[perrik]

Had Sichuan food on my mind last night, as so often happens, so I visited the poorly-programmed website for Hong Kong Palace. (hint: URL tags, like fading relationships, need some sort of closure) Ah. The owners just bought a place called China Jade up near Shady Grove Metro.

So I just happened to find myself in the Shady Grove area at lunchtime today, and can report that the Cumin Beef recipe successfully made the trip north. Much of the HKP menu is duplicated here, plus they've added Cantonese seafood dishes to the mix.

When I sat down, Maggie the manager handed me the traditional and Americanized menus, and suggested some of the traditional specialties. This was before she even noticed I looked Asian. We chatted a little about HKP, and she pointed out a family also making its first visit after discovering the change in ownership.

So if you're craving some of that HKP cumin beef or fish in peppery broth, but can't cope with crossing the river and getting lost in Seven Corners (Dean, I'm looking at you), give China Jade a try.

China Jade
16805 Crabbs Branch Way
Rockville, MD 20855
301-963-1570
11am-10pm daily

It's at the intersection of Shady Grove Rd and Crabbs Branch Way, in the shopping center with Giant and Red Hot & Blue.

Attached thumbnail(s)

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[deangold]

perrik, on 27 July 2009 - 02:24 PM, said:

getting lost in Seven Corners (Dean, I'm looking at you

I no longer get lost in 7 corners.



I make Kay drive and she she's the one who gets lost!!!

[Lydia R]

perrik, on 27 July 2009 - 02:24 PM, said:

So I just happened to find myself in the Shady Grove area at lunchtime today, and can report that the Cumin Beef recipe successfully made the trip north. Much of the HKP menu is duplicated here, plus they've added Cantonese seafood dishes to the mix.

When I sat down, Maggie the manager handed me the traditional and Americanized menus, and suggested some of the traditional specialties.

On a rainy day midweek I too happened to find myself in Rockville, but at 1030. So I clicked a few pics of Sichuan Pavilion and made is slowly north to the Shady Grove area just as China Jade opened. I had the lunch special Cumin Chicken and Hot & Sour Soup which was filling enough to provide leftovers for lunch yesterday.

Very happy the HKP menu is in easier striking distance than Seven Corners.

A photo of their storefront:


A scan of the traditional menu:
 ChinaJadeMenu_Aug2009.pdf (237.61K)
Number of downloads: 86

[DanielK]

Went here for lunch today with a few friends. It's nice to all of a sudden have 4 places within 10 minutes of Potomac serving Sichuan menus!

Our group of 4 had:
Spicy Wontons - not as good at JNH or HKP, but still pretty good. The sauce was dry, not oily, but I thought not spicy enough.
Cold Cucumbers w/Sesame Oil - eh. Very garlicky, but the cukes were too soft.
Fish & Soft Bean Curd w/Spicy Sauce - excellent. Like H20 at Joe's.
Diced Chicken w/Dry Hot Peppers - a carryover from HKP, and just as good as HKP's version.
House Seafood Combo w/Vegetables & Lotus Root - my friend's favorite dish from their Cantonese menu, I thought there was too much lotus root and barely any seafood. I don't mind a non-spicy dish, but you need something a bit more assertive or it's subtlety is lost amongst the heat from the other dishes.

$15/person after tax and tip, and there were leftovers. Service was very attentive, but we were the only ones there for much of our meal at 11:30 on a Sunday. They somewhat questioned our menu choices (no Chinese in our group), but didn't try to dissuade us, just wanted to make sure we knew what we were ordering. That said, it certainly seemed like they toned down the heat at least a little.

I can't say that I'd pick this place over Joe's, and I haven't been to Sichuan Pavilion yet, but definitely worth the visit if you're in the area.

[eroica38]

I had a solo lunch at China Jade on Monday - Where were you Dean? I expected you to miraculously join me as you did at Sichuan Pavilion. I had the Cumin Chicken, it was heavenly, spicey, multi-tiered flavors, dry, a true keeper. I had been to this place several years ago when I worked nearby. Food was good, some interesting dishes but not memorable. The manager says they have had a Sichuan menu for over 8 months but made no mention of a change in ownership. Service was friendly and helpful.

[porcupine]

eroica38, on 26 August 2009 - 12:19 AM, said:

I had a solo lunch at China Jade on Monday - Where were you Dean? I expected you to miraculously join me as you did at Sichuan Pavilion. I had the Cumin Chicken, it was heavenly, spicey, multi-tiered flavors, dry, a true keeper. I had been to this place several years ago when I worked nearby. Food was good, some interesting dishes but not memorable. The manager says they have had a Sichuan menu for over 8 months but made no mention of a change in ownership. Service was friendly and helpful.

Don't know where Dean was, but I was there Monday, too. The cumin lamb is great.

[Montgomery Maid]

During the last week of July, I suffered from the worst and longest lasting stomach flu of my adult life. The only thing I could eat was soup. After 10 days of this, I stopped at China Jade on the way home from work. I chose noodle soup with shrimp dumpling. It was a great choice--strong broth, skinny egg noodles, peppery shrimp dumplings. It was, after a week of bland-er soup, a very good thing.

Now that I am closer to my usual self, I will have to try the cumin lamb.

[silentbob]

DanielK, on 23 August 2009 - 11:51 PM, said:

I can't say that I'd pick this place over Joe's, and I haven't been to Sichuan Pavilion yet, but definitely worth the visit if you're in the area.

I can't believe a thread for this place didn't exist until recently -- my family (including aunts, uncles, and cousins) and I eat here at least once a year! We usually order one of the banquet prix-fixe menus (which don't appear to be on the attached PDF file), but it consists of 10 or so courses and more than adequately feeds 12 to 15 of us. It's been several months since we last had dinner here, but I vaguely remember enjoying their fancy-ish seafood dishes the most. The only negative is that their lobster, while well-prepared, tends to be a bit skimpy on the meat.

[porcupine]

silentbob, on 28 August 2009 - 10:50 AM, said:

I can't believe a thread for this place didn't exist until recently

Um, you could always start threads yourself, you know, telling the rest of us about your favorites.

[DanielK]

silentbob, on 28 August 2009 - 10:50 AM, said:

I can't believe a thread for this place didn't exist until recently -- my family (including aunts, uncles, and cousins) and I eat here at least once a year! We usually order one of the banquet prix-fixe menus (which don't appear to be on the attached PDF file), but it consists of 10 or so courses and more than adequately feeds 12 to 15 of us. It's been several months since we last had dinner here, but I vaguely remember enjoying their fancy-ish seafood dishes the most. The only negative is that their lobster, while well-prepared, tends to be a bit skimpy on the meat.

If you ate there once a year, you probably had a different chef and owner each time you went. This place has turned over so many times, and the menu handed to me has never had anything beyond Chinese-American standards (and not especially well-prepared ones, either).

A year or so ago, the quality of the Cantonese food spiked considerably (and the menu got interesting), and just a few months ago, after the purchase by the Hong Kong Palace people, they added the Sichuan menu, and things got even better.

[silentbob]

porcupine, on 28 August 2009 - 11:28 AM, said:

Um, you could always start threads yourself, you know, telling the rest of us about your favorites.

It just occurred to me that I posted about this place a while back in another thread! I wouldn't call China Jade one of my favorites though, even though we definitely enjoy the food there.

[Lydia R]

Tim Carman recently dined at China Jade and posted about it on his blog. There are a couple of photos on his blog, but better ones on the restaurant's linked website.

Tim Carman in Washington City Paper Y&H Blog, on 23 December 2009, said:

Well, little did I realize until a couple of weeks ago that Liu has done much the same thing at China Jade in the Derwood neighborhood north of Rockville. He and some partners bought out the previous owners in February and revamped the menu, adding a good 100 Szechwan dishes to it.

But they did one thing differently in Derwood: They kept the Cantonese food, too. The new owners opted to retain chef Chun Lee, who handles the Cantonese side of the menu, says manager Maggie Wang.

Lee shares the kitchen with Hu Ping, who tackles the day-to-day Szechwan cooking at China Jade. Hu and Liu were apparently classmates at the Szechwan Institute of Culinary Arts and Science, according to the China Jade Web site. Liu visits the restaurant frequently and helps prepare sauces in advance, the manager says, but he still spends most of his time at Hong Kong Palace.

If you dined before February 2009, it was with chef Chun Lee's Cantonese kitchen. Thankfully, he remains with the addition of the HKP dishes.

[winger1930]

Second time I've visited this place, second time I got take out. The first time I went we had the "Fish Filet & Soft Bean Curd w. Spicy Sauce ( Spicy&Numbing)". Excellent sauce with some hints of cumin and anise. I'm a sucker for silken bean curd and this really hit the spot on a cold night. The only downer is that I THINK they put peanuts in this dish, which I'm allergic to. I don't think it's a lot since I didn't get ill, but it was hard for me to tell the difference between my allergic reaction and the numbing sensation from the szechuan peppercorns. I also think it was a case of mind over matter as I REALLY didn't want to stop eating it. Yeah, I know, not the smartest thing to do....

Second visit, last night, we did one dish from the Cantonese side, one from the Szechuan side. From the Cantonese side, Shrimp Dumplings & Noodle in Soup was excellent. Good broth and the noodles were nice and crunchy still, not soggy. The dumpings survived the drive home intact, but I didn't get a chance to eat them (the wife was too fast for me). From the Szechuan side, I got the Braised Beef Noodle Soup which was awesome. Noodles were silky without being mushy, and the broth was nice and spicy (got the sweaty forehead to prove it!). The only down side is that when you get to the bottom of the bowl, I got some jarring bits of crunchy star anise in my last few spoonfuls. Not a big deal at all, but a little surprising! One thing to note about the braised beef - often times, when you get braised beef at most places, you get lots of chewy beef joints and other unidentifiable stuff. The beef they used here still had some of that, but also a good amount of actual beef that wasn't dried out or a rubbery mess.

Maggie, the host and probably manager of the place, already recognized me after my second visit, which is always a nice way to keep you coming back. I'll have to eat my way through the menu some more, but I'm hooked to this place for takeout now.