Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 18, 1994 TAG: 9403180217
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOLORES KOSTELNI SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Both China Star at Hollins Plantation Plaza and Double Dragon in Market Square North conduct efficient operations specializing in off-premise eating. Because these are low-overhead businesses, generous portions are the rule. Several tables and chairs are available to accommodate walk-ins who want to eat on the spot.
During lunch and dinner rush hours, their kitchens radiate high energy. Four people perform their respective tasks in nonstop motion: one whacking the cleaver, another stir-frying on the range, a third cooking and packaging, the fourth taking phone orders, getting drinks, packing bags and manning the cash register.
Peking Duck, near Hollins College and in the same building occupied by Shogun for many years, fills the need in this particular area for a true sit-down Chinese restaurant serving homestyle preparations.
With some budget-stretching exceptions, prices range about the same at all three places.
China Star
With delicate lace curtains on the windows and framed posters decorating painted walls, this minimal decor and overall cleanliness add up to a pleasant environment. Another plus pictured on the menu: No MSG added to the food. The more than 100 dishes listed give ample room to maneuver into all sorts of combination platters and to roam all over the Pacific - even with a merry mix-up of dissimilar ingredients as those in ``Hawaii Five `0''' ($9.25) - a veritable feast of diced chicken, pork, shrimp, scallops, lobster and Chinese vegetables in a mysterious but tasty sauce.
Deliciously tender and shiny with its mahogany coat of sauce, an abundant portion of General Tso's chicken ($7.95) pairs with an adequate side serving of broccoli florets and steamed rice. Its play of sweet, tangy and hot delights the taste buds. Another exciting dish, ta-chen chicken ($7.45), combines fork-tender poultry with fish and vegetables in a zingy sauce that needs its side of rice to calm it down.
Roast pork strips with crunchy broccoli ($3.40/pint; $6.50/quart) packs a flavor wallop. Curry shrimp with onion ($4.25/pint; $7.95/quart) has levels of spice intensity from sweet to mild to hot. Richly flavored roast pork with black bean sauce ($3.40/pint; $6.50/quart) is something to write home about.
Neither the eight steamed dumplings ($3.75) with their doughy envelopes nor mei fun ($7.25), the enormous tangle of plain rice noodles with a few slivered vegetables, comes together in attractiveness, balance or taste.
Take-out containers are neatly, if not artfully, packed, with each item secure in its own section of the plastic-covered aluminum trays. These are stacked with corrugated cardboard separators in heavy-weight, supermarket size brown paper bags. For carrying convenience, these brown bags are placed in large plastic bags with handles. I traveled an hour with two bags of goodies covered with a blanket in my trunk during the 30-degree weather of a few weeks ago. When I arrived home, everything stayed hot enough for immediate eating.
Double Dragon
Fat, brown egg rolls ($1) open to reveal a filling of shredded cabbage with a scattering of red specs caught in its web plus overlapping white layers of dough the deep-frying oil had not penetrated. Chubby steamed dumplings ($3.75) come eight to a serving and contain a zesty meat ball stuffing that squirts out of its heavy dough casing with the fork's first cut. An abundance of cold sesame noodles ($3) satisfies the daily craving for pasta with a hot chili-oil-spiked soy sauce dressing.
Bargain-priced dinner specials at $4.95 all come with a heap of soy sauce-tinted pork fried rice. Two of the better entrees are the beef with snow peas and curry chicken with onions. Both colorful dishes include tender strands of meat of poultry with an assortment of vegetables enveloped in a well-seasoned sauce.
General Tso's chicken, notable for the large portion, has three small broccoli florets separating the main attraction from the rice. These dry, tough, overly fried nuggets required sharper teeth than any of us possessed.
Moo goo gai pan, lovely with its assortment of bright vegetables enveloped in a sheer white sauce, could not be consumed beyond the first mouthful because of its bitter flavor. Mixed vegetables, an array of ripple-cut carrots, snow peas, onions, celery and lots of cabbage ribs in a cornstarch-thickened gravy, went well with the piles of fried rice remaining from our dinners.
Unfortunately, a chalky, dry taste coated our mouths after eating a portion from each of these meals, and were were exceedingly thirsty for hours. I spoke with food scientist Shirley Corriher in Atlanta about these symptoms. She explained: ``These reactions - excessive thirst, a chalky, dry and bitter taste coating the mouth - are responses to MSG having been used in the food preparation.''
Peking Duck
Reasonable prices, smiling hospitality and basic, filling homestyle Chinese food are the outstanding features here. Although the daily lunch buffet ($4.50) features a host of the usual stir-fried, fried and braised dishes displayed in a steam table, we opted for entrees from the menu.
Six steamed dumplings ($3.95), fat with meat stuffing and covered in a nice thin dough blanket, sparked the appetite, especially after a dunking in its accompanying green-onion-flecked soy sauce. Hot and sour soup ($1.25), a thick conglomeration of ingredients - sliced mushrooms, daikon strips, chicken, pork, noodles, egg - lacked balance and punch despite a layer of flavor-carrying oil on top and numerous shots of soy sauce from the bottle.
For vegetarians, bean cake family style ($5.75) sounds like a good idea. It features fried slices of fresh curd combined with crisply cooked mixed vegetables in a nicely spiced sauce. Although attractive and tasty, especially combined with the fluffy rice, the oily bean curd disappointed and detracted from the healthfulness of the dish.
A well-seasoned shrimp lo mein ($5.50) filled a dish to overflowing. Besides tender shrimp, it included onion, carrots, celery and a few other crunchy vegetables. Sweet and sour shrimp ($4.25) received applause. Six plump, lightly battered shrimp sat prettily amid the balanced shiny red sauce.
Both the tea and water received unanimous complaints from our group of six because of noticeable and persistent unpleasant flavors.
At the end of the meal, the hostess brought a special house dessert of sugar-flecked fried dumplings filled with red bean paste. A surprise, indeed, and these tasty morsels concluded the meal on a gracious note.
\ CHINA STAR
4822 Hollins Road,
Hollins Plantation Plaza
366-3888, 366-3262
HOURS: Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sunday, noon-10 p.m.
PRICE RANGE: $2.10-$10.50
BEVERAGES: soft drinks, free tea
CREDIT CARDS: None; personal checks accepted
RESERVATIONS: None; call at least 10 minutes in advance for take-out
NONSMOKING SECTION: yes
\ DOUBLE DRAGON
7232 Williamson Road,
Market Square North
265-0393, 265-0394
HOURS: Monday-Thursday,11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
PRICE RANGE: $2.75-$10.75
BEVERAGES: soft drinks, free tea
CREDIT CARDS: None; personal checks accepted
RESERVATIONS: None; call at least 5 minutes in advance for take-out
NONSMOKING SECTION: no
\ PEKING DUCK
7650 Williamson Road
362-2239
HOURS: Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.
PRICE RANGE: $4.50-$14
BEVERAGES: beer, wine, soft drinks, coffee, tea
CREDIT CARDS: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club
RESERVATIONS: Only for large groups
NONSMOKING SECTION: yes
by CNB