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| - My partner and I see a woman making dumplings in the window of Northern Chinese Cuisine. The food in the pictures displayed on the windows and doors looks good.
We go inside and sat down. The waitress offers us tea. We accept the offer, and ask for beers as well. We get the beers, while we wait for the tea.
Soon, we make our order. I order (in Mandarin) dry-fried green beans, di san xian (ground three fresh--deep-fried eggplants and potatoes sauteed with green pepper), chive, egg and pork pot stickers, beef rolls, and lamb skewers.
Within about 10 minutes, the first dish arrives. The green beans are tough, but the flavor is alright.
We get the beef rolls next. They are decent.
Next, the waitress brings our di san xian. The eggplant looks like mush, and the entire dish is sitting in a pool of greasy soup. The plate looks like someone tried to make the dish for the first time, and failed.
We don't get our tea.
Our pot stickers come next. We are on our second and third pot sticker, when I detect the familiar crunch of a dried shrimp. I don't say anything, not wanting to ruin the dish for my partner unless I'm sure (my partner's allergic to shrimp). I confirm that the crunchiness I taste in my mouth is indeed dried shrimp.
The lamb skewers arrive last. They mostly consist of the non-meaty part of the lamb--fat and tendon.
Overall, the only good dish is the beef rolls.
We are thoroughly disappointed. My partner politely asks for the di san xian to be removed from our bill, as we have left the majority of it uneaten. The waitress gave us $5 off our bill.
On our way home, we pass by another party that was also dining at Northern Chinese Cuisine. "How was your food?" I ask one woman of the party.
"Salty," she replies.
We will not be returning to this restaurant.
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