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| - I was jonesing for some real Chinese food, so after trekking out to 168 Market to do some grocery shopping, I stopped here for lunch. No, it's not all that close, but at least it's on the same bus line. Besides, I wanted some taro yogurt from Queen yogurt and some winter melon buns from Sunshine Bakery afterwards.
I had the Ma's Spicy Diced Chicken, and had to persuade the waitress to make it good and spicy. I also had the stir-fried eggplant and long beans because they were out of ong choy. The only thing I didn't care for was that both dishes were too similar in color and flavor, although individually each dish was really, really good. The chicken was extremely salty (probably from all the preserved black beans) and chewy without being stringy. And there were plenty of both fresh and dried hot peppers. Chewy chicken suited the dish far better than mystery soft meat or tender chunks of white meat ever would (ugh).
Next time I'll have a lamb dish, or a dried tofu dish, or chairman Mao's pork, or some other pork dish. There are lots of appealing offerings on the menu.
Now, if you are used to Panda Express and P.F. Changs and like that Americanized style of Chinese food, they have a list of those kinds of dishes too, but I'd guess that you get what you deserve if you order them. I'm as fair-skinned and blue-eyed as any other gaijin, but when I want Chinese food, I want **Chinese** food, and this place delivers.
The decor is pretty spartan, but not as spartan as Yun Nan Garden next door.
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