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| - Note: They do offer delivery, but according to the menu, it is very limited. I'm guessing they only deliver within the neighborhood of Whitehall.
One again, Caste Village proves to be the South Hills' lost world of well-kept secrets.
It's basically another suburban shopping center, but come here and you'll find some pretty cool places, Silk Road's Gourmet Chinese being just one example.
From the outside, all you can see is a sign and a tinted doorway. Like most Chinese restaurants in the Pittsburgh area, you'd assume that the inside is modest with a small amount of dining space and that they mostly do takeout.
Well to think so in this case was folly. Probably the most lavishly decorated and spacious Chinese eatery I've ever gone to, I kept thinking there couldn't be much more to the place until I kept walking back. I almost wanted a guided tour! Large, flat, abstract sculptures floated over our heads. We ate in some sort of enclosure made of brick and wood. When I peeked around the corner, I saw another enclosed area with circular ceiling drapes for privacy.
No, we were not in Highland Park. Whitehall, kids, Whitehall.
I was ready to give Silk Road 5 stars before we even started our early dinner. The fine Chinese fare only reinforced my preconceived rating.
I went with 2 apps: Beijing Style Potstickers and Skewered Sacha Prawns.
According to the menu, they use pork for the potstickers, and other than that, I have no idea what else they put in them. The potstickers compare favorably to Dormont's Amazing Wok which also have doughy wrappers and obscenely rich meat. There are 6 to an order, plated extravagantly on an artful, rectangular dish.
Pssst. I had forgotten how much fun it can be to eat-in at a Chinese restaurant. It's a totally different deal than takeaway.
My Skewered Sacha Prawns were also aces. I forget how many you get with an order (I think I got 6), and I cannot remember what the marvelous sauce was made of (the takeout menu is barebones in terms of info, but the in-house menu had all the details, and I wish I had photographed the pages or something, arrgh...), but they basically took something you'd get from a Strip District vendor, put it in a limo, and sent it to Mt. Lebanon. Sweet, savory, select.
They have desserts as well, which is uncommon for a Chinese establishment. I almost got the Fried Ice Cream, but instead me and my ladyfriend opted for the Milky Coconut Puffs, and we were glad to have made such an exotic choice. They were like a cross between macaroons and the Indian confection known as Gulab Jamun. Deep fried, honeyed, and not overly sweet, they were a welcome diversion from the sizeable decadence of so many other restaurant desserts.
Not that I don't love sizeable, decadent desserts, now. I'm not wimpin' out on yas, but the Milky Coconut Puffs were a nice change of pace for me. I'm glad we rolled the dice.
As far as the service goes, the staff was efficient and attentive but were also a little harried, curt, and somewhat impersonal, as if they were really busy and were just trying to get us in and out. It didn't affect my experience enough to knock off a star, though.
Journey southward onto the Silk Road and find yourself cruising into a gastronomic Tian.
All right, that was a little over the top. Just go. It's pretty frickin' good Chinese.
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