Drew F.
Yelp
tbh as I pulled into the parking area, it took my wife several minutes to convince me to get out of the car because the area looked so...I mean, was it even open? was it actually abandoned? Looking from New Hampshire Ave side, you would think even more so.
But as it turned out, we went in, and it opened up to a pretty decent indoor dining set-up: clean, tastefully decorated, and, whoa, actually run by Asians. The menus are even written in both English & Chinese on real menus, not just paper. The tea was legit black tea, strong.
I got a lunch special - beef & broccoli. It's so White, I know, but it's also one of the "standards I use to compare very basic dishes. Gotta say, it was pretty good! Broccoli bright green, not overcooked, tasty. Beef was TENDER, nice cuts, very flavorful, "the good stuff" (not some cheap cut that's tough & chewy). and it wasn't skimpy on the beef. Sauce was classic, went great into the rice.
Lunch specials also include either an egg roll (pass on principle) or 1 of 3 soups. I like to use hot & sour soup also as a standard measure. It was full bodied, had a nice kick, nice combo of tofu & other normal ingredients. didn't have pork though, but as a side soup, I could live with that. As a standalone, though, it's gotta have pork. But for $9.95, what a great deal!
My wife got the soup noodle with beef brisket. Pretty good too. The broth is on the lighter side (probably to keep people from needing blood pressure pills). The beef was good, flavorful - could be a little more tender? but still very good. and it included bok choy, pretty legit.
She also wanted to try out the honeh walnut shrimp. These shrimp were no shrimps, they were generous tiger prawns. very plump, fresh tasting, classic taste. The walnuts were ok, not as candied as other places. and I know restaurants have greatly increased the price for this dish, so be prepared to pay that top price for this.
Last but not least, we got pan-fried dumplings & char-siu (roast pork) to go. Dumplings are another standard dish I use to compare Chinese restaurants. Many don't even use pork anymore, they use chicken (insert barf emoji). Many also add veg fillers. This place does neither. Near 100% pirk, flavorful and with my preferred THICK skin (dough). Decent size too. I could eat just these as a full meal. The char-siu was also very tender, very succulent, easy to eat in one sitting (and probably refusing to share).
I'm so happy to finally have found a legit Chinese restaurant closer to the White Oak area and not have to schlep all the way to Rockville!! I'd just probably go during the light of day? (1 star off for giving new meaning to hole-in-the-wall especially from the New Hampshire Ave side)