Tifco's China Bistro

[SaxChik]

Late night at work...need some incentive to continue....I know! Tifco! (Hot Rabbits, ding!)

funny, i got takeout from there, too! double hot rabbits, ding! i didn't take pics, tho. i was hungry and the batteries were charging.

i got the szechuan shrimp and the ja ja mein. very yummy.

lauren

[philadining]

funny, i got takeout from there, too! 

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Great minds think alike.... next thing, you're going to tell me you're thinking of eating at Gimore's on monday!

It's just as well that you didn't post photos, I'm even allergic to graphics of shrimp.

One of these days we'll all end up there at the same time and have real feast.

[shacke]

3- Pepper Chicken: Chicken with bell pepper, hot pepper and pickled pepper (#43).

Enough peppers for ya? This had a nice vinegary bite, and I didn't find a whole lot of bell peppers, just hot fresh, dried and pickled. This is a bit soupy, and the chicken is sliced, but in weird clumps... nonetheless, I like it, I'd get it again, especially in a crowd.

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Dude. I think I saw your colon tonight. It landed in my backyard, all sizzly and crackly.

You my friend are one brave gulleteer.

[handmc]

I have been a number of times recently. I am now a junky for ma po tofu, the shredded pork soup # 4; dumplings in spicy broth and cold chicken in spicy sauce. I had the beef and noodle dish, which the owners wife was more like the dan dan noodle you would get in china which was quite good. The dan dan noodle off the english menu was good too but I'm going for the heat so it doesn't hold a lot of interest for me. The wife and I also tried the spicy chicken in lettuce cups of the english menu which had some real flavor.

The owner and the wife, as well as the waiters will translate the menu for you. They seemed more willing to tell me about everything "including the really hot dishes after I ordered Ma Po tofu then asked for help with the translation.

I'm told the fish hot pot is the hottest on the menu but that is for my next visit.

[eastlake1972]

Here is the translated secret chinese menu at Tifco's

Soup

1. Tomato Soup (Pork or

Egg Drop) $5.95

2. Pork & Szechuan Preserved Veggie Soup $5.95

3. Tofu and Green Veggie $5.95

4. Pickled Cabbage (Pork or rice noodle) $5.95

5. Snake Gourd (Pork or

Egg Drop) $6.95

6. Winter melon and ham soup $6.95

Cold Appetizer

7.

Beef and tripes in hot sauce $7.95

8.

Spicy beef $7.95

9. Flavored Beef $7.95

10..

Beef tendon in hot sauce $7.95

11. Chicken with wild pepper $7.95

12.

ChungKing flavor Chicken $7.95

13.

Crazy spicy chicken $7.95

14. Fried Pomfret Fish $7.95

15.

Crazy spicy Pomfret Fish $7.95

16.

Spicy sliced pork w/garlic $7.95

17.

Diced Spicy Rabbit $7.95

Noodle Dishes

18. Chinese wonton in chicken broth $5.95

19.

Spicy wonton in chicken broth $5.95

20. Scallion pancake $3.50

21. Spaghetti with minced pork) $5.95

22.

Spaghetti with stewed beef $6.95

23.

Spicy Veggie Noodle $5.95

Seafood

24. Fish with soft bean curd $18.95

25.

Fish in hot pot sauce $18.95

26.

Fish w/ pickled mustard $14.95

27.

Boiled sliced fish in hot sauce $14.95

28.

Fish fillet wok-seared w/pickled hot pepper $15.95

29.

Ma Po Fish $14.95

30. $14.95

31. Fish w/ Chef’s ginger sauce $15.95

32. Fish w/ pine seed $15.95

33. Butterred shrimp w/ Walnuts $15.95

34. Salt & pepper shrimps $12.95

35. Salt & pepper soft shell crabs $19.95

36.

Spicy soft shell crabs $19.95

37. Boiled fresh water eel $18.95

38. Seafood w/ crispy rice crust $15.95

39. Bell-shaped seafood $14.95

40. Seafood clay pot $15.95

41. Fish belly with ham $14.95

Poultry & Meats

42. Boiled Pork and Chicken $13.95

43. Chicken w/green & hot red & pickled peppers $12.95

44.Sliced chicken w/ special sauce $12.95

45.Diced chicken w/dried red pepper $9.95

46.Spicy chicken Guizhou Style $12.95

47.Double cooked pork $9.95

48. Sauce salted Pork $9.95

49. Quick-fried Pork in brown sauce $9.95

50. Steamed seasoned pork w/preserved veggie $10.95

Please check our website

www.china-bistro.com

51.

Steamed pork ribs w/potatoes) $11.95

52.

Chinese bacon w/long hot green pepper) $12.95

53.

Shredded pork w/ long hot green pepper) $9.95

54.

Water boiled Pork $12.95

55 Pork w/stuffing $18.95

.56 Braised pork in brown sauce $9.95

.57. Shredded pork with dried bean curd $9.95

58. Shredded pork with Peking Sauce $9.95

59. Shredded pork with pickled cabbage $9.95

60

Boiled sliced beef in hot sauce $12.95

61.

Dry fried Shredded beef in Szechuan sauce $11.95

62. Beef stew casserole $12.95

63.

Spicy beef stew $13.95

64.

Beef w/ cumin $13.95

65. Shredded beef w/long hot green pepper $11.95

66.

Lamb w/ cumin $13.95

67.

Sliced lamb stir-fried w/ scallion $13.95

68. Quick-fried lamb $13.95

69.

Water boiled lamb $13.95

70. Beef Tendon w/ veggies $14.95

Please check our website

71.

Beef tendon, home style $14.95

72. Beef Tendon w/scallion $14.95

73. Crispy duck $13.95

74. Tea smoked duck $13.95

75.

Dry fired duck tongue $16.95

76. Braised Duck feet $16.95

77.

Frogs w/ pickled peppers $16.95

78.

Spicy frogs $16.95

79.

80.

81.

Fresh water eel, home style $18.95

82. Fresh water eel in brown sauce $18.95

83.

Quick-fried gizzard $12.95

84.

85.

Vegetables

86. Dry fired string bean, Szechuan $8.50

87. Eggplant Szechuan style $8.50

88.

Eggplant in garlic sauce $8.50

89. Bok choy w/ mushroom $8.50

90.

Ma Po Tofu $8.50

91. Home style Tofu $8.50

92. Bean curd in chef’s ginger sauce

www.china-bistro.com

[shacke]

Eastlake - first post and 1000 thanks. When are we all going????

Hot rabbits - ding!

Evan

[philadining]

Yeah, really, Eastlake, huge thanks!

We need to get a group outing organized soon... Keep an eye on ISO!

[SaxChik]

Yeah, really, Eastlake, huge thanks!

We need to get a group outing organized soon... Keep an eye on ISO!

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Check out the ISO thread. Working on getting a dinner put together tentatively planned for Tuesday, September 6th. No time set yet, that will depend on who decides to go. Please take a look and PM me.

Hot rabbits ding!

Lauren

[SaxChik]

Yeah, really, Eastlake, huge thanks!

We need to get a group outing organized soon... Keep an eye on ISO!

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Check out the ISO thread. Working on getting a dinner put together tentatively planned for Tuesday, September 6th. No time set yet, that will depend on who decides to go. Please take a look and PM me.

Hot rabbits ding!

Lauren

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Ok, we're on for Tuesday the 6th at 7pm. PM me and let me know if you're interested!

Thanks!

Lauren

[philadining]

Once again, major thanks to eastlake1972, for the translation of Tifco's Chinese menu.

I've formatted it in a printable format, which might make it easier to use as a reference, or even bring to the restaurant, than trying to print the original post (and we filled-in a couple of blanks.)

There's a .pdf file here.

Of course we're not going to claim that this is perfect, and the restaurant would be within its rights to change or remove items any time they want. Just use this as an aid, it's not the "official" menu, you can get that at the restaurant.

Enjoy!

[mrbigjas]

you know, that would be a fun thread to have pinned up top--translations of local restaurants' non-english menus. i've got one for pojangmacha (the little korean place in the old white tower in upper darby) up on my site that a friend of mine translated. i think we'd have to make a real effort to make that happen, but it could work.

i do wish i could go out to exton with y'all, but that doesn't look like i'm gonna be able to make that happen.

[philadining]

OK, my mouth is STILL tingling... we managed to find some pretty seriously spicy stuff at Tifco's tonight, all of it quite delicious. You folks from the Tasty House trip, and others, really need to join us for the next one (and there WILL be a next one) because I think the food is actually a bit better out here, and you know how much I love the Tasty House, so I don't say that lightly!

Only four of us managed to rouse ourselves from post-Labor Day torpor, but that was enough of a crew to make a bold foray into the depths of the Chinese menu. They have a copy of eastlake1972's translation at the front desk, so if you didn't remember to print-out the pdf posted above, you can probably get an English translation from them (although the pdf version has a few holes filled-in).

We started with a great tragedy, they didn't have the one dish we wanted more than anything. (Hot rabbits, damn.... ) Oh well, next time.

We did get #13: Spaghetti with Minced Pork (Zha Jiang Mian)

This actually looked a bit more loaded with pork, but we started stirring it up before we remembered to snap a pic. This is just really great comfort food, fried minced pork on spaghetti-like noodles. This also was the only thing we got that wasn't spicy.

To console ourselves over the loss of the Hot Rabbits Ding, we tried #16: Spicy Sliced Pork with Garlic.

This was thin-sliced pork belly in a dark and slightly spicy sauce, with LOTS of minced garlic. Really good. Pretty fatty, but with the salty, spicy garlicy thing, man it was good!

#19: Spicy Wonton in Chicken Broth

Those are tender pork-filled wontons floating in that red broth. Guess why it's red... This is actually slightly mis-named, it really should be "Wontons in Spicy Chicken Broth". The wontons themselves are nice and delicate and not at all spicy, but the broth has a serious kick. I think I prefer the versions with the hot oil and no broth, but I liked these too.

Moving on to Entrees:

#46: Spicy Chicken Guizhou Style.

This was one of the faves of the night, at least for SaxChik and I. Sadly, we were completely stumped in trying to describe the taste of this dish, but it was really different than anything else we've had. The sauce was assertively spicy, but not overwhelmingly so, but had a thicker, almost pasty mouthfeel, and a flavor we just couldn't put our finger on. The waiter told us that it's typical of the food from Guizhou, but a quick googling didn't turn up any descriptions that helped understand exactly what this was. In any case, it was great.

#66: Lamb with Cumin

This is the third time I've had this, and it's a little different each time. It's always strong with cumin, but this time, although there weren't as many dried chiles on the plate as I've gotten before, it was WAY spicier. It was also a touch too salty, but that didn't stop us, we enjoyed it regardless. Nikki summed it up well by describing it as having the heat in it, not on it, it was a full, round, integral spice, not just a blistering pepper fire.

Shrimp Szechuan Style

We're not entirely sure what this dish was, we meant to order the Szechuan Shrimp from the regular menu, but we got something different. It was shrimp, water chestnuts and a spicy sauce. I didn't eat it, so I'll let SaxChik describe it. Looked pretty good, if maybe a little skimpy on shrimp.

#51: Steamed Pork Ribs with potatoes.

I was thinking that steamed ribs, potatoes, probably pretty mellow. And that assumption would be wrong... It doesn't look like much, but it was very tasty, tender chopped-up ribs, with a thick, stewy sauce, and big chunks of potato. This had a creeping spice, it seemed pretty calm at first but built-up to a solid smolder. Very homey and hearty, and freaking spicy at the same time.

This was too much food, we had leftovers of all the entrees (OK, no shrimp, but plenty of water chestnuts...) even so, it came out to only about $23 per person including a good tip.

We were all pretty full, but each had a good bed of red embers glowing in our mouths, so we ventured into the terrifying Truman Show stage set that is Main Street at Exton. It was very difficult to resist the urge to don an Izod shirt and khakis, but it was worth the trauma to cool the fires with some Maggie Moo's Ice Cream. It's no Capogiro, but it really hit the spot!

All in all a very nice meal, and good company, a fun evening overall. Thanks to SaxChik for getting it together.

And there are about 85 more things on the menu, so we're going back. Some more of you should join us next time, you won't regret it!

Edited September 7, 2005 by philadining (log)

[KatieLoeb]

Impressive consumption gang! We bow before you in deference to your superior eating prowess! That's a lot of hot 'n spicy dishes for only four people...

I'm sorry I missed this, but looking forward to being there when the Hot Rabbits Ding is actually available. Gotta try the Hot Rabbits Ding, if for no other reason than it's my favorite bad Chinese menu translation ever.

[philadining]

Just thought you'd like to know... my tongue is STILL a little numb, 18 hours later.

[SaxChik]

Just thought you'd like to know... my tongue is STILL a little numb, 18 hours later.

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we call that "leftovers" in my country.

speaking of which, the guizhou chicken was quite tasty, if not painful, as cold leftovers. i actually chugged milk from the carton to ease the burn. i'm still not sure what was in it, but i read a recipe that used cloves. could that be the secret ingredient?

as far as the szechuan shrimp was concerned, on their normal menu, it's usually shrimp, peas, garlic and ginger in a red pepper spicy szechuan sauce. what they served us wasn't as hot as the usual dish and had water chestnuts or something in it. it was tasty, but not as good as their normal menu recipe. maybe they were out of peas as well as rabbit.

next time we plan to go, we'll have to call ahead and make sure the bunny's in the pot before we get there.

ding!

lauren

[mrbigjas]

speaking of which, the guizhou chicken was quite tasty, if not painful, as cold leftovers.  i actually chugged milk from the carton to ease the burn.  i'm still not sure what was in it, but i read a recipe that used cloves.  could that be the secret ingredient?

cloves will indeed numb your mouth...

[philadining]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were cloves in that sauce, I couldn't pick them out in particular, but it reminded me of some kind of a curry paste, it had that multi-ingredient complexity and thick texture. So there may very well have been some cloves. But it didn't taste like an Indian or Thai curry, it tasted Guizhou-ish...

Everything I've come across on the web, and in a Chinese regional cookbook I have, fixates on sour hotpots from Guizhou, and this wasn't sour.

Hey I'm happy to get it again and try to figure out what's in it!

[KatieLoeb]

Might the anesthetic spice be Szechuan Peppercorns? I seem to recall it having a mild numbing effect at Szechuan Tasty House.

[philadining]

Might the anesthetic spice be Szechuan Peppercorns? 

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Yep, they were probably in there too. They have a distinctive taste in addition to being numbing, so I think there was that pepper, maybe cloves, I want to say sesame? there was something sort of nutty-creamy, a few other things.... And if you check the photo, there were some dried red chiles floating around there too. It was a very nice flavor, and different than anything I've had before.

Anybody familiar with Guizhou cooking?

[eastlake1972]

Might the anesthetic spice be Szechuan Peppercorns? 

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Yep, they were probably in there too. They have a distinctive taste in addition to being numbing, so I think there was that pepper, maybe cloves, I want to say sesame? there was something sort of nutty-creamy, a few other things.... And if you check the photo, there were some dried red chiles floating around there too. It was a very nice flavor, and different than anything I've had before.

Anybody familiar with Guizhou cooking?

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I think this is what you guys talking about. In Chinese pronuciation (HwahGeo)

the dried pericarp of ripe fruit of Zanthoxylum schinifolium Sieb. et Zucc. or Z. bungeanum Maxim.

[philadining]

I think this is what you guys talking about. In Chinese pronuciation (HwahGeo)

the dried pericarp of ripe fruit of Zanthoxylum schinifolium Sieb. et Zucc. or Z. bungeanum Maxim.

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Once again, our hero....

This is what's commonly called Sichuan Peppercorn, right? Those little dried spiky berry-things.

That was certainly present in the Chicken Guizhou style, but there were a few other flavors going on there too, and a texture thing that made the sauce just a little bit thick, but in a different way than I'm used to. Great stuff in any case.

Thanks again Eastlake1972!

[percyn]

OK I'am back.....and sorry I missed this trip...guess I will have to swing by tonight.

However, I stumbled into Szechuan Tasty House last week while in Philly and ordered their version of ChaoShou (dumplings in hot oil) and loved it.

Cheers

Percy

[philadining]

I ordered something from their "lunch express" menu to-go today. There is a routine usual-suspects lunch special menu, but they also have Chinese lunch specials on their website.

I ordered #45 (from page 2) "Stir-fried chicken Chung King style"

This was bigger than the picture makes it look, the container is pretty deep, so it was a very generous serving size. I liked this a lot. It had a fairly simple, but intense, thin brown sauce with garlic, ginger, and a little heat from some dried chile. The chicken was mostly sliced leg and thigh meat, which I prefer in a dish like this, it stayed moister and had way more flavor than breast meat would have.

The lunch special came with soup. I tried the hot and sour, which was pretty good, if a little thin. It was quite spicy, and nicely sour. I suppose it was a perfectly adequate serving size for a lunch starter, and it probably would have looked fine in a small bowl at the restaurant, but it had the unfortunate appearance of being a very small serving in the take-out container.

In reality, this was plenty large for a serving of soup before lunch, especially given that the main dish was quite generous. Overall, a really good lunch for $6, especially out here in the burbs!

Edited September 21, 2005 by philadining (log)

[philadining]

I think I'm addicted... I headed back to Tifco for dinner tonight.

We got the Chicken Guizhou style again, and it once again was intriguing, delicious, and really freaking hot! i asked the manager what was in it, and he said he didn't know - it's not a secret, just complicated. He was a little surprised we ordered it, thinking it would be too hot for us. And it almost was, up a few scoville units from the last time we got it, but I liked it like that!

To balance the heat, we ordered "Peking Style Pork" (#58 on the Chinese Menu) which seemed really similar to the pork with garlic sauce we got at the Tasty House, or what stephenc identified as "yu shan ro shi" or "fish-flavored shredded pork". Whatever it was called, it was really good in that same way, with an intense garlicky, slightly sweet, sticky sauce. Not spicy.

Neither of these dishes had many vegetables in them, so we added an order of Szechuan Green beans, which were nothing unusual, but excellent. Simple dry-fried fresh string beans, with ground pork and little bits of sweet caramelized onion.

I forgot the camera today, but there wasn't much to shoot, there's a picture of the Guizhou chicken posted upthread, and I think you can guess what the shredded pork and the greenbeans looked like.

All was delicious.

Edited September 23, 2005 by philadining (log)

[handmc]

Had a chance to stop for lunch today.

I ordered the dumplings in spicy broth

Fish in Hot pot sauce and Ma Po Tofu

I have enjoyed the dumplings and Ma Po Tofu before and they were great as usual.

The fish in hot pot sauce was great. If you could eat burning napalm I imagine that would be the best way to describe the heat in this dish. WOW! Best part was, you could taste everything. Serious heat but the flavors of the fish, garlic pieces, green onion were clean and good.

The staff again stood and stared wondering what possed me to order these dishes.