Margaret Kuos Restaurants

[percyn]

Margaret Kuo's is a well known local restaunteer in the area.

Please post your experiences at any of her restaurants in this forum.

[percyn]

I was hosting dinner for an group of work colleagues from all over the world. Luckily they all enjoy food and wine, so here an account of the damage we did on a weekday evening:

We started with some Sushi and Sashimi

followed by a Banquet menu consisting of:

Hot and Sour Seafood Soup

Springrolls and dumplings

Jumbo shrimp in ginger and garlic sauce

Peking Duck - with scallions, carved table side

Sauteed vegetables

Filet in pepper sauce

Pork in white sauce

Whole fried bass

Green tea ice cream

We needed something to wash this down with, so 5 bottles of Pinot Noir, Merlot and Chardonnay, along with some other drinks did the trick.

How we managed to feed again less than 12 hrs later is still a mystery to me

[stephenc]

Margaret Kuo has soup dumplings on the lunch menu. They're pretty good.

[percyn]

Margaret Kuo has soup dumplings on the lunch menu.  They're pretty good.

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Their Schiuan dumplings are great too!!

[Buckethead]

The sushi at the Media location stinks, literally. I've tried it twice and it was pretty bad each time, the fish they were using definitely should not have been used in sushi. They messed up my takeout order twice also (four different visits between sushi and takeout), and the food wasn't even as good as the storefront chinese takeout place a few blocks west in Media. I won't be going back. If you want sushi, head out to Teikoku. If you want chinese/japanese, go to the Peking location in the Granite Run Mall, it's actually a lot better than the Media location. I''ve never tried the sushi at the Granite Run location, so I can't compare that aspect of the two Pekings.

[g_camper]

We have given up on the Media location as well. We find the food and service much better at Granite Run.

In the past, when we have eaten in Media (before the recent refurbishment) the service has been extremely poor, and slow as well. Whereas at Granite Run, it has been much better.

The quality of the Japanese menu in both places has been pretty good in my experience, but I haven't had Sushi in Media for at least a year. Neither is as good as a number of other Sushi restaurants that I know.

The Chinese menu in Granite Run is generally very good; however, they should have more specials.

[percyn]

Last night a few folks from eGullet and elsewhere visited Margaret Kuo's Mandarin in Frazer to indulge in their "Year of the Dog" gourmet dinner.

The meal was fabulous and consisted of:

Chilled Szechuan Peppercorn Shrimp with Asparagus and Lotus Roots - The lotus root and asparagus had a nice little crunch to them and the shrimp seemed to be cooked to perfection as well.

Scallops wrapped in bacon with crab rolls - This was not on the menu, but they threw it in for us (or at least thats what they said). It was served with a salad and dressing made of ginger, orange? and miso

DUCK !! (BIOOOONG! thats the gong that they ring everytime a duck is served...and you thought ringing a bell meant an angel got its wings...this is a much better sound...it means my tummy will be happy )

And the "Daniel style" bite shot

Mandarin Prawns - Made 2 ways..butterfly fried and stuffed and fried. Served in a ginger laden sauce which was delcious

Kobe Beef Short Ribs - I was looking forward to this dish ever since I saw the menu and I have to say, it did not disappoint. In fact, it was the star of the night and very very tender, with intense beef flavor. I am going to request them to put this dish on their regular menu. This was served with seafood jasmine rice.

Dessert - Chinese sweets - Not sure what these are called, but both were warm and the rectangular one in the back of the pic was a bit sticky, while the other was crumbly with a nutty flavor.

This meal was outstanding and at only $45/person (+tax+tip), it was a great steal.

Through the course of the meal, we enjoyed a few bottles of wine which I think paired well with the food - 2004 Willm Gewürztraminer, 2002 Louis Latour Montagny la Grande Roche (Courtesy of the chairman and Lauren), Byron Estate Pinot Noir and I am sure there was another I am forgetting.

All in all, a great night, with great food and company !! Lauren, thanks again for setting this up !!

Cheers

Percy

[SaxChik]

thanks for posting the pics and commentary, percy!

the food and the company were both quite lovely. not too often you get a representitive from j&j, merck, wyeth, glaxo and astra zeneca dining at the same table together. if we weren't drinking and eating so much, we could have cured cancer or something productive.

[Chuckles52]

AZ representative here. Yes, that was quite a cross section of the industry. Lent itself to some great conversation only to be outdone by the meal. One of the grandest evenings in quite a while. My personal favorite were the prawns but that is a tough choice. The Kobe short ribs were wonderful as well. And... Okay each and every course was grand

[percyn]

Those who enjoyed the braised kobe short ribs at the Chinese New Year dinner will be happy to know that I convinced them to put it on the menu...sort of...you can call ahead and order it. I just picked some up last night and even at $40 for the dish, it is a great bargain

Braised Kobe Short Ribs

[percyn]

Went to Mandarin for Dim Sum (not Hong Kong style where they bring carts around), which they serve on the weekends.

We ordered

Spicy Beef Tendons

Cilantro (and shrimp) dumplings

Chicken Yakitori (I know, not quite Dim Sum, but still a great Japanese dish)

Beef dumplings

Pork and Crabmeat dumplings - I considered this to be the highlight. These are special dumplings similar to the ones I had at Yang Sing in San Francisco and I recently saw a documentary where there is a place in China (Shanghai?) where people wait in line for 2 hrs at this 100yr old restaurant for these dumplings. They make nothing but these dumplings. The filling of these dumplings release a broth or soup as it cooks, which releases in your mouth as you place the entire dumpling in your mouth and bite into it.

[Diann]

Pork and Crabmeat dumplings - I considered this to be the highlight. These are special dumplings similar to the ones I had at Yang Sing in San Francisco and I recently saw a documentary where there is a place in China (Shanghai?) where people wait in line for 2 hrs at this 100yr old restaurant for these dumplings. They make nothing but these dumplings. The filling of these dumplings release a broth or soup as it cooks, which releases in your mouth as you place the entire dumpling in your mouth and bite into it.

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Percy -- those dumplings (xiao long bao) are a specialty of Shanghai and really difficult to find in the Philadelphia area. I ordered them at every restaurant I went to when I was in Shanghai this summer. Avoid the 100-year-old place, though. I think it's called Nan Xiang (according to R.W. Apple) and frankly, it felt like a tourist trap to me. Really good dumplings should have thin, almost translucent skins, and the filling should be tinted yellow/orange by the crab "essence" (they call it crab roe, but it's not, really)... Anyways, there is always a long line at Nan Xiang and you can see them making the dumplings as you wait, but the skins on those things seem too thick to be any good.

There IS an awesome hole-in-the-wall place that I would recommend if you're ever in Shanghai, though. A steamer full of 16-24 dumplings will run you $1 US for the basic pork version, maybe $2 US for pork and crabmeat, and $8 US for the crab with crab roe version (which is this place's equivalent of the $100 cheesesteak).

Back on topic -- Margaret Kuo's look pretty good. I will definitely have to try them one weekend.

[David McDuff]

Based on a recent visit, I'm comfortable in saying that Margaret Kuo's in Wayne is turning out some of the best Chinese food on the Main Line. The menu hits traditional Sichuan sweet spots and gets creative without straying into fusion techniques. The atmosphere is a bit sterile but the food more than compensates. You'll find a full write-up and photos at:

Margaret Kuo's Dragon's Lair