House of Nanking: Best Chinese Food I've Ever Had
Written: Jan 26 '08
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Food and Presentation: |
 |
|
| Ambiance and Decor: |
 |
|
| Quality of Service: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Great food
Cons: Aged facilities, cramped space, indifferent staff
The Bottom Line: Try House of Nanking. You'll get to see China Town and the famed streets of San Francisco, made famous in the movies, and you'll sample superb Chinese cuisine
|
|
|
| swopedesign's Full Review: House of Nanking |
I was introduced to House of Nanking by my friend. We were attending MacWorld San Francisco this year (2008), and this is one of his favorite restaurants. He's never had a bad experience here. He attends MWSF every year. We went on Tuesday evening at 8 PM.
To my surprise, House of Nanking is smaller than expected. All-in-all, it will only seat about 50 people, all elbow to elbow. Literally. Fortunately, there was only a small line, and since there were only two of us, we were ushered in quickly, in under 5 minutes, by the owner himself.
The owner himself also served us. As my friend had done before, he told the owner to choose our dinners for us. So he did. At his last visit my friend drank the beer with his food, and he thought that the two didn't go well together, clashed. So we chose to drink water.
As we waited for our food to arrive, I looked around more closely at the restaurant. House of Nanking has two dining rooms. What may have started as one dining room in China Town appears to have expanded to two dining rooms at twice the rent. The lighting was suprisingly dim, about half the light of restaurants I'm accustomed to, lit like a bar. No two tables were alike. No two dishes were alike, either, I noticed. It looked like they replaced dishes one or two at a time when needed. Plain brown boxes of supplies were stacked at the back of the restaurant in plain view of diners. Everyone in the second dining room had to walk past them to enter and leave the room. As one might guess, though the restaurant was not filthy, years of crud (for lack of a better word) had accrued in the corners and nooks and crannies. House of Nanking reminded me of small, older New York restaurants I've visited in many ways.
Wait staff were not dressed in any clear dress code. Service was adequate, but the staff did not smile and only spoke to diners when necessary, it seemed. The owner was dressed in a thick brown wool sweater, like one that my undergraduate professor and friend John Gilgun had given to me 20 years ago. I seem to recall that the owner wore denim jeans.
The diners all enjoyed themselves and their food, that was clear. Many told the owner and/or staff how satisfied they were with their food. Each group of diners talked loudly at their tables, smiling and laughing. They were clearly comfortable. Most seemed to be between 23-48 years old.
Our food arrived in due time. The owner had selected two dishes and a soup for our meal. One dish featured shrimp, spinach leaves, red peppers. The other dish featured mushrooms, spinach leaves, and chicken, I believe. Both were covered in dark, though different sauces. But both dishes were to die for! They were delicious. We couldn't get enough of either dish. The soup was likewise delicious, and I found myself wishing we had more of everything, or at least just one more serving!
I've never had better Chinese food than House of Nanking's. Chinese food here in the Midwest pales in comparison. Most are standard Chinese fare, bland, nearly tasteless. Some of the best Chinese food I've had has been from Dillons grocery stores, your standard Chinese buffet items, i.e. sweet and sour, sesame and lemony chicken, egg rolls, fried rice, etc.
After we had cleared our plates of every scrap and emptied our soup dishes of every drop, and began working on our second glass of water, we noticed that the wonderful flavors we had just enjoyed continued to linger in our mouths and make them water. We dearly wanted more! My friend commented that the beer he had last time must have ruined the flavor of his dinner, because the flavor of his meal last time didn't linger like this.
As we walked thru China Town back to our hotel, we still savored the meal. The taste lingered the rest of the evening, in fact. The experience was astounding!
My meal at the House of Nanking was simply the best Chinese food I've ever experienced, and has ruined me for other Chinese restaurants. The Chinese restaurants and buffets here in Wichita now pale in comparison. They just aren't the same as before.
The only thing that would have made the experience better is a smiling, friendly staff.
Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: No
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations Be prepared for a line, especially on the weekends
Best Suited For: Friends
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
swopedesign
|
|
Member: Mike Swope
Location: Wichita, KS
Reviews written: 37
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Graphic/web designer. Grew brother's retail tire business. Now managing a similar long-established business.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2008 Shopping.com, Inc.