Adventure 26: Cafe Anh Hong
Confession: I don't like Chinese food.
For some reason it seems un-american to admit this? It's mostly because I have a hard time finding a menu item at any Chinese place I've been to that isn't heavy and leaves me feeling slightly sick from the grease. It's this reason that I avoid it. However, when I stopped to have Korean food and found it was closed, I opted for Cafe Anh Hong next door. It did claim to be the best Chinese food in town!
Cafe Anh Hong is located in a little strip mall on State Street, you know that part of state street that seems to have a Chinese restaurant on every corner. That's because it does.
The inside was delightfully kitschy.
The middle-aged woman who greeted me was very pleasant, though a woman of few words. There were a few other customers in the dinning area, all speaking what sounded to me to be Cantonese. This gave me confidence that the food might be less of a pandering-to-an-American-audience version of Chinese food.
I noticed when I was seated there were pictures under the table top of the menu items. I ordered the item that looked the lightest from the picture, the Singapore chow mei fun. It was also marked as hot and spicy which excited me.
It was then that my dim sum item arrived, shrimp, leek dumpling.
Check out this massive amount of food. I sure wish I had someone there to share this with. I felt overwhelmed.
The inside of the dumpling.
A trepidatious bite for the girl that never eats fried food!
There was a loud-ish Chinese (from the sound of the background music) soap opera playing on the TV. The woman helping me was very entertained by it. I heard her chuckle several times.
The amount of food left was a lot, and worked well for my dinner.
I sort of feel like the fortune cookie gods knew about my adventure trek I'm on.
For some reason it seems un-american to admit this? It's mostly because I have a hard time finding a menu item at any Chinese place I've been to that isn't heavy and leaves me feeling slightly sick from the grease. It's this reason that I avoid it. However, when I stopped to have Korean food and found it was closed, I opted for Cafe Anh Hong next door. It did claim to be the best Chinese food in town!
Cafe Anh Hong is located in a little strip mall on State Street, you know that part of state street that seems to have a Chinese restaurant on every corner. That's because it does.
The inside was delightfully kitschy.
The middle-aged woman who greeted me was very pleasant, though a woman of few words. There were a few other customers in the dinning area, all speaking what sounded to me to be Cantonese. This gave me confidence that the food might be less of a pandering-to-an-American-audience version of Chinese food.
I noticed when I was seated there were pictures under the table top of the menu items. I ordered the item that looked the lightest from the picture, the Singapore chow mei fun. It was also marked as hot and spicy which excited me.
Though I knew the chow mei fun would be more than enough food, I couldn't stop myself from ordering an item from the 'dim sum' menu. A sort of a-la-cart compact dish. The options all looked exotic an interesting, but I ended up choosing a menu item with ingredients I was familiar with.
The chow mei fun arrived first. It was a heaping platter of what tasted to me like rice vermicelli with potato sprouts, green onions, eggs, and to my shagrin, a couple of kinds of red meat. So much for my 'light' meal. I knew once I started eating this heap of noodles there was no way I'd be finishing it.
Oh, also, I was provided with a fork to eat with, nothing else. I can't remember the last time I ate Chinese food without chopsticks. It felt foreign, almost like I forgot how use a fork.
It was then that my dim sum item arrived, shrimp, leek dumpling.
Check out this massive amount of food. I sure wish I had someone there to share this with. I felt overwhelmed.
The inside of the dumpling.
A trepidatious bite for the girl that never eats fried food!
There was a loud-ish Chinese (from the sound of the background music) soap opera playing on the TV. The woman helping me was very entertained by it. I heard her chuckle several times.
The amount of food left was a lot, and worked well for my dinner.
I sort of feel like the fortune cookie gods knew about my adventure trek I'm on.
Though I don't think I could eat here more than once or twice a year with my particular palate, the food was really delicious, and different. I believe the food to be the kind you'd actually find in China in a gourmet restaurant. Though my credibility with that claim is weak, as I've never been to China. The dishes on the menu were varied and interesting. Also it's tucked away a bit, and you'd need someone to tell you it's good before you'd probably try it. If you're a Chinese food lover, this is definitely worth the 5 minute drive south of downtown.
Time spent on adventure: 30 minutes
Money spent: $10.60 (with tip)
Recommendation: 7 out of 10 adventure points!
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