We were seated immediately at a small table for two in a secluded corner of the restaurant. Hanging from the ceiling in the middle of this cafeteria-style restaurant were two large flat screen TVs facing opposite directions. The show of choice was the 9 o'clock news. It wasn't necessarily something I wanted to watch without sound while eating, but it was there.
The menus were very long with several pages of dishes displayed in both pictures and lists. The dishes were listed in both English and Chinese. They had a couple of American dishes on the menu, some American-Chinese dishes that you would see at any old restaurant, some French dishes, and then some unusual dishes. A lot of the dishes had things like duck tongue, fresh frog, chicken feet, and pigs feet in it. There were also unusual root vegetables--names I couldn't even fathom.
At first, I found the menu to be overbearing, with so many choices and not much that I recognized. I eventually found a section for fried rice but ended up skipping it. I looked on the menu for something different but not too different. I ended up ordering sauteed beef with some root vegetable and XO sauce. I really didn't know what to expect except that there was a picture of it in the menu. My friend, who was slightly less adventurous chose the orange chicken. We also ordered Fried Wontons to start off.
The fried wontons were my favorite part of the meal. I was expecting something more like potstickers, but that is not what we got. Instead, these were deep fried crispy wonton wrappers filled with shrimp and chicken. They came with a sweet dipping sauce. The were delicious. I could have eaten the whole plate. My beef dish was...ok. The root vegetable had a taste to it that I didn't really like very much--of course I don't know what it was, so I will probably end up ordering it again before I remember that I don't like it. The rice was good though. I also enjoyed her orange chicken and took the leftovers home for later. To drink I ordered hot tea and she ordered rose tea with milk. Her tea came in a plastic take home container. My tea came with the bag still in it in a diner-style coffee mug. We also had glasses of water on our table.
We finished off our meal by ordering the mochi sampler platter. I had eaten Japanese mochi before so I knew what to expect for the outside made with rice flour, however, I never expected what would be on the inside. The rice flour gelatin was covered with shaved coconut. Each of the four mochi balls were filled with something different. The first one I tried had crushed peanuts and sesame seeds inside, it tasted like crunchy peanut butter and was very dry. My friend's was filled with red bean paste. The other two we ate the next day. One had a grainy black paste that tasted sweet and the other had pieces of mango in it. I liked the mango one best, but I don't know if I would order these again, I'll stick to Japanese mochi ice cream.
I must note, that the service at this restaurant was not what you would expect--unless maybe this is how Chinese service is in China. The waiters only came by the table if you called them there by raising your arm and getting their attention. I was raised that this is rude behavior and felt weird doing that. Luckily, all of our dining neighbors felt no shame in calling the waiters over so we fed off them catching the waiters. It was really hard to get them, but when they did come by they were quite speedy in getting us what we wanted.
Next time I go here, I want to go with someone who is Chinese and can tell me what to order. I had a lot of trouble choosing off the vast menu.
Tasty Garden
1212 South Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007
Map
No comments:
Post a Comment