Guan. It was a bit of a hybrid, partially a set holiday banquet, with a few additions.

Squab

Fish Maw Thick Soup

Shrimp with Mayonaise

Sizzling Beef Short Ribs

Fried Rice

Lobster with XO sauce

Steamed Striped Bass with Scallion and Ginger

Snails

Baby Bok Choy with Garlic

Fresh Scallops with Garlic

Peking Duck

And I think I spied some of these on the other table...

which is fine, I don't think they were served noodles French-style, by a famous hand model...

Crazy good food, fun crowd, nice way to celebrate the coming of spring!

[TarteTatin]

Oh, man! Look at that shrimp!

Merde.

[I_call_the_duck]

[philadining]

OK, we might have missed the official New Year's window by a couple of days.

..ummm... maybe it was a Lunar Eclipse Banquet...

Four Rivers - February 2008

Combination of 6 cold dishes 

Mock fish, anchovies, lotus root, 

jellyfish, beef tendon, gluten with black mushroom.

 

Crabmeat and Asparagus soup 

 

Dung-Po Rou 

Combination of Seafood and Chives  

Beef in Kung Pao Sauce  

Fried Rice  

House Special Sweet Ham  

Chef’s Special Prawns & Phoenix  

Sautéed Green Vegetable with Fresh Garlic   

Eight Treasured Duck  

Whole Fish in Chili Sauce  

Dessert: Taro Ball  

The whole meal was really delicious, with a few surprise hits: all the cold appetizers, the gluten and tendon in particular; the 8-element stuffing for the duck; the light, crispy fish with a complex sweet and sour sauce. But the two pork dishes were really the stars of the show. I'm still dreaming about the Dung-Po pork belly...

Edited February 21, 2008 by philadining (log)

[mrbigjas]

what's mock fish?

the fried rice at those two meals is interesting to me -- much lighter, less greasy, and barely brown from soy sauce, if at all. i'ma make it like that next time.

[I_call_the_duck]

OK, I wants me some Dung-Po Rou.

Was the duck fried? And what was the stuff under it? Me wants some of that too.

[philadining]

what's mock fish? 

←

I'm not entirely sure why they call it mock fish, but it was the rolled-up thing in the center. I basically was like a spring roll, but the wrapper was bean curd skin, and the filling was various vegetables, and I think I remember some rice... They were really quite good, as was everything on that cold appetizer platter.

[philadining]

OK, I wants me some Dung-Po Rou.

The bad news is that it takes a few days, and a few people in your party to get it. So you could probably special-order it any time of year, if you give them 3-4 days notice, and promise to bring in a good-sized party. They don't make it for one or two, although there was some discussion at the table about how a couple of us could do some serious damage to a full order...

Was the duck fried?  And what was the stuff under it?  Me wants some of that too.

←

The duck was fried, and stuffed with: duck meat, bacon, lotus seed, dried scallop, dried shrimp, and umm... three more things. The stuffing was quite tasty, and the duck was nice and juicy, with a crispy skin. The only problem was that there was SO much food that we'd all pretty much reached capacity long before the duck arrived. Same for the fish - it was great, but we barely made a dent in it.

[KatieLoeb]

Damn! And I was (barely) working. Looks great and I'm so sorry I missed it. I ate some mediocre takeout from JC in South Philly at the end of my shift last night, and this is making me soooooo jealous!