Solid. This is just a real solid Chinese place and it's so surprising that it's in this totally random street in the middle of nowhere. I would have never found this place if it wasn't for my friend Neel, who is also a fellow food lover. He was a huge fan of this place and I trust his judgement, so I was totally up for going there after work one day.
If you didn't know about it in advance, you could literally walk past it and never know. My initial impression when I walked in was that it's got this old world feel to it and as well as a slight mom and pop feel to it. But it's also much cleaner than your usual Chinatown haunt, which is always much appreciated. Despite it's non-Chinatown/Flushing location, it was teeming with Chinese customers which is always a great sign. The menu is quite traditional with tons of yummy options that I wished that we had more people with us so that we could try a bunch of different things. Neel and I started with the cold noodles Szechuan style ($6) and then got the steamed whole fish with ginger and scallion ($22) and the kung pao chicken ($12) for kicks. If this were one of those slightly gross Chinese take-out places, I would never order kung pao chicken because they are usually overly breaded and barely has any chicken in it. But Neel mentioned that this one was actually pretty good, so I thought what the heck? The cold noodles were a great appetizer - a perfect small bowl of cold dan dan noodles with the perfect amount of chili oil. I was super excited for the whole fish because it's made my absolute favorite way - steamed tilapia with ginger and scallion. It's incredibly healthy and tasty at the same time. Similar to the fish at Khe-yo, it's served with the head on and bones in. But they do a great job of deboning it as much as possible so that you can focus on the tender meat. Unlike the one at Khe-Yo this one was very light and simple. I was in heaven because this like how my mom makes fish for me at home. I loved spending hours picking this fish apart. I was also pleasantly surprised about the kung pao chicken. It was pure chicken with just a hint of spicy sauce layered on top of it. It wasn't breaded or greasy but a focus on tender cubes of chicken. The dish reminded me of how much a good Chinese chicken dish can be if done correctly.
All in all I was incredibly surprised and pleased with my experience at Cafe China (apparently it also has one MIchelin star?!). It's a fantastic menu, tons of variety, quality ingredients, and super reasonable prices. The main downside is the location but that's a small price to pay for a clean and solid Chinese place. Total bill: $27/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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