Sang Kee Peking Duck House

[philadining]

I can't believe there wasn't a topic for Sang Kee, I know there have been plenty of posts, but I guess they're scattered around various Chinatown threads.

With a few new places opening, and a few old ones worth reconsidering, I've been neglecting this favorite place recently, but I finally couldn't resist any longer...

For just two of us, we ordered:

Steamed Dumplings

These are incredibly hard to pick up with chopsticks, but if you can avoid flinging them across the room, there's a big payoff: tasty pork filling, tender wrappers and salty oyster sauce.

I like the fried ones too, and in a larger group I'll get an order of each. These are the plain-old dumplings, which I like better than the other kinds on the menu.

Although there's plenty of other good stuff at Sang Kee, it seems somehow wrong to not get the duck. This is half a Peking Duck:

The crispy, fatty, delicious skin is served with hoisin and scallions, and you roll them up yourself in fresh, thin pancakes.

The remaining duck meat is stir-fried with whatever vegetables they feel like tossing in, and has an intense brothy juice, rather than a sauce per se. The crispy skin and pancake course gets the attention, but this part is pretty tasty too!

We get in such ruts at Sang Kee, ordering a few things that we love over and over, that we've recently made an attempt to always order one thing we haven't had before. Tonight that was Sauteed Spareribs with Black Bean Sauce.

This was pretty good, the ribs were very tender, falling off the bones, but it gets a bit messy dealing with all those little bones in a sauce, and in the end, I like other ways they make ribs, or other dishes they make with black bean sauce better, so I probably won't get this again. But I didn't regret ordering it this time!

I'd missed going to Sang Kee, and everything was as good as I remembered, so I'll be back soon. More pics then!

One complaint: their A/C is a little un-subtle, so if you happen to get caught under a vent, it can get pretty chilly, and it can cool the food down too, so try to be aware of where you are, and ask to move if you're in a down draft. And as a rule, downstairs is better than upstairs (food gets to you faster/hotter). But then upstairs is better than not being at Sang Kee!

Edited July 5, 2006 by philadining (log)

[KatieLoeb]

Yum! I'd forgotten how good the Peking Duck is there. That gorgeous lacquered patent leather finish on the duck can't be beat. And the pancakes are really thin too. I really hate doughy pancakes with Moo Shoo or Peking duck.

And I've definitely shot a dumpling out from between my chopsticks and across the room before. I thought I was the only one.

(Aside: my favorite dumplings are still at David's Mai Lai Wah with the really good ginger dipping sauce, or the really thin skinned ones at Shiao Lan Kung.)

[doviakw]

I, too, am happy to see the thin pancakes! Those used to be the rule but so many places today serve the fat, doughy version. In my mind, all that bulk detracts from the blend of flavors that makes the dish.

Since our old favorite, Joe's Duck House, is long gone, it looks like it's time to try Sang Kee.

Great pictures!

[rlibkind]

Don't forget their outpost at the Reading Terminal Market. (For some reason, I forget to mention them when people ask for RTM lunch recommendations; shame on me!)

Of course, the RTM counter doesn't offer a wide-ranging menu, but what they have is choice. In particular, I like the roast pork or duck plates with green vegetable and white rice. I don't know the name of the vegetable, but it's a great all-around green veggie, with fresh-tasting leaf and stalk. This is not a stir fried dish. Basically they just warm it up in the microwave, but it's no less delicious for being gently nuked. Others go for the noodle soups with duck or pork. Whatever. They are all good, filling, inexpensive lunches. Makes me hungry. Thanks for the topic, philadining.

[arice]

i must add too that their outpost in the 'burbs (wynnewood to be exact) is mighty tasty. though here its called sang kee asian bistro and the prices are higher. the main liners love it so plan on a wait for table or take out.

best chinese food out this way, hands down.

allison

[Diann]

I don't know the name of the vegetable, but it's a great all-around green veggie, with fresh-tasting leaf and stalk

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Bob,

I think the vegetable you're referring to is Chinese broccoli (gai lan). I love it!

[chowfun]

Sang Kee in Chinatown is my favorite take-out place to pick up and drive home to the burbs after work. They make everything fast, they have never made a mistake with my order, they generally pack everything very nicely and the food is always delicious at home. Some places have great food in the restaurant that isnt so great after sitting in the container and cooling down some. The only thing that wont travel is salt baked seafood. Of course its not a bad snack for the drive home. They only take cash or check which is an inconvenience.

Sang Kee Asian Bistro in Ardmore is more expensive but the food is a little more upscale. We had rack of lamb there once, they have pacific oysters, they do a little bit of Malaysian food (they have a baked seafood rice that is out of this world). I wish they were on my side of the river.

[philadining]

Grabbed some take-out late last night (although not that late, they close at 10:30pm during the week).

Fried Dumplings

Much easier to eat in the car than their steamed counterparts, and they kind of have to be eaten on the way home, they get pretty soggy if you wait.

Roast Pork Noodle Soup

This was still nice and hot when I got home. And I swear their broth just gets better and better later as the evening progresses, maybe it's been concentrating all day, this was just outrageously good. Just look at that color.

General Tso's Chicken

This is the only place I order this cliché of a dish, but it's really good here, and when you get it to go, they're cool enough to package the sauce separately, so the light breading on the chicken stays crisp. Of course it's better to eat it there, seconds out of the oil, but hey, take-out is better than nothing. It would probably be delicious to occasionally dip strips into the sauce and munch on them during the drive home, while it's nice and hot and crunchy, but I wouldn't know.... that would be wrong.

[Mummer]

My virtual dinner with Philadining...

...since we haven't broken bread together for a while, I had a virtual dinner with Philadining tonight. Similar store, similar order.

Mine was take-out from here:

Steamed watercress dumplings also contain shrimp and pork. The Wynnewood steam or fried meat or vegetarian or chicken dumplings come in fours. I guess that's so you can buy several varieties. But I prefer these and I have some for another day.

I really like the subtle sweetness of the noodle soup's roast pork.

General Tso's doesn't have the sauce on the side in suburbia. Damn republicans! You see the only hot little pepper. I've avoided chicken since that college summer I worked for the Colonel, but this is a good dish. Could use more kick...

I also got a small container of brown rice and a few fortune cookies for my $24. There's an orange LCB sign in the window in Wynnewood - looks like a liquor license is coming.

Hopefully, Phil, we'll have a face to face dinner in the near future.

[philadining]

Indeed, it's been too long, but it was nice at least having a virtual dinner with ya Mummer!

(And continuing a theme from my post above: for those who were wondering, Beef Chow Fun is very difficult to eat while driving. )

[Diann]

(And continuing a theme from my post above: for those who were wondering, Beef Chow Fun is very difficult to eat while driving. )

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Not when you've got someone in the passenger seat to feed it to you, it isn't... where's Phyllis A. Dining when you need her?

[philadining]

You know, you get a little taste, it's hard to stop...

Roast Pork Noodle Soup

Steamed Dumplings

Whole Peking Duck (pt 1)

Peking Duck (pt 2)

Sauteed Snow Pea Greens with Garlic

All of it, just spot-on delicious tonight!

[David McDuff]

I've always been a semi-regular at Sang Kee Peking Duck House; the prices relative to quality are hard to beat. While not quite as inexpensive, Sang Kee Asian Bistro in Wynnewood has rapidly displaced just about all other suburban Chinese outposts within my sphere of travel. Mummer's already hit upon their excellent watercress dumplings. For a straight-up vegetable dish, sauteed pea shoots with lots of garlic are a damn tasty accompaniment to the rest of the meal. And just as at Sang Kee in Chinatown, their various takes on noodle soups as well as the Peking Duck (which comes from downtown, btw) are top notch. If only they'd ditch the little TVs at the bar.... And do something to alienate some of the locals so it wouldn't always be so busy.

[philadining]

For some reason, I'm not at all embarrassed that I've been eating here about once a week for the last month or so... Maybe it's the weather. Yeah, there are lots of great places in Chinatown, but Sang Kee has just been hitting the spot lately.

I know there's a picture of this upthread, but it was just so lovely last night, I couldn't resist snapping another pic. Tasted even better than it looks.

Roast Pork Noodle Soup

also got some steamed dumplings, a beef in black bean sauce, and a the dish our visiting former philly resident friend was most craving: General Tso's Chicken

It was all tasty, three of us were full, for $32 before tip.

[Andrew Fenton]

Is that white stuff on the General Tso's cauliflower? Never seen that before...

[dagordon]

Is that white stuff on the General Tso's cauliflower?  Never seen that before...

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I think that's the chicken

[Andrew Fenton]

Ah, I thought the chicken was the brown stuff behind the white and green stuff.

So is the chicken fried with a white/tempura coating? Surely they don't steam it...

Edited March 4, 2007 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[herbacidal]

Much easier to eat in the car than their steamed counterparts, and they kind of have to be eaten on the way home, they get pretty soggy if you wait.

Do they punch holes in the top of the container?

That should help, although it depends on the particular food how much it will help.

[mrbigjas]

Ah, I thought the chicken was the brown stuff behind the white and green stuff. 

So is the chicken fried with a white/tempura coating?  Surely they don't steam it...

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they fry the whole breast, then slice it. it rocks.

[Andrew Fenton]

Well, I'll have to give it a try, won't I? General Tso's is one of those dishes I usually avoid. But this sounds really good.

[mrbigjas]

oh also they serve the sauce on the side when you get it to take out, so it doesn't get soggy. great idea.

[lfabio2007]

A question here if I may: I was at the Sang Kee inside RTM and the food was, well, indifferent at best. I have to assume that the operation is different at the other addresses?

[DTBarton]

A question here if I may: I was at the Sang Kee inside RTM and the food was, well, indifferent at best. I have to assume that the operation is different at the other addresses?

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I agree. In my experience, I have found the food at the RTM Sang Kee to be far inferior to what they make at the 9th street restaurant.

[mrbigjas]

A question here if I may: I was at the Sang Kee inside RTM and the food was, well, indifferent at best. I have to assume that the operation is different at the other addresses?

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yes. the stall at the terminal is very much fast food/food truck style. it's weird, you can't seem to get some peking duck there without it being thrown in a styrofoam container with a bunch of noodles and having broth poured over the whole thing. or else you can get a peking duck roll. so they have all these nice ducks hanging up and you can't get them the way you'd want them. i mean, they're not on the menu that way. i guess you could ask.

at the restaurant, you get the breast/skin with the pancakes for one course, and the rest of the meat stir fried with vegetables for a second course.

in addition, their dumplings suck, which they don't at the restaurant. and also the... you know, it's just... it's a fast food lunch place, not the real deal. so yeah, you're right. not the same at all.

[Andrew Fenton]

The thing is, the noodle soup at the RTM Sang Kee might actually be good, except that it's served in these horrible styrofoam bowls, which always slop my soup all over the place. It's a shame. The good news is that the real Sang Kee is only a few blocks away...