Nyonya Asian Cuisine, Sandy Springs GA
Nyonya Asian Cuisine is a little hard to categorize. Though it advertises itself as (among other things) “a spirited fusion of flavor”, to a large extent the menu is common to dozens of neighborhood American-Chinese eateries sprinkled throughout the United States, and whose cuisine, culture, and origins have been exhaustively documented by Jennifer 8 Lee. It does add some Thai and Malay touches, and various Nyonya “specials”, but these additions don’t dominate the cuisine. The additional foods and spices are more a garnish on the neighborhood Chinese concept as opposed to the center of the restaurant.
There are Malay restaurants in this town, such as Rasa Sayang and Penang, both good but really timid representations of Malaysian cuisine. I once had a Malay coworker of Chinese origin. She would share her food. I know what she ate, and I also know that anything she made for me that I could eat, she had to prepare specially. In short, it was the hottest cuisine I’ve ever been exposed to, and you can’t find a hint of that in Rasa Sayang or Penang.
I was curious about what Malay foods Nyonya might have, and honestly, how hot their food could get. I chose the hottest item on their menu and then didn’t say anything else about how I wanted it prepared. I ordered their rendang beef, the hottest item on their lunch menu.
To note, the inside of the restaurant is pretty. It’s clear within a moment’s glance that this restaurant goes out of their way to please people. If it’s the neighborhood Chinese, then in terms of service, it’s a best of breed. I saw tables where the meals were being served with brown rice instead of white rice. They just seemed to be going out of their way for their customers.
First to arrive was a salad. It was pretty, small squares of starch sitting atop good looking lettuce leaves. It wasn’t a huge portion, but lunch sides never are. Soon after, the Rendang beef arrived. It had just enough spice for me to say, that yes, they understand how to make foods hot. But as “medium heat” entrees go, a little on the mild side. It was though, a good dish, quite full of flavor.
I don’t want to make too much of a fuss about heat, because they have a “request” level of heat. If the staff here has any familarity with the more common 4 level heat scale used in this city (mild, medium, hot, ethnically hot), then they could easily make food I couldn’t eat. Their stock heat says more about their clientele than it does about how spicy they can make food.
As of the moment, and without more visits, all I can tell you is that Nyonya is cut above your local neighborhood restaurant. It will offer you hints of different flavors, a touch of Malay or Thai styles in an otherwise Chinese base cuisine. More than anything though, I just get the feeling they’re very willing here to go the extra mile to please customers. And so, I’d class them as a Chinese equivalent of a restaurant such as L’Thai Organic.
Verdict: If you want your General Tso’s with a side that offers a hint of coconut milk and lemongrass, and service that’s better than most, Nyonya is certainly a restaurant worth considering.
Atlantic Buffet Sushi and Grill, Snellville GA
here is a hint of the old Badayori in Atlantic Buffet Sushi and Grill. This is a restaurant that pays attention to appearances, and whose foods are well displayed. It’s only a hint though. There is none of the air of “conspicuous consumption” that drove some of Badayori’s over the top offerings. No “palm heart” salads, no plates of artichoke hearts. The sushi range from surprisingly good to surprisingly confusing. Unlike Badayori, which had excellent consistency in the beginning, the classic Chinese buffet dishes in the Atlantic Buffet are sometimes good and sometimes ordinary. The crawfish lacked spice. Cauliflower were overcooked. The scallops with black bean sauce were shockingly devoid of black beans.
This place truly shines, though, when you get to the line of their grilled foods, especially the mushrooms, zucchini, and mackerel. The mackerel, especially, is amazingly good. We went back for seconds and thirds on Atlantic’s line of grilled foods.
It’s inexpensive for this kind of eating. $10.99 per adult, with soft drinks $1.59 each. The breads are good here, and they keep warm rolls in a carousel, along with slices of pizza.
It’s clear they’re just getting started, and the service, though, is really excellent. Plates disappear from tables and people are around, refilling drinks constantly.
Highly recommended. Get here fast. Buffets arrive in “blow you away” fashion and can change on a dime.
Tasty China, Marietta GA
It’s a smaller shop and hard to see from the road, famed these days for being the original home of Peter Chang’s spicy cooking. We came on a weekend, to check it out and see. I didn’t even see the place until my daughter finally said, “Dad, turn HERE.”
Inside, we arrived right as several large groups must have left, and there were several large groups still eating. We were seated quickly, but then we had to wait for service. There was no cutlery on the table once we were seated. None arrived until we explicitly asked for it – after we were served food. Given that there appeared to be two staffers working the tables, I’m not entirely surprised. Overwhelmed, you know?
Once we started ordering I think half the time we were told, “I’m sorry, we’re out of this dish. Can you order another?” I know for a fact this cut my wife out of some dishes she really wanted to try, the dry fried eggplant being dish #1 in her eyes.
We started with a tofu and mushroom soup. It was good. Nothing mind blowing, but good.
We also had mushroom with wild pepper. It’s a cold dish and if you’re not prepared for the cold dishes, they’ll seem off putting to you. But I like the variety of mushrooms you can get in a Chinese restaurant.
We ordered Shan City chicken, as my daughter has decided the various incarnations of this dish around the city are “her” food. This was an excellent version, reason enough on its own to come here.
I tried a duck dish. It ended up deep fried, and I felt something of a disappointment. I don’t think fried duck has as much appeal as oven based treatments, where it’s possible to have very distinct texture and flavor differences in a single bite of food. Duck skin can be very different from duck fat, and in turn you have the richness of the meat. Frying makes it all the same.
It has to be noted that all the dishes looked like they were being prepared for the eyes. They’re visually fantastic. Colors are striking on the plate and the food always seems to look like an explosion of rich color.
In all we had a highly mixed experience. Some of it was just the day. We arrived just past a peak and were dealing with an overburdened staff and shortages in the kitchen. Certainly not ideal, in any sense. I’d say that the plusses were enough to recommend the place, but the minuses are substantial. If you need excellent staff and any dish on the menu, regardless, this isn’t the place to choose. If you don’t mind a hit or miss meal with a few “knock you dead” dishes, this place can deliver.
Canton House, Chamblee GA
By far the best known dim sum restaurant in the Atlanta area, we’ve been going for a long while, but we hadn’t gone since my blog started and we hadn’t gone post my diagnosis with diabetes. Is it possible for a diabetic to eat at Canton House and eat safely? It’s not like a diet of dumplings is going to do me any good.
For those who haven’t had dim sum before, small plates of food, largely dumplings, are brought to each table via carts. You select which items you want and they’re placed on the table, and a count of what you eat is made on a ticket. At the end of the meal, the items you’ve eaten are totaled and you pay for what you ate. To note, dim sum are the food items and the service style is called yum cha.
When I first encountered dim sum, it was generally served only around lunch. In San Francisco, dim-sum, rather than just being a breakfast or lunch thing ( e.g. Ton Kiang) is served well into the night. The street sign above suggests that it’s beginning to become the same in Atlanta as well.
In terms of items to eat, Canton House had plates other than dumplings on the menu as well, such as eggplant
and Chinese broccoli.
There was a fish filet and also clams with black bean sauce. All three of these made my task easier.
Of course they have dumplings as well, and plenty of them with pork and shrimp. Just my take on this kind of eating, but you don’t want to overload on the variety of ways they can serve shrimp. Get enough for the taste and eat other things as well.
This dumpling was stuffed with barbecue. Neat, that.
And to end, my wife just had to have sesame balls. She loves these things.
Service was really good this day. Overall, Canton House is a great little eatery. Highly recommended.
Prawns and scallops in garlic sauce, Lavender Asian Bistro, Lawrenceville GA
One of the more reliable restaurants near Snellville, I’m partial to Lavender Asian Bistro because of their efficient, responsive staff. This dish is pretty good – fine ingredients – though this day it had neither the richness of garlic flavor nor the spice I prefer.
Gu’s Bistro, Doraville GA
It was an event organized by the 285 Foodies crew, and I caught wind of it through a personal invitation by Mike “Gadgetgeek” Stock. I was hesitant. He told me to sign up, and he’d make sure it all went well. In retrospect, I’m glad he did, because the event was pretty fantastic and I’m both overly stuffed and grateful for the opportunity this group gave me.Gu’s Bistro lies about one block north of Buford Highway Farmer’s Market, in a strip mall mostly full of wholesale stores these days. It’s a bit off the highway, so you need to drive into what appears to be a half-abandoned mall. It’s in the same location as the now-defunct Chong Qing Restaurant. When I drove up and saw it, I thought I recognized the location. I have a photo, too blurry to scope out the name of the place.
It was a large crew, 27 at final count. It was a 15 course meal. No, I can’t remember all of it. Some of the photos came after people ate. Not everything is pristine. Some photos are of personal servings, some are the “left behinds”. That said, let’s start working our way through the food.
Lotus root was an appetizer and it was good. Spicing reminded me of a lighter version of the cumin lamb served later. It has some starches, and so would be considered a carb in an exchange diet. 3/4 cup would equal one exchange.
Husband and wife (meat and lung) was good. There were a series of dumplings and noodle dishes about this time. I didn’t eat those. Doesn’t work with my diet.
Spicy chicken in hot pot was good, richly spiced, and reminded me of the excellent soups in the Chinatown food court. The fish maw soup was very well received, and the stuffed tofu surprised everyone.
Squirrel fish was a pretty dish. The version of dry fried string beans we had here was respectable.
Cumin lamb and the tea leaf duck were excellent, the smoked duck, when you could get a dark burned looking piece, approaching the sublime. Not everyone at the meeting agreed with me and the cumin lamb. I ended up taking some of that home.
After the meal, the chef came out and greeted us. I wish my photo of Julia (Foodgeek) and the chef had come out. Having a great photo of the two people most responsible for this meal would have been a terrific ender to this article. Let’s just end instead by suggesting that if you have the opportunity to share a meal with this crew, it will be memorable.
A return to Peter Chang’s
It was a Saturday afternoon. We were told it would be a 35 minute wait. It ended up being a 55 minute wait. Though I didn’t know it at the time, Atl Food Critic was in the line as well. My wife was not in the best mood by the time she was seated, but eventually, the food that arrived at the table made up for it.
The dry fried eggplant was really good. My wife thought it was awesome. She said, “crispy, spicy and dry on the outside, creamy but not mushy inside.” It’s a dish, like Shan City chicken, that’s best when eaten as soon as possible. Later in the meal, it was merely good as opposed to amazing.
Dry fried green beans. We all liked this version. This dish, in our opinion, is pretty good across the city, but the slivers of garlic and generally more sophisticated spicing was a hit with us.
This is spicy chicken with steamed bok choy, a dish that Atlanta Food Snob has already described. It is a large dish – the plate is easily a foot across. The taste of the dish is surprisingly meaty. This was the other big shocker at our table. Just how did Peter Chang’s crew get so much umami out of mere chicken and a steamed vegetable? The partial answer is the heavy use of onions, but certainly that isn’t all of it.
This was/is Shan City chicken, after my wife told the waitress to make it milder for my daughter. All I can say is, don’t ask them to make this dish milder. They will replace peppers with cilantro and the dish just isn’t the same. With this dish, the hotter the better, both in terms of freshness and pepperiness.
Fiery lamb. I was a little disappointed in this dish, not for any issues of spice. With very lean lamb and this kind of spicing, there really is no difference between lamb and beef. I had two bites where I could tell I was eating lamb. Otherwise, I should have just ordered the fiery beef. That said, the mix of vegetables here, the textures, reminded me why I liked Chinese back in the days when bamboo and water chestnuts were a new and mysterious wonder.
My daughter’s explanation is a little more evocative: “It’s not gamey enough.”
So that, in summary, was our meal this past Saturday. Two surprising dishes, two not as good as we would have liked, and one old favorite. Oh wait, two. My wife is amazingly fond of these:
Ming BBQ’s Salt and Pepper Duck Tongue
Ming’s has a main menu, and then there is a menu with pictures, of specials. It’s in the “specials” menu that you can find a photo of their salt and pepper duck tongue. Never had it before, so had to try it.
There is a little ‘bone’ in the middle of the tongue. You can’t eat that. Otherwise, it all tastes good.
Peter Chang’s, Sandy Springs GA
New and hot as can be, Peter Chang’s new eatery is a bit more approachable than many of the “it” restaurants that spring up in and around Atlanta. Less than 5 minutes off exit 22 on I-285, this restaurant is half hidden by trees and beside a small body of water on Powers Ferry Road.
Inside, it’s roomy and luxurious. Staff are dressed in white, are attentive and respectful. People greet friends with effuse hugs and squeals of joy. Men in suits play close attention to their sons, who ignore their fathers in favor of their personal cell phones.
Black ear fungus with wild pepper
It comes out as flamboyantly as any plate of fajitas might, smoky and sizzling. The tastes however, are bold and rounded, rich on the tongue. Spice isn’t ignored. Peter Chang’s one pepper dishes are as hot as many two pepper dishes in this town. That said, the heat in this one enhances the flavor, as opposed to torching it away. Towards the end, flavors like cumin and coriander emerge, as if a touch of the Muslim west teases the tongue.
I tried to eat only half of this dish, and failed miserably.
I haven’t explored enough to render any kind of final verdict, but for now, a hearty thumbs up to the new sister to Tasty China. I’ll be back, and I’m sure I’ll have my family in tow.
Man Chun Hong, Doraville GA
Girls, model pretty and impossibly thin, are chatting with their boyfriends. Young gay men are conversing, voices so silvery I look up, expecting to see a girl. Young serious Asian males with razor thin eyeglasses are sipping tea, looking as if they should be in a revolutionary Parisian coffeehouse of a previous century. Asian families of fifteen or twenty are celebrating a birthday. These are typical clientele of Man Chun Hong, a well respected and popular Chinese eatery in Doraville. It is well known for good food, great noodles, and huge portions.
It’s also a difficult eatery to puzzle out. Those huge portions make it much harder to explore the large menu – or menus, as they have an American-Chinese/Korean-Chinese menu and then an authentic Chinese menu here. So recently I came here with my family, in part to show them Man Chun Hong and perhaps, to explore their foods a little deeper.
Mussels from Man Chun Hong (American menu)
Lots of coriander and cumin in this lamb (Chef's Special, Chinese menu)
Ordering has been a little different each time. My first time it was the American menu without question. Second time, I was handed the American menu and senior staff then countermanded what my waitress did, and gave me the Chinese menu (both menus are in Chinese and English). When my family arrived, we received the Chinese menu without question (Soon after, the wait staff were trying to speak to my wife in Chinese).
Man Chun Hong starts meals with kimchi, as an appetizer. A spinach and tofu soup soon followed. My wife loved the soup.
We also ordered dry fried green beans. Those were a hit.
Entrees this time were a fish dish recommended by our waitress, a beef dish similar to the lamb, and my wife asked for something with “chicken and plenty of vegetables, but spicy”. There was some negotiating there.
“Do you want any specific kinds of vegetables?”
“No, just plenty of them.”
Having just finished the Fortune Cookie Chronicles I was silently wondering whether my wife would end up with broccoli in her dish. She did. But the richness of the spicing, and the variety did please my wife. She ended up with something she liked a lot.
My daughter chose a beef dish, after flirting with the lamb I had ordered. We all had mixed opinions of it. My wife vastly preferred her chicken. My daughter liked other dishes more. I thought there was nothing wrong with her beef, though I thought the coriander and cumin of the lamb dish I had previously had more ‘zing’.
I had a spicy fish soup, mixed with plenty of vegetables. I had picked and unpicked foods several times. We were walking through the possibilities, and this is where we stopped. When tasting, phrases that come to mind: spicy, fishy, oily, good, too much too eat. It made great leftovers.
We had plenty of leftovers.
Verdict: A blogger favorite, Man Chun Hong is a versatile restaurant with a big reputation for excellent noodles. Highly recommended.
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