Chinatown Highlights

[philadining]

Let's try to keep general Chinatown questions in the other topics, hopefully this can be a lean-and-mean guide to what dishes we strongly recommend at our favorite places in Chinatown.

Please share what you always have to get, what you specifically go to the restaurant for, what you drag friends and relatives into a place to sample.

I guess I'm curious about both conditions: when I go to X, I always get Y; or if I'm in the mood for Z, I always go to N.

I get stuck in ruts, ordering the same few things at the same few places, so I'm eager to hear about peoples' absolute fave food in Chinatown. Of course it's all subjective, but if we report only our top picks i think there's a decent chance of developing a good list.

or at least a roadmap for packing on a few pounds....

[philadining]

And just to get things rolling,

Sang Kee Peking Duck House:

Peking Duck (duh!) Roast Pork Noodle Soup, Steamed or Fried Pork Dumplings, General Tso's Chicken.

[philadining]

Rangoon:

Spring Ginger Salad, Thousand-layer Bread with Chicken Curry dip, Festival Rice, Northern Burma Fried Noodles, Kung Pao Beef.

[Rich Pawlak]

David's Mai Lah Wah

Pan-fried dumplings, panfried noodle dishes, black pepper chicken/shrimp/scallops

[mrbigjas]

tai lake: fresh whole steamed or fried fish. clams in black bean sauce.

[shacke]

Lakeside Chinese Deli: sauteed pea leaves, shrimp wonton noodle soup,honey roasted pork, stir fried pin noodles (aka "slugs" in my house).

Evan

[philadining]

Penang:

Roti Canai, Chicken Satay, Penang Kari Ayam (Chicken Curry), Beef Chow Fun, Coconut Rice

(Note: probably 80% of Penang's menu includes shrimp, which I can't eat, so I'm sure most of their best stuff is likely not on my list. But I go often just to get the Roti Canai, a thin pancake with a chicken curry dip)

[Rich Pawlak]

Penang:

Roti Canai, Chicken Satay, Penang Kari Ayam (Chicken Curry), Beef Chow Fun, Coconut Rice

(Note: probably 80% of Penang's menu includes shrimp, which I can't eat, so I'm sure most of their best stuff is likely not on my list. But I go often just to get the Roti Canai, a thin pancake with a chicken curry dip)

←

Kang Kung Belacan, beef satay, beef randang, roti tellur, squid and peppers

[philadining]

Kang Kung Belacan

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I've been curious, what exactly is that?

And yeah, the Rendang is great, forgot about that...

[CherieV]

Vietnam is one of my favorites!

Spring rolls all kinds are great!

Crab and tomato soup

Chicken lemongrass soup

Beef wrapped in grape leaves

Salt and Pepper squid

This is my short list.

[shacke]

Vietnam is one of my favorites! 

Spring rolls all kinds are great!

Crab and tomato soup

Chicken lemongrass soup

Beef wrapped in grape leaves

Salt and Pepper squid

This is my short list.

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ooh - yeah - Vietnam! rice and black eye peas in hot coconut milk for dessert, the vietnamese coffee, appetizer sampler and the marinated raw beef. ooh baby.....

Next door for bubble tea - Zen Tea house. Iced Vietnamese coffee with tapioca pearls. double carb overload ooh yeah!

Evan

[SG-]

Kang Kung Belacan

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I've been curious, what exactly is that?

And yeah, the Rendang is great, forgot about that...

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Delightful sautéed convolus vegetable served with spicy original Malaysian belachan shrimp paste sauce

[Rich Pawlak]

Kang Kung Belacan

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I've been curious, what exactly is that?

And yeah, the Rendang is great, forgot about that...

←

This is a dish of convolus greens, and shrimp paste. Irresistable. Served at the very first gathering of the revived DDC almost 3 years ago. I order it every time I visit a Penang.

[philadining]

OK, this is admittedly irresponsible after one visit to a new restaurant, but I just can't get these out of my head!

Szechuan Tasty House:

Dumplings in a spicy sauce

Dan-Dan Noodles

I'm sure there's more....

[Lazrowp]

I miss soup dumplings!

Paul

[philadining]

I miss soup dumplings!

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There are a few places serving them around town, but I haven't found any good enough to put in this "highlights" topic. Bummer...

[Diann]

I miss soup dumplings!

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There are a few places serving them around town, but I haven't found any good enough to put in this "highlights" topic. Bummer...

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Ah, the quest for soup dumplings. I tried some at Sang Kee recently and they weren't bad... (but I wouldn't call them a highlight, either).

Thanks for starting this thread, Jeff. If I had access to anything other than AOL right now I would be posting like crazy, but for now I just had to add Bao Bao Hao (1004 Race) since I haven't seen anyone post anything about it yet. If you go, get the wonton soup and any form of porridge/congee. The wontons are smaller than the kind served at Sang Kee but PACKED with flavor (meaty and shrimpy goodness). The porridge is also some of the best I've ever had -- the pork and preserved egg (which is my favorite) is packed with really good chunks of pork (I want to say pork butt or pork shoulder but I'm not sure of the cut), rather than the thin shreds you normally get. It comes in a HUGE ceramic pot* and it's cheap, as well. I believe it's all on the English menu.

*Four of us ordered two porridges (ok, and a bowl of wonton soup, and some oysters in black bean sauce, and a couple of dishes--I am a chronic over-orderer) and the waitress asked incredulously, "Do you KNOW how big these things are?"/"Are you sure (are you crazy?)" (rough translation from Chinese). Then, as we ate, I noticed that we had also become the subject of conversation among a couple of other waiters because apparently nobody has ever ordered that much porridge and there we were, inhaling it...

Anyways, check out Bao Bao Hao. Their other Cantonese stuff (steamed whole fish, clay pot dishes, anything in black bean sauce) is pretty good too.

[Edited to add the website, which is interesting -- I should have gotten my free clay pot, apparently. Also note their hours: no lunch, but open till 3AM for any late night Cantonese cravings...]

Edited June 5, 2005 by Diann (log)

[philadining]

Katie sez:

I still maintain that Lee How Fook makes the best Hot and Sour soup known to man.

What else is REALLY good there?

[Roonytunes]

Katie sez:

I still maintain that Lee How Fook makes the best Hot and Sour soup known to man.

What else is REALLY good there?

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The baked salty squid (I think that's what it's called or something akin to that anyway)...yum!

[clam crab cockle cowrie]

sorry for beating penang into the ground, but...

i go just to get penang poh piah. it is maybe my favorite thing ever.

thin spongy crepe-like sheets wrapped around shredded jicama, lettuce, fried tofu strips and fried egg, topped with chili sauce and crispy shallots. two rolls, cut into slices.

so, so good.

[KatieLoeb]

Katie sez:

I still maintain that Lee How Fook makes the best Hot and Sour soup known to man.

What else is REALLY good there?

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The Lemon Duck, the Salt Baked Shrimp or Squid and the Singapore Noodles. Hot Pots are excellent too.

But the Hot and Sour soup rules!

[sockii]

Vietnam Palace: I always forget if it's the Vermicelli Deluxe or the Vermicelli Combo. But it's the one that's $10 for an overflowing plate of chargrilled shrimp, fried spring roll (best in the city IMO), grilled grape leaves stuffed with beef, and sweet and sour meatballs. Plus of course heaps of vermicelli and salad.

MMmmmmmmerslobberdrool.

I seriously can't go there and NOT order that dish, and if I go for lunch there is definitely no room to eat anything else the rest of the day. YUM.

[Andrew Fenton]

Sang Kee: man, that Peking duck is tha BIZ-ness. Wow. All crispy and juicy and pancakey at first, then, um, stir-fry-ey. Steamed juicy buns weren't as good as I remember; almost no soup at all. Bummer. Also, stuffed eggplant, which was goooooood, but not nearly as great as Szechuan Tasty House's golden coins. Oh, and E-Fu noodles, which from the name you'd expect to be an internet martial art, but instead were not-terribly-distinguished noodles with pork.

So what besides the duck is really, really good at Sang Kee?

[shacke]

Sang Kee: man, that Peking duck is tha BIZ-ness.  Wow.  All crispy and juicy and pancakey at first, then, um, stir-fry-ey.  Steamed juicy buns weren't as good as I remember; almost no soup at all.  Bummer.  Also, stuffed eggplant, which was goooooood, but not nearly as great as Szechuan Tasty House's golden coins.  Oh, and E-Fu noodles, which from the name you'd expect to be an internet martial art, but instead were not-terribly-distinguished noodles with pork.

So what besides the duck is really, really good at Sang Kee?

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The honey roast pork and the pea leaves are good and we always get the house soup. The duck two ways is very good - although it is roast duck and not true peking duck that is made with maltose, air and general puffery. Feel free to correct if that has changed but I asked once and they fessed up. Actually, maybe someone can tell me where there is REAL peking duck in Philly? I usually get my fix in NYC at the Peking Duck House but I dont get there often.

Darn about the juicy buns - still a soup dumpling virgie here.....

Evan

[Andrew Fenton]

Okay, I'm such an ig'nint rube, fresh off the bus from Palookaville, that I don't know the difference between Peking duck and the other kinds. Can somebody educate me?