PandaHugga

April 2 at 5pm sounds a bit early for me for dinner, especially since I'm not sure the kitchen is really working at full tilt that early. Why not 6pm?

I would advise using the numbers on the menu. And be advised that the pumpkin cakes don't travel particularly well.

I have been to this place (but really, I do eat other food besides Chinese...) and it's OK. It is VERY important to get the Chinese menu, and yet I find that it's very difficult to convince the staff to give it to you. Also, even when I went with a Chinese friend (the same one who joined us for China Gourmet earlier this week) the meal is not necessarily going to be particularly good. I think the place has promise, but it's not at all in the same league as China Star, China Gourmet, Sichuan Village or TemptAsian. I do find it interesting, however, that most of the new good Chinese restaurants in the area are indeed Sichuan focused, and wonder if this is a side effect of the enormous increase in popularity of Sichuan and Hunan cuisine in China itself. Beijing and Shanghai are now awash in restaurants serving these cuisines, but why that would lead to an upsurge here is a bit of a mystery to me.

There is absolutely no lychee in the 'mystery' dish. And in fact the mystery is solved--the veg used was Asparagus Lettuce (wo sun).

Now that some of the unclear characters have become clearer to me, here is a revised menu: 1. Smoked Sesame Chicken (yan xun xiang you ji), $6.50 2. Husband-and-Wife Lung Slices (fu qi fei pian), $6.50 3. Hot and Numbing Rabbit Cubes (ma la tu ding), $6.50 4. Red Oil Beef Shank (hong you niu jin), $6.50 5. Salty Duck (xian shui ya), $6.50 6. Hot and Numbing Coriander Beef Tendon (ma la xiang cai niu jian), $6.50 7. Five Flavor Beef Tendon (wu xiang niu jian), $6.50 8. Three Flavor Bean Curd Skin (san xian dou pi), $4.95 9. Dan Dan Noodles (dan dan mian), $3.95 10. Fish Coriander Rolls (yu xiang juan), $4.95 11. Nan Shan Something (nan shan XX XX ), $4.95 12. Sichuan Pickles (si chuan bao cai), $1.95 13. Crispy Jade Cups (cui ban yu huan geng), $4.95 14. Oil Braised Bracken (you men jue cai), $4.50 15. Quick Boiled Peanuts (tiao shui hua ren), $2.95 16. Pork in Garlic Mud (suan ni bai rou), $5.95 17. Hot and Numbing Dried Beef (ma la niu rou gan), $5.95 18. Daikon Radish with Pepper and something else (XX XX hu lo bo), $4.95 19. Pumpkin Cakes (nan gua bing), $3.95 20. Red Oil Wontons (hong you chao shou), $4.95 21. Chicken Juice Wontons (ji zhi chao shou), $4.95 Entrees (other than those marked with a ##): 1. Boiled Fish with Soft Bean Curd (shui zhu dou hua yu), $13.95 2. Ma Po Fish Cubes (ma po yu ding), $12.95 3. Boiled Fish Slices [spicy!!] (fei teng yu pian), $13.95 4. Boiled Fish Casserole [spicy!!] (shui zhu yu), $12.95 5. Special Flavor Hot and Numbing Fish (te wei ma la yu), $13.95 6. Pine Nut Fish Half (song ren yu ban), $12.95 7. Bean Sprout Crystal Shrimp (dou miao shui jing xia), $13.95 8. Sichuan Flavor Shrimp (chuan wei gong bao xia), $12.95 9. Lion Head in Clear Soup (qing dun shi zi tou), $6.95 10. Red Cooked Lion Head (hong shao shi zi tou), $10.95 11. Immortal Old Duck Pot [soupy] (shen xian lao ya guo), $13.95 12. Shan City Taro Chicken (shan cheng yu er ji), $11.95 13. Golden Powder Braised Ribs (jin fen xx xiang gu), $10.95 14. Chen Cang Beef in Buns (chen cang niu jia mo), $10.95 15. Salty Fish with Crab and Tofu (xian yu xie rou dou fu), $8.95 16. Salty Fish with Iron Plate Tofu (xian yu tie ban dou fu), $8.95 17. Boiled Beef Intestine (shui zhu niu da chang), $10.95 18. Tripe with Chili Peppers (jian jiao da chang), $10.95 19. Pickled Vegetable Tripe (suan cai da chang), $10.95 20. Dried Bamboo Shoot Meat Stew (sun gan shao rou), $8.95 21. Fire Braised Red Chicken (huo shao hong zi ji), $9.95 22. Shan City Twice-Cooked Pork (shan cheng hui guo rou), $8.95 23. Duck Breast with Hot Pickled Mustard Tuber (zha cai ya pu), $11.95 24. Simply Sauteed Seasonal Vegetable (qing chao shi shu), $7.95 25. Loofah with Fish Slices (si gua yu pian), $12.95 26. Braised Fresh Scallop and Loofah (xian bei si gua hui), $13.95 27. Ma Po Tofu (ma po dou fu), $7.95 28. Sichuan Spicy some sort of Beef (chuan la XX niu rou), $11.95 29. Garlic Flavored Pork Shreds (yu xiang rou si), $8.95 30. Pickled Vegetable with Bean threads and Pork (suan cai fen si rou si), $8.95 31. Shan City Stir Fried Pig's Foot (shan cheng xiao chao ti), $9.95 32. Dong Po Pork (this is the preserved pork belly), $12.95 33. Sichuan Boy Style Chicken, $11.95 34. "Ba Ge" Rabbit of some sort (the characters are cut off), $11.95 35. "Ba Ge" Boiled Rabbit (spicy dish), $11.95 36. Preserved Pickle Fish, $11.95 37. Beggar's Braised Fish, $11.95 38. Sharp Pepper Fish, $13.95 39. Casserole of Carp and Eggplant, $12.95 40. Fish Simmered in Soy Sauce and Chili Bean Paste, $12.95 41. Scallion Braised Carp, $12.95 42. Beef Tenderloin with Lemongrass, $11.95 43. "Zhu Ge" style Beef with Lemongrass, $11.95 44. Fragrant Dried Beef Slices, $8.95 45. Shan City Chili Chicken, $8.95 46. Minced Chicken with Chilies, $8.95 47. Pearl Tofu Balls, $9.95 48. ##Red Oil Duck Feet, $6.50 49. ##Scallion Oil Duck Feet, $6.50 50. ##"Shepherd's Purse" Diced taro, $4.95 51. ##Hot and Numbing diced taro, $4.95 52. ##Tuchia Style Roast Bread (3), $3.95 53. ##Five Flavor Sesame Roast Pancake, $4.95 54. ##Scallion "Bubble" Pancake, $4.50 55. ##Hot and Numbing Beef Rolls, $4.95

PandaHuggas's Photos Go to the above link to see photos of tonight's meal. Very nice to see so many new faces, and to see old friends too.

If anyone is interested in seeing what the food looks like, here is a link to my photos of the DR dinner there tonight.PandaHugga's Photos

How I wish I knew about this place when I was in Islamabad late last year (twice)! I ended up taking all my meals at the Serena Hotel, since I was told there was "nothing you would like" outside the hotel. I tried to convince them otherwise, but their insistence and the US Embassy's conviction that I would immediately be taken hostage if I ventured out without their armored car, prompted me to take their advice seriously.

By the way, I am planning to attend, with two others along with me.

I knew I sold my old house on Bernard Street too soon! This would have been so nice to have had back then, since the only other dining option was a ridiculously bad bbq place. Oh, well.

Whatever it was, it was well worth it!!

Thanks for the kind review, Joe! I'm still working, by the way, on the identity of the mystery vegetable in that appetizer dish. I now have come to realize that the third and fourth characters refer to a famous historical figure in Chinese imperial history, the great beauty Yang Guifei, who was a particular inspiration for a number of dishes. Unfortunately, this does not help to figure out what the vegetable is, but it might imply that it's more the preparation that's important than the actual vegetable used. The search continues.

It's a pleasure to help out; glad to know that my tuition payments are of use to someone! And now everyone can see from the photo that I am a genuine Panda Hugger! In other (more pertinent) news, dinner at CG last night was extraordinary. We had two friends join us, one of whom is a Japanese speaker, and she was able to read one of the dishes on the hand-written menu so we ordered it to humor her. It was the Five Flavor Beef on the appetizer menu, and it turned out to be a particular hit. Along with it we had the mystery vegetable (still no idea what it is, but I'm virtually certain it's winter melon) and the peanuts, which this time came in a liquid (the last time they were served dry, which I liked better). For mains we had the Chen Cang beef (done perfectly), the Fei Teng fish (ditto) and a new dish, slices of chicken with chilies served on a sort of hibachi thing with live flame underneath (sort of tasted/looked like Chinese fajitas). All of it was great, and my friends were duly impressed.

More dishes are on the Chinese menu now (I was there last night), so here for the community's use are my translations. Note that they include some appetizers along with the main courses: 32. Dong Pu Pork (this is the preserved pork belly), $12.95 33. Whole Sichuan Style Chicken, $11.95 34. "Ba Ge" Fish (the characters are cut off), $11.95 35. "Ba Ge" Boiled Rabbit (spicy dish), $11.95 36. Preserved Pickle Fish, $11.95 37. Beggar's Braised Fish, $11.95 38. Sharp Pepper Fish, $13.95 39. Casserole of Carp and Eggplant, $12.95 40. Fish Simmered in Soy Sauce and Chili Bean Paste, $12.95 41. Scallion Braised Carp, $12.95 42. Beef Tenderloin with Lemongrass, $11.95 43. Some other Beef with Lemongrass, $11.95 44. Fragrant Dried Beef Slices, $8.95 45. Shan City Chili Chicken, $8.95 46. Minced Chicken with Chilies, $8.95 47. Pearl Tofu Balls, $9.95 48. Red Oil Duck Feet, $6.50 49. Scallion Oil Duck Feet, $6.50 50. "Shepherd's Purse" Diced something, $4.95 51. Hot and Numbing diced something, $4.95 52. Tuchia Style Roast Bread (3), $3.95 53. Five Flavor Sesame Roast Pancake, $4.95 54. Scallion "Bubble" Pancake, $4.50 55. Hot and Numbing Beef Rolls, $4.95

And if there is any trouble, they know me there as Mr Shen (my Chinese name) so just say you're a friend of that white guy named Shen and you should be OK.

I think it's a safe bet to count me in. I'll be sick to death of all the sausage and (now that I'm in Switzerland) fondue...

Hey all and hello from Germany! I'm glad that my little translation has helped you out. What's this about "$20 Tuesday" next week? I would love to have an excuse to go back to this place, and would be happy to meet some of the other DR'ers whom I don't already know.

Don't worry, they are not "lion heads", they are large meatballs that, to Chinese eyes, resemble a lion's head. They are a classic of "huai yang" style cooking (a cuisine based around the city of Yangzhou, in Jiangsu province). We went to China Gourmet for dinner tonight and actually ordered the red cooked lion head, along with the boiled peanuts, three flavor bean curd skin, a vegetable dish that none of us could figure out the name of, the "fei teng yu pian" (dish #3 on the entree menu) and the braised scallop and loofah. All the starters were very good, with the peanuts and the vegetable dish standing out (the peanuts were amazingly tasty, and crunchy, and really refreshing; the vegetable--which even Jerry, the owner, could not identify--had a great cruncy to it and very subtle flavor; we thought it might be a kind of squash, but apparently it is not). The bean curd skin dish was interesting--three squares of bean curd skin wrapped around a filling of sticky rice and minced meat Among the main courses, the fei teng yu pian was by far the best. It's like the boiled fish (shui zhu yu), with slices of white meat fish cooked in a broth laced with chilies and Sichuan pepper. It also has bean thread noodles and bean sprouts in it, which offer a very nice contrasting texture to the fish. The red cooked lion head also had a very nice flavor, though to my taste the sauce was too starchy (but I am not a fan of lion head). The scallop dish had almost no flavor at all, and would not be one that I would ever order again. Service was very friendly, and Peter came out to check out who this foreigner who spoke Chinese was--he even recognized me before I realized who he was. I never thought he'd remember me, but he did, and he even had my business card in his wallet!

I stopped by the restaurant today and verified that Chef Zhang will start there officially on Tuesday, March 14, but he is already cooking there as of tonight. I got a copy of the hand-written Chinese menu that he plans to prepare, and present below my rudimentary translation. The proper menu will be ready by Tuesday, probably in English as well as Chinese. I apologize in advance if I have made any errors in translation/reading that cause any unfortunate ordering decisions... Appetizers (prepared by Zhang's wife): 1. Smoked Sesame Chicken (yan xun xiang you ji), $6.50 2. Husband-and-Wife Lung Slices ?? (fu qi fei pian), $6.50 3. Hot and Numbing Rabbit Cubes (ma la tu ding), $6.50 4. Red Oil Beef Shank (hong you niu jin), $6.50 5. Salty Duck (xian shui ya), $6.50 6. Hot and Numbing Coriander Beef Tendon (ma la xiang cai niu jian), $6.50 7. Five Flavor Beef Tendon (wu xiang niu jian), $6.50 8. Three Flavor Bean Curd Skin (san xian dou pi), $4.95 9. Dan Dan Noodles (dan dan mian), $3.95 10. Fish Rolls ?? (yu XX juan), $4.95 11. Nan Shan Something (nan shan XX XX ), $4.95 12. Sichuan Pickles (si chuan bao cai), $1.95 13. Something crispy with beans (illegible), $4.95 14. Oil Braised Vegetable of some sort (you men XX cai), $4.50 15. Quick Boiled Peanuts (tiao shui hua ren), $2.95 16. Pork in Garlic Mud (suan ni bai rou), $5.95 17. Hot and Numbing Dried Beef (ma la niu rou gan), $5.95 18. Daikon Radish with Pepper and something else (XX XX hu lo bo), $4.95 19. Pumpkin Cakes (nan gua bing), $3.95 20. Red Oil Wontons (hong you chao shou), $4.95 21. Chicken Juice Wontons (ji zhi chao shou), $4.95 Entrees: 1. Boiled Fish with Soft Bean Curd (shui zhu dou hua yu), $13.95 2. Ma Po Fish Cubes (ma po yu ding), $12.95 3. Some sort of fish slices, $13.95 4. Boiled Fish (shui zhu yu), $12.95 5. Special Flavor Hot and Numbing Fish (te wei ma la yu), $13.95 6. Pine Nut Fish Half (song ren yu ban), $12.95 7. Bean Sprout Crystal Shrimp (dou miao shui jing xia), $13.95 8. Sichuan Flavor Shrimp of some sort (chuan wei gong XX xia), $12.95 9. Lions Head in Clear Soup (qing dun shi zi tou), $6.95 10. Red Cooked Lion Head (hong shao shi zi tou), $10.95 11. Immortal Old Duck Pot (shen xian lao ya guo), $13.95 [this may be a misread on my part] 12. Shan City Taro Chicken (shan cheng yu er ji), $11.95 13. Golden Ribs of some sort, $10.95 14. Chen Cang Beef in Buns (chen cang niu jia mo), $10.95 15. Salty Fish with Crab and Tofu (xian yu xie rou dou fu), $8.95 16. Salty Fish with Iron Plate Tofu (xian yu tie ban dou fu), $8.95 17. Boiled Beef Intestine (shui zhu niu XX da chang), $10.95 18. Some other tripe dish, $10.95 19. Pickled Vegetable Tripe (suan cai da chang), $10.95 20. Dried Bamboo Shoot Meat Stew (sun gan shao rou), $8.95 21. Fire Braised Red Chicken (huo shao hong zi ji), $9.95 22. Shan City Twice-Cooked Pork (shan cheng hui guo rou), $8.95 23. Duck Breast with some vegetable (XX cai ya pu), $11.95 24. Simply Sauteed Seasonal Vegetable (qing chao shi shu), $7.95 25. Loofah with Fish Slices (si gua yu pian), $12.95 26. Braised Fresh Scallop and Loofah (xian bei si gua hui), $13.95 27. Ma Po Tofu (ma po dou fu), $7.95 28. Sichuan Spicy some sort of Beef (chuan la XX niu rou), $11.95 29. Garlic Flavored Pork Shreds (yu xiang rou si), $8.95 30. Pickled Vegetable with Beef threads and something else (suan cai XX XX rou si), $8.95 31. Shan City Stir Fried Pig's Foot (shan cheng xiao chao ti), $9.95

Il Radicchio, and at two different locations. First time, in Dupont (where Komi now is located) we ate with some friends and one of them found a cockroach in her salad. When we brought it to the attention of the waiter, the salad was removed, and moments later he brought back the same salad (minus cockroach, at least). No apologies, no complimentary anything, nothing. Vowed never to return. Years later was prevailed upon to go again, this time to the location in Old Town Fairfax (long since closed). This time we had the most inept service I had ever experienced, with mistaken orders, glacial pace, etc, and the food when it came was horrendous. Vowed never to return, and to date have not. Are they even still in business?

What other Chinese restaurants have you been to? I am also not a big fan of Full Kee (though it has lately started to grow on me), largely because Cantonese cuisine tends to leave me a bit cold. I far prefer Sichuan, Hunan and (especially) Guizhou cuisine, with their abundant use of chilies and big flavors. Have you tried China Star? What was it about TemptAsian that you liked?

You'd have done well to have tried a cookie, too. I love their peanut butter filled cookies, and yet I'm not even a huge fan of that genre.

So many questions to answer... My current standard go-to restaurant is China Star, which has yet to disappoint me. TemptAsian is too far, and ventures too far from Sichuan for me, and Sichuan Village has disappointed me on occasion (though not lately). As for dishes to recommend at Myanmar (yes, that's the name), I like the tea salad, but I am afraid I cannot remember the names of other dishes I have had there. BE warned that the service is glacial, so make sure you go on a day when the boss is out. And Great Wall must have JUST opened, since it was not open on Monday, though it was getting close. Did you actually see the store functioning, or did you simply see the doors open? I ask because the doors have been functioning in recent weeks, presumably for the convenience of the stockers, but it was not yet doing business.

Another good place you should try in that area is the Burmese restaurant on Lee Hwy, just inside the Beltway.

Peking Village used to be my standard go-to Chinese restaurant in the NoVA area. It's on Gallows Rd, between Arlington Blvd and Lee Hwy in the shopping center with the Golds Gym and the soon-to-be-open Great Wall Supermarket. I learned of this place from a friend of mine at the State Dept, who assured me that her Chinese embassy friends recommended it (so we joke that we should talk into the salt cellar if there is something wrong with the service or the food). ANYWAY, this is not a place that you go to for the ambience, which is decidedly downmarket, with simple wallpaper and dingy flooring and nothing exciting. However, the chef is a multiply-awarded specialist in Sichuan dishes (despite the name of the restaurant) and their menu is very broad. This another of the many area Chinese restaurants with a separate cognoscenti menu--if you don't get this (it's a yellow laminated sheet) ask for it, since the foreigner menu is awful. Among their star dishes are: boiled beef (shui zhu niu rou), mapo tofu, ants climbing trees (mayi shang shu), and spicy chile chicken (la zi ji). When I was last here, on Monday, we ordered off the Chinese language specials notices on the wall, going for "crispy bean tofu" (dou su dou fu) and pork with pickled mustard. None of us knew what the tofu would be like, but it turned out to be great--thick slices of tofu apparently steamed with a topping of a crisp-cooked meat mixture with loads of spices in it (somewhat similar to the Chen Cang beef at China Star). Also, the pork with pickled mustard had loads of flavor, and great textural combinations. They also delivered a dish we had not meant to order, simply prepared Shanghai bok choy with garlic, which was also excellent. Prices here are very low; these three dishes, plus beers all around, added up to $30.