Authentic Chinese Restaurants in Fairfax

[gear02]

I'm a new poster here and I just found this board about 2 days ago when I was looking for good reviews on China Star in Fairfax. After reading 10 pages of posts, I have finally found the forum I've been looking for for the past 2 years.

I'm looking for an authentic cantonese chinese restaurant, like Mark's Duck House, but closer to the Fair Lakes area. Last year, there was such a restaurant in Centreville (near the Giant and the bar on 28 and 66). They had bbq pork along with my favorite cantonese dishes like Fried Squid (yum). I used to go there twice a week and I think I was their most regular customer. The manager/owner (i think) even knew my name since I ordered from there so much. However, they closed without warning and without informing me, although it wasn't a big surprise.

Does anyone know of such a restaurant within a decent driving distance from the fair lakes area (Fair Oaks Mall)?

[DonRocks]

I'm looking for an authentic cantonese chinese restaurant, like Mark's Duck House, but closer to the Fair Lakes area. ... Does anyone know of such a restaurant within a decent driving distance from the fair lakes area (Fair Oaks Mall)?

Hi gear02, and welcome to the forum.

I checked with a Chinese friend of mine living in Herndon, and the official answer is "no." However, there is great Cantonese dim sum at Fortune restaurant in Reston. I've had it there, and it's every bit as good as the Fortune in Seven Corners. Paradoxically, Fortune seems to me like it's both too little-known, and also too well-known. Everyone has heard of it, but nobody ever talks about it. It gets highly praised, but seemingly always from meaningless sources such as the Washingtonian.

This probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but hopefully some other posters will chime in.

Cheers,

Rocks.

[bilrus]

I went for dim sum at Fortune in Reston a few Sundays ago and didn't love it. It was OK, but the flavors seemed a little muddled and the cart service was irregular. I saw the same cart of dumplings five or six times, but as we were ready to leave two new carts with good looking stuff came by, but by then we were full.

This was only my third experience with dim sum, but my first two were at Sweet and Tart in New York and Yank Sing in San Francisco. I loved the bright, distinct flavors at each. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Reston, VA didn't quite measure up.

[gear02]

Thanks for the reply. I went to the fortune in Seven Corners and the dim sum was pretty bad.

What do they serve when they're not serving dim sum?

[FunJohnny]

Thanks for the reply.  I went to the fortune in Seven Corners and the dim sum was pretty bad.

What do they serve when they're not serving dim sum?

Pretty bad standard Cantonese food.

Edited to add: For Dim Sum try Marks Duck House (it's crowded but worth the wait) on the weekends or Lucky Three on Rt. 7 (where Fortune was originally located).

Edited July 13, 2004 by FunJohnny (log)

[Minister of Drink]

Does real Chinese food even exist outside of China or a Chinese family??? Several times have I had the good fortune (no pun intended) of eating at the home of a Chinese family -- the food is nothing you you get even at the best restaurants. it is clean, neat and void of the substandard ingredients found in many Chinese restaurants.

Standardized, unauthentic chinese food seems to be about as common in the world as McDonald's.

[gear02]

Does real Chinese food even exist outside of China or a Chinese family???  Several times have I had the good fortune (no pun intended) of eating at the home of a Chinese family -- the food is nothing you you get even at the best restaurants.  it is clean, neat and void of the substandard ingredients found in many Chinese restaurants.

Standardized, unauthentic chinese food seems to be about as common in the world as McDonald's.

Well here's my thought on the world of chinese food in the US.

There's what I call American Chinese food. This comprises of pretty much every chinese take out restaurant, chinese buffets, and most "high class" chinese places like PF Changs. Most people associate this as being chinese food, though it's no more chinese than Tacos are Mexican. It's catered towards americans.

Then there's Authentic Chinese food, mostly found in *real* chinatowns (real being the fact that actual chinese people venture and hang out there, DC's chinatown is NOT real) and other restaurants, Mark's Duck house being one of them. Now, it may not be like home cooking, but the style is the same and the types of dishes are incredibly close. For cantonese food, this generally means either "fast food", i.e. wonton noodles, bbq pork with rice, etc or family style where everyone shares large plates.

In DC it's hard to find real chinese food. Mark's is the only cantonese place I know. However, if you go to New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Houston, you'll definately find real chinese restaurants. I've lived in Houston and I can tell you the places if you ever decide to go. So yes real chinese food does exist, it's just hard to find it here.

I'm not saying that American Chinese food is bad. Sometimes I crave beef and broccoli and general gao's chicken. What I don't like are people who think that American Chinese food is what all chinese people eat, and there's no alternative.

And your last statement is very much correct. It's all over the place because people have found that american chinese food is incredibly easy to cook, and can charge a lot of money for it. Honestly, it doesn't take much skill to cook it. And to make really good american chinese food, just get better incredients, take a little more time, and decorate the plate nicer, and voila, you have high class american chinese food. Cooking authentic chinese food, however, takes a lot of skill.

Edited July 14, 2004 by gear02 (log)

[DonRocks]

It's interesting to see three negative comments on Fortune. I had originally typed "good dim sum" and changed it to "great dim sum" for whatever reason.

For Chinese New Years, I went to Fortune in Seven Corners and had a full-blown, multi-course traditional banquet. This meal was arranged by my Chinese-American friend, and I alerted her to this discussion. She did not actually read this thread, so please keep in mind that these comments are simply a reply to my email rather than a direct response to anyone posting here:

You have a favorable impresion of Fortune, right?

I happen to like their dim sum very much, but I'm getting a couple of dissenting opinions on egullet.

based upon the casual dinner we had and the spectacular new year's banquet --stand the ground for quality and authentic chinese food.. if these people are ordering commercial chinese dishes this could be a problem. it could be that there is a secondary cook for commercial dishes. i have not tried the dim sum. this is akin to people complaining about "baby food" (puree) and "small portions" (multi courses creating the total dining experience and not just eating to satiate the appetite) in nouvelle cuisine. few americans distinguish the difference in cultural expression as compared to personal taste and lack of knowledge/experience.

Also, I double-checked with my Chinese friend who lives in Herndon - we had dim sum at the Reston Fortune a couple of months ago. The third sentence of her reply is rather cryptic, and I'm not sure how to interpret it:

What is your impression of the overall quality level of the dim sum at Fortune?

I happen to like it very much, but I'm talking with a couple people who think it isn't so good - I'd like a Chinese persons perspective.

The dim sum at Fortune is very good. It is typical Cantonese food. Of course there are more Cantonese food. Fortune is good at serving dim sum.

On the May 29, 2003 Washington Post online chat with Jeffrey Tunks, he mentioned that he enjoys Fortune's dim sum:

Washington, D.C.: Hello, you said earlier that you like Asian food. Any dining suggestions for good and cheap Asian food in the area?

Jeff Tunks: For late night, Full Kee, in China Town - not much atmosphere but great food. For dim sum, in Virginia, I go to Fortune and Maxim Palace. For Thai food, I like Rabieng, also in Virginia. I also go to Pho 75 for pho. And for sushi and Japanese I go to Kaz and Sushiko.

So anyway, three more data points to what is proving to be an interesting discussion.

Robert Shoffner, are you out there? Your opinions would be valued and appreciated.

Rocks.

[sara]

I've had mixed experiences at Fortune. The food at the other location was better, and was better about 5-6 years ago, I'd say. We've been served a lot of cold food, and had a harder time getting the more interesting dishes, at the 7 Corners locations. That said, I love their salt-baked shrimp-- it's fabulous.

I've done Rabieng's dim sum-- certainly a different experience, and quite good. Worth a trip.

[rbh]

For this area, I've found the dim sum at Fortune to be the most consistent. New Fortune (Gaithersburg) and China Garden are the other big ones, and i know a couple people that swear by Good Fortune in Wheaton as well. I've never been to Mark's Duck House for dim sum, but the couple meals I've had there have been fabulous. Chinatown dim sum is not good. It's not Cantonese dim sum, but my favorite small plate Chinese is A&J.

Even with the steam carts and such, dim sum has a limited shelf life - no matter how good it was to begin with, if it sits too long on the cart (except for things like congee or the dessert carts), it just won't be very good. That's one good thing about busy dim sum places - lots of turnover and the food's always fresh. When I walk into empty places, I always know I'll be disappointed.

It's one of the things about places like NYC, LA, Montreal, and Toronto - in Chinatowns or in the case of LA, Chinese suburbs (San Gabriel, etc), the dim sum places get a lot of business, food is fresh, and there's a lot of competition, so you see a bit more variety and creativity in dim sum dishes (beyond the standard shui-mai, har gow, BBQ pork buns, etc).

I plan to go to Lucky 3 sometime - i never liked Maxim Palace - and knowing it's run by the same people as New Fortune is encouraging. Anyone been yet?

[FunJohnny]

I plan to go to Lucky 3 sometime - i never liked Maxim Palace - and knowing it's run by the same people as New Fortune is encouraging. Anyone been yet?

My wife (Malaysian Cantonese) was taken there for lunch not too long ago, by her friend (Hong Kong Cantonese). Her report to me, which was why I recommended it earlier in this thread, was that it was really good -- which is high praise, and the fact that her friend from Hong Kong thought it was worth driving from downtown DC out to Rt. 7 for lunch in the middle of the week validates the praise in my mind. I believe that their wkday lunch is an all-you-can-eat deal.