So...instead of brunch at Sichuan, I crossed over 116th Street to a place I have not been back to for a few years, and also after they relocated down a few doors from the corner of the strip mall where they were previously.
Sunday buffet lunch at Mandarin House in Carmel.
Pretty large spread. The usual American-Chinese suspects were on the buffet, but quite a number of Chinese-style dishes/offerings too - especially on the ends and on the "back table", heh. More Chinese clientele than non-Chinese folks there. Busy. I took a selection of maybe 1/4 of the stuff on offer there, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the "Chinese-y stuff".
What I had:
Selection of their dim-sum-type things:
On the larger plate: Small pork bun, siu-mai, phoenix claws (chicken feet), beef tripe w/ ginger.
On the smaller plate: Pot stickers, fried turnip cake; a sort of chili sauce, a sweet soy dip.
The turnip cake and potstickers were nice. The chicken feet were decent. The tripe was just OK. The pork bun and siu-mai were humdrum to barely passable.
Tea: the house oolong (completely unremarkable).
Selection of cold cuts and stuff:
Cold tofu slices w/ a mildly spicy grated ginger dressing w/ scallions and pei-tan (century egg) chunks; chillied pork maw slices; slices of a sort of beef brisket-like and tendon jellied "roll"; slices of a cured duck marinated w/ a rice-liquor based sauce.
All were pretty decent and tasty.
Sweet & Sour Fish.
With a few chunks of stir-fried baby bok choy which were fine.
The fish was a mixed bag. One piece was very dried out, unpleasant in texture and taste. The other (tail-end) piece (on the left) was fine. But the sauce needed to be more sour and less sweet, more tanginess needed. Less gloopiness needed too.
Sort-of "stir-fried" clams (flower clams type) in a savory thickened sauce:
Also w/ some of the stir-fried baby bok choy.
The clams were juicy and fine but it could be more "clammy" in taste. A bit bland tasting but reasonably enjoyable.
Orange slices, pineapple slice, a sweet red bean paste sesame fried dough ball. Being eaten. :-)
Shot of the entrance from the outside:
Overall – lots of food, some nice things, some completely forgettable things. General quasi-Cantonese style in the cooking for the dishes on the buffet, but not the best example of the genre – but then, it was a buffet.
Eh, edible. Not at the top of the list of places I can't wait to return to.
Location on Google maps.
