重慶美味川菜
22371 El Toro Rd #A
Lake Forest, CA 92630
(949) 380-8869
Szechuan cuisine is one of Dr. P's favorites. He said that one thing he misses about LA is spicy Chinese food. Thanks to Wen's blog, I found a spicy Chinese restaurant in Orange County, Taste of Asia. If Wen said it's a good restaurant, it must be good!
Taste of Asia is in Lake Forest, about 15 minutes drive from Irvine. It's located in an American shopping plaza. If I'm just passing by, I probably would just assume it's one of those Panda Express type of Chinese restaurant.
The restaurant is not that big. It has bright painted wall. Just like most Szechuan restaurants, they have a cold appetizers station where you can pick 2 or 3 items to make your own appetizer combo.
風味冷菜 Cold Appetizer ($5.50)
We picked potato string salad, spicy beef, and smoked chicken as our appetizer. Everything tasted really authentic and delicious. We were really looking forward to the food we ordered after trying their appetizers.
水煮牛魚 Boiled Beef and Fish with Hot Sauce ($10.99)
Of course we ordered the item Dr. P always gets, Boiled Beef and Fish with Hot Sauce. The fish was really good. But their beef was a little bit too soft and tender that it didn't even taste like beef anymore. Too much baking soda (or is it baking powder)? I like their hot sauce because it is not overly spicy. Overall, it was just as good as the ones we get in SGV.
五更腸旺 Braised Pork Intestines & Pig Blood ($8.99)
For my love of intestine, the dish I picked was Braised Pork Intestine & Pig Blood. This dish tasted great, but there weren't too much pork intestines, and even fewer pig blood. I think altogether we probably got 5 small pieces of pig blood in this pot. There were a lot of tofu and leek as fillers though.
蒜炒空心菜 Sauteed Water Morning Glory with Garlic ($9.99)
We ordered a non-spicy vegetable dish to balance the meal. Sauteed Water Morning Glory with Garlic tasted crunchy and fresh. I really like this "hollow heart" vegetable.
Our waitress was very friendly and helpful. We noticed that service in Orange County is much much better than service in San Gabriel Valley. Now we found this authentic Szechuan restaurant (thanks to Wen), we always have a place to go for our spicy Chinese craving!
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你寫一篇文章不用謝我謝那麼多次啦.
ReplyDelete我發現他們的水煮,魚比牛肉好吃.
哎喲我是那種很有禮貌的人嘛哈哈
對呀他們家的魚真的比肉好吃
Nice to hear of some good Chinese restaurants in the OC from you Eileen! This will help me a lot when I visit Irvine and the OC in the next months :).
ReplyDeleteHope you'll enjoy this restaurant.
I also have noticed that OC/Irvine's services are much much better in SGV/MP area but the price isn't as cheap as SGV/MP area. well, I guess you can't have it all :)-
ReplyDeleteK.J
Yup, that's true.
Another thing I noticed is that there are more non-Asian customers at Asian restaurants in OC.
Maybe that's why service is better. For some reason, Asian waiter/waitress always treat non-Asian customers better.
You can also try Chef Chen in Irvine,
ReplyDeleteIt's in the plaza where the new 99 is located at,
Cross streeet: Jeffrey and Walnut,
Not bad!
They also have beef noodles there if you're craving for it,
Not that many better beef noodles around Irvine~
Chef Chen has 酸菜羊肉鍋 if you like it!
Ohhhhhh beef noodle soup and lamb hot pot!
Gotta go try that place soon! Thanks Cindy!