The Kung Pao Test: Jade Dragon Cuisine (Redmond)

After a short break from Chinese food, I think I'm ready to dive back in, at least for a while.

 

Jade Dragon Cuisine 

17181 Redmond Way 700

Redmond WA 98052

 

Kung Pao chicken $10.25? I think

asked for extra spicy

Pork Spring Roll (2) $4.50

Rice $1

Total bill: $17.33

 

Service: friendly. Laid out like a bar/restaurant. Kitchen visible. One guy greeted me and acted as waiter/bar tender. He was very friendly. I think it was just him and one chef there.

No tea.

 

Initial bite of spring roll was alright. They were nothing special. Fried, not very colorful on the inside. There was a pickled item inside that added nice flavor, but otherwise, this was not something I would order again.

 

It was served with a basic chili garlic sauce probably straight out of the bottle.

This got me thinking. Is duck sauce an east coast thing? I don't think I've seen duck sauce at any restaurant in the Seattle area since I moved here. Sweet garlic chili sauce is extremely similar, but not the same.

 

Initial bite of Kung Pao was heavy on the white pepper. White pepper has a pungent taste that might put some people off. The temperature was also very hot. I could taste the spice, I suppose it was a satisfying level. It was nice that this was not sweet at all. This Kung Pao was probably 85% diced celery and water chestnuts and 10% chicken. The lack of chicken was disguised by all the water chestnuts which were the same color. Overall it was not that great.

Let's play a game of, find the chicken.

 

 

Spice level: medium low. There were no dried chilis in it but there was spiciness.

 

Ingredient quality: good. Everything was crisp.

 

Would I come again? I don't think so. Everyone I interacted with there was very friendly. If I came back for anything it would be that.

If you guessed there were two visible pieces of chicken, then you win.

Twice Cooked Pork: Sichuanese Cuisine

I changed it up today and decided to pay Sichuanese Cuisine in Redmond a second visit.

Twice cooked pork is a very good dish that typically consists of thinly sliced pork belly (like bacon), some veggies, and fermented black beans. I wasn't eating it to review it, so this will be brief.

From Wikipedia, "The Sichuan people are said to have a tradition of enjoying a feast every 1st and 15th of lunar months, with this dish as the main course"

This is a tradition I would like.

Sichuanese's twice cooked pork was very good. It's been years since I've ordered this so I don't have much to compare it too but I really enjoyed it. I also ordered steamed dumplings.
It was a stressful day, and although I wasn't planning on it, I ate Everything: