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Jackey's Cafe, Cantonese in Chinatown


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A small group went to try out Jackey's Cafe in Chinatown today, hearing that they had some authentic Cantonese items on the menu.

After a bit of negotiation to hand back the menu that had the Americanized combination plates, we got the proper menu. Lots of interesting things on the menu, which we barely made a dent in.

Five of us had:

  • Shrimp Dumpling Soup
  • Sauteed Snow Pea Leaves w/Garlic
  • Pan Fried Dried Pork and Chinese Sausage
  • Fried Calamari w/Chili Sauce
  • Steamed Clams in Spicy Broth

I thought everything was good, though nothing stood out as particularly outstanding. The Pork dish was the unanimous favorite of the group. Service was very good - water glasses and tea pots kept full, and food was brought incredibly quickly.

Total was $17/person after tax and generous tip. Given the paucity of good Chinese food in Chinatown, this place is definitely worth a return visit. They are open until 1am or 2am most nights, so could be a good place to go after events at the Verizon Center.

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Recently received a menu for Jackey in Chinatown (6th & H). Menus says they deliver. Anybody tried it?

Did a lunch here a few months back; review here. Plenty of Americanized Chinese food on the menu, but the authentic Cantonese menu is pretty good, especially considering the lack of quality choices in Chinatown.

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I did not enjoy my food delivery from Jackey tonight. :mellow: Pan fried meat dumplings featured ridiculously thick skins and filling that was nothing special. My Szechuan beef appetizer was nicely flavored though I suspect they held back on the heat, but the meat was inedibly tough for the most part. Long thin pieces of beef that were strangely tubular.

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Earlier this week Jackey Cafe served me the worst orange beef I have ever had, and that is no small feat. The grilse that posed as beef was doused in a sauce that was so cloying that it would send most people into diabetic shock. To make matters worse the rice was an overcooked mass of starch. This was my second and last visit to Jackey.

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We went to Jackey's last night before the Caps game. No appetizers - just the szechuan beef, shredded pork with pan fried noodles, and squid in chili sauce. The pork and noodles were OK - what I expected but would also expect from just about any run of the mill Chinese place. The szechuan beef had virtually no heat whatsoever and was actually bland. But the biggest disappointment of the night was the squid. From the picture in the menu, we were expecting stir fried slices of squid in a chili sauce. What we got was essentially blah hunks of squid prepared as if they were making calamari for TGIF, with one chili thrown in for color. They coated it in batter and that was all I could taste. Absolutely awful and disappointing.

By the way, we checked out the menu for Full Kee down the street and it is EXACTLY the same menu (including some of the same spelling mistakes) as the menu for Full Kee in Wheaton. We passed on Full Kee, not because it didn't look good, but rather that we've had much off the menu from the place in Wheaton and wanted to try something different. In retrospect, we should have passed on Jackey Cafe and stuck with Full Kee.

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Is it possible that it was supposed to be Fried Good Deal and got mangled? (Or is that what you were implying?)
After a bit of investigation, it turns out that the dish is actually an adaptation of a Malaysian dish called Char kway teow. The Malaysian name was translated into Chinese words that sounded similar (perhaps "chao guai diao"). It's available in Malaysian form under the name "Char Kuih Teow" at Malaysia Kopitiam. The literal translation, "Fried Expensive Wicked," makes absolutely no sense, so an enterprising D.C. restaurateur must have have transliterated it into English as "Fried Good Dale." Which makes a little bit more sense, apparently.

...

I think the "Dale" is just an approximation of "diao", Sommer. At least that's the consensus we came up with.

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I must be ordering the wrong thing because everything I have gotten from there has been overly sweetened slop. What are your suggestions?

I typically order the beef chow fun and lo meins of varying sorts. I've found them to be pretty good and not drenched in oil like other places in Chinatown (Chinatown Express comes to mind). I also like their dumplings and their egg drop soup is pretty good. My wife likes the congee quite a bit if that is your thing.

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I must be ordering the wrong thing because everything I have gotten from there has been overly sweetened slop. What are your suggestions?

I can't remember the dishes, as it was over a year ago, but I went with a food-friendly group, we ordered from the "chinese" menu (translated, just not the Americanized sweetened slop menu), and had an excellent lunch.

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I also like their dumplings ...
but I did enjoy my Fried Good Dale at Jackey's.

I gave Jackey's another try today, and the results were much better. The filling in the pan fried dumplings was some of the best I have had in this area, unfortunately I found that the skins were far too thick and took on an unpleasant texture.

The Fried Good Dale was listed on the menu as being hot, and it was well spiced, but no real heat. That was OK, the dish had a great flavor. I particularly liked the very flavorful bits of red pork in the dish (most red pork I have had in dishes tends to lend only color no real flavor). The shrimp added nothing to the dish, they were cooked to a rubberized state and were quite flavorless, also I could have done with half the amount of noodles to the meat and egg, but now I am just quibbling. Thank you FE for turning me onto this dish, all reservations aside it was quite a treat.

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