We spent some time driving around looking for a place to eat , thanks mostly to the fact I had no idea where I was trying to go.
we ended up at the Kingston China Gourmet.
I had wanted to try the place for a while simply because it may be the last sit down, non hibachi, non all you can eat, Chinese place in the city..
CDO NOTE: My favorite sit down Chinese place having been the Kingston Tea Garden , which much to my chagrin , and in the name of endless humor had been shut done by the NY board of Health and its building condemned by the city. Proving once again I can truly eat just about anything.
First thing, if anyone reading this is thinking about opening a restaurant please take this humble advise. Have a separate entrance for "diners" and "pick up". because we were standing in line for a few minutes with the pick up folks not knowing who was going where. with a Chinese man shouting on the phone and back to the kitchen right basically in the entrance. As you Can imagine that kills the ambiance of a restaurant instantly.
As for the interior it is nice, the building was renovated a few years ago and a large vaulted ceiling dining area added which is decorated in all the cheap goodness we have come to expect from small Chinese restaurants. i do wish that the contractors had taken the time to shave the "Georgia Pacific" logo from the timbers they left so lovingly exposed. Yeah I mean that is cheesy to me , I guess I am a lumber snob.
I also noted allot of the china ketch sprawled along the walls was, for sale. So sweet, I can get a Praying Budah with my hot and spicy beef? Awesome!
P.F. Chang's this was obviously not.
Now the Food..
I ordered Pork Dim Sum
and
Hot and Spicy Beef.
Kate ordered
Tuna roll Sushi
and
Orange Chicken
First came a small pickled vegi salad and the lil chips that every Chinese place gives you , they were good I enjoyed the salad, the one thing we did not get was a pot of tea, which most places just bring, so normal is the practice I forgot to ask for one and to tell you the truth I missed having it. (Even the tea garden did that... proving they did have hot running watter)
The 6 Dim Sum came in traditional steaming basket in which they had not been steamed, along with brown sauce. Excellent dim sum. I could have ate a dozen. Well cooked and well spiced. The brown sauce sweet and a bit salty, best when mixed with soy sauce to tell the truth.
The main event..
My Hot and spicy beef was good, don't get me wrong, but not excellent, I was eating it and thinking about the Dim sum. The spice was moderate, the veg well cooked but not killed. I did feel the beef was a bit over done, and probably not the best quality meat I had eaten recently. There were also a number of spice bean looking things in the sauce that mostly fell to the bottom of the bowl. They were very strong in flavor and semi spicy. When I got a spoon full of them they killed any thing else in the dish.
It came with pork Fried Rice which was pretty good. Again a good average,
You have to understand, I was hungry so if they had set a shoe in front of me I would have been just as likely to dribble some soy on it and dig in.
Kate's Chicken was better. The nuggets of chicken were white meat, generous in number, and the breading was nice and crisp.
The nice thing was her veg was cooked but nice and crisp to teh bite. Like good Chinese stir fri veg should be.
The one gripe I have about the excellent chicken is that there were these odd lil dry mushrooms in the bottom of the bowl that were so dehydrated and so weird looking that they were impossible to eat. I mean I tried..I am brave like that, I could not bite through it.. so I have to ask , What the hell were those things?
As for the Tuna roll, we will never know.. it never came. Id did however make an appearance on our bill, we had it removed with no argument from the waitress.
All in all it was not a bad meal, in fact it was pretty good just a bit average.
It adds to my theory that if someone could build and maintain a really good, hing quality, sit down Chinese restaurant in Kingston NY.. they would make a killing
Mark
As for the interior it is nice, the building was renovated a few years ago and a large vaulted ceiling dining area added which is decorated in all the cheap goodness we have come to expect from small Chinese restaurants. i do wish that the contractors had taken the time to shave the "Georgia Pacific" logo from the timbers they left so lovingly exposed. Yeah I mean that is cheesy to me , I guess I am a lumber snob.
I also noted allot of the china ketch sprawled along the walls was, for sale. So sweet, I can get a Praying Budah with my hot and spicy beef? Awesome!
P.F. Chang's this was obviously not.
Now the Food..
I ordered Pork Dim Sum
and
Hot and Spicy Beef.
Kate ordered
Tuna roll Sushi
and
Orange Chicken
First came a small pickled vegi salad and the lil chips that every Chinese place gives you , they were good I enjoyed the salad, the one thing we did not get was a pot of tea, which most places just bring, so normal is the practice I forgot to ask for one and to tell you the truth I missed having it. (Even the tea garden did that... proving they did have hot running watter)
The 6 Dim Sum came in traditional steaming basket in which they had not been steamed, along with brown sauce. Excellent dim sum. I could have ate a dozen. Well cooked and well spiced. The brown sauce sweet and a bit salty, best when mixed with soy sauce to tell the truth.
The main event..
My Hot and spicy beef was good, don't get me wrong, but not excellent, I was eating it and thinking about the Dim sum. The spice was moderate, the veg well cooked but not killed. I did feel the beef was a bit over done, and probably not the best quality meat I had eaten recently. There were also a number of spice bean looking things in the sauce that mostly fell to the bottom of the bowl. They were very strong in flavor and semi spicy. When I got a spoon full of them they killed any thing else in the dish.
It came with pork Fried Rice which was pretty good. Again a good average,
You have to understand, I was hungry so if they had set a shoe in front of me I would have been just as likely to dribble some soy on it and dig in.
Kate's Chicken was better. The nuggets of chicken were white meat, generous in number, and the breading was nice and crisp.
The nice thing was her veg was cooked but nice and crisp to teh bite. Like good Chinese stir fri veg should be.
The one gripe I have about the excellent chicken is that there were these odd lil dry mushrooms in the bottom of the bowl that were so dehydrated and so weird looking that they were impossible to eat. I mean I tried..I am brave like that, I could not bite through it.. so I have to ask , What the hell were those things?
As for the Tuna roll, we will never know.. it never came. Id did however make an appearance on our bill, we had it removed with no argument from the waitress.
All in all it was not a bad meal, in fact it was pretty good just a bit average.
It adds to my theory that if someone could build and maintain a really good, hing quality, sit down Chinese restaurant in Kingston NY.. they would make a killing
Mark
