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A great new addition is Ming's Court, which has taken over the building formally occupied by the wretched Ivy Garden, and which is, in my opinion (after three visits) the best Chinese restaurant in the area. ( I believe it opened earlier this month - December 2011. ). My family and I had dinner there last week -- their plain chicken is spectacular, with a delicious marinade, crisp skin, cooked to perfection, like what one would find in the best restaurants in NY's Chinatown. A dish of spinach, mushrooms, and preserved egg recommended by the owner was just as good, providing a wonderful combination of nuanced flavors and textures. We also enjoyed a tasty dish of fried tofu in a slightly (but not at all cloyingly) sweet red sauce. The steamed vegetable dumplings had a delicious filling, but were a bit doughier than I would have liked. For lunch I have tried roast duck (like the chicken, prepared perfectly, cut up and served on rice), a piquantly delicious meat stew, and a perfectly roast pigeon (which i discovered only after asking the waiter to translate the items listed in Chinese on the "Specials" marker-board - something I shall make a point of doing in the future). Although Princeton has had a couple other passable Chinese restaurants (Tiger Noodles and Shanghai Gardens, if you stick to the Highland Park part of the menu), this is the first one about which I have been really enthusiastic.
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Absolutely the best Chinese food in Monmouth County (and I've tried most of them) is Crown palace on Rte 79 in Marlboro. Nice ambience and fresh tasty food. The weekend Dim Sum is excellent as well.
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re: doodyg
I have to disagree with this. I throw a party for 40 ppl there for the birth of my son. I was embarrassed that I picked that place and served that terrible food to my relatives and friends. Should have went to Sunny Palace in E. Brunswick instead.
To be fair, Dim Sum there was okay. However, save your money and stay away for dinner.
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Shanghai Park in Princeton Shopping Center, probably Highland Park is the same. Make sure to order off the Chinese menu, they will translate if you ask them.
Ya Ya Noodles is also good in Montgomery Shopping Center but that's a bit far from New Brunswick. It has been up and down but we went recently and really enjoyed our meal, they also have a more authentic Chinese menu.
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Shanghai Park Restaurant
301 N Harrison St Ste 33, Princeton, NJ 08540›1 Reply-
re: nitehawks
we eat at YaYa in Montgomery when we go to the movies there...after moving from the upper west side in NYC to NJ we have almost got used to driving 16 miles each way to see good films, and so we discovered YaYa..., not bad. Not very good either. Never enough spice. Recently finally made it to CoCo, just north of highland park (in edison I guess) but don't want it to become too popular, as it's small, and already gets very crowded... have to eat early to get a table!!
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jolivore
Jan 14, 2011 08:08 AM
I've lived briefly in the capital of Sichuan, Chengdu, and my relatives have eaten here with me. We all thought it was very good, authentic. I've only seen Chinese here. My one beef is when they use firmer tofu for the mapo, which requires silken. I think they run out of the silken.
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Sichuan Spring Chinese Restaurant
1167 State Highway 27 N, Highland Park, NJ 08904›6 Replies-
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re: FoodDude2
MGZ
Apr 25, 2011 10:11 AM
We tried. After calling a few times and getting no answer while on the way up, I persisted and still took us into the lot. Oddly, given the hours posted on another thread by someone, the place was closed. It was a Monday, early afternoon. We settled for some soft tofu soup next door to the H-Mart.
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WHERE NOT TO EAT!
Mings
79 Rout 202/Route 31 South
Ringoes, NJ 08551I had hoped that with a change in ownership the new Ming's (located at 'Everitts Plaza corner Rt 202/31 and Everitts Road) would be good and well-priced. It is neither. While the gentleman behind the counter was certainly more polite and pleasant than the prior owner of Lo-Fatt, the food still suffers from the same ailments. Lack of taste, lack of salt, small portions and overpriced. A simple won ton soup and shrimp egg foo yong came to almost $14. Compare this with China Moon 10 minutes away in Flemington and the total is about $10. That's 40% more expensive, with less taste and smaller portions (note the rice container is not a full pint container it's somewhere between a half-pint and pint). The rice was also not terribly hot or fresh. I was disappointed and will be driving to China Moon in the future.
Go into any Chinese restaurant and you get predicatable food, it's usually ok or really good, in plain white Chinese food containers but here they manage to tweak every single dish just enough to screw it up.
For Gods sake, Wonton soup is as basic as it gets, a standard that anyone can make, yet the soup here is not tempting. I threw most of it out. Burning nerve-damage hot, and yet flatly bland, they should get over this "no peanut oil, no msg" campaign and pay attention to what they're putting out there- how does it taste???
Sorry about the rant but I live close by and was really hoping there was a good local tasty Chinese restaurant. Oh well, China Moon in Flemington is 10 minutes away and let me tell you, their food is outstanding and much lower-priced. In fact I would say they are cheap. Compare their $6.85 Shrimp Egg Foo Young and $2.95 Large Wonton Soup.
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People, there's one choice less for great dimsum in central New Jersey. 1-9 Seafood in Avenel on the Edison border closed this past weekend.
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shabbystorm
Jun 15, 2009 01:48 PM
Stumbled across a wonderful Twaiwanese CHinese Bakery while doing a quality check at Hong Fu in Highland Park, yes the soup dumplings are still wonderful.
Tasty Bakery aka Lily's Bakery is on Rt 27 in a storefront close to Foodtown.
http://www.tastybakerynj.com/
They have lots of sweet and savory pastries.
Owner John was kind and helpful. He makes everything.Keep in mind these treats are not for everyone, some people just don't enjoy them.
His signature pastry is the Sun Puff - Maltose Inside - Kinda like Caramel, with a cup of tea. Yummy. -
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shabbystorm
Mar 20, 2009 12:34 PM
China Palace - Taiwanese - Middletown, NJ
1815 State Route 35I went here for lunch today. I had the Cabbage Pork Noodle Soup - AMAZING!! You can add this to the list for Must Try NJ - It is authentic - It is a little strange, that it is in the restaurant attached to a bowling alley but it was the most AMAZING bowl of noodles. Fresh pot of tea and the staff are wonderful! We also tried the Spicy Pork and Tofu - Great!!
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re: shabbystorm
JerzeyShore
Mar 20, 2009 05:08 PM
China Palace is very good, but a new commer called Bando on Rt 35 north in Middletown hits one out of the park. This place has become our standard for excellent Chinese food the equal of any of the NYC China Town restaurants and better than any other place in central Jersey.
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re: JerzeyShore
shabbystorm
Mar 21, 2009 05:15 AM
Now I have another road trip :) gotta try, thanks for posting.
Found the details (Where Hunan House was I suppose)
Bando
655 Rt 35 (Between Chapel Hill and Kings Hwy)
Middletown NJ
732-671-5588 -
re: JerzeyShore
shabbystorm
Mar 24, 2009 01:09 PM
Thanks for posting this to this thread!
Bando is great.
Wonton Soup - Amazing! Scallion pancakes with beef- Amazing! Fried Shanghai Bun (Like a Zeppole) - Oh My!
Can't wait to return for a proper dinner so I can taste even more of their extensive menu especially the Dried Lily Flower with Snow Pea LeavesThere was so much slurping going on in that restaurant at lunch - noodle soup eaters everywhere.
Thanks agaiN!
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re: shabbystorm
JerzeyShore
Mar 24, 2009 03:16 PM
Glad to hear that you enjoyed Bando. The more we go to this place the more we like it. Try the moo shu - fantastic the best we have ever had. I could go on and on but you get the point. This place will grow on you and spoil you. Bando will quickly become your go to Chinese restaurant.
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shabbystorm
Feb 25, 2009 11:41 AM
Central NJ Best "American" Chinese Restaurants
Tung Hsing House Spotswood NJ
Golden East Garden East Brunswick NJ
Island Taste III Marlboro NJ
Seafood Empire North Brunswick NJ
Wong Chinese Manalapan NJ
Little Szechwan Little Silver NJCentral NJ Best "Authentic" Chinese Restaurant
Hong Fu Highland Park (Formally Shanghai Park)
Sunny Palace East Brunswick NJ
West Lake Chinese Matawan NJ
Wonder Seafood Edison NJ›4 Replies -
If you go to Tiger Noodles the pan fried seafood dumplings are a must have! Also Moo Shu Chicken was very good (at Windsor Green Shopping Center off rte 1). Dumplings are great at either location but I 've other stuff that was mediocre at the one in downtown Princeton. There's a new place that I think has Thai, Japanese and Chinese in the strip mall (on Tiger's Tail side) of Rte 206 in Montgomery but I don't know the name of it (Mei Mei?). Anyone been there? Do share, if you have.
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Well, even if you're looking for American Chinese, they have a few things on the menu at HK supermarket that'll fit your needs. I also like Sen's Asian Cuisine on Route 1 in the Home Depot/Stop and Shop Plaza. But yes, Edison is probably where you'll find the better chinese places. If you live out in the forest like me, you might want to try Hunan House on 130 in Hightstown. Both these places have really fresh ingredients and there is actually a flavor to the food as opposed to just tasting gobs of brown/white sauce.
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re: dragonguy
Your best bet for takeout in Edison are the counters at the big supermarkets; high quality, low prices, and quite authentic. Asian Food Center on Route 27 in the big strip mall and the Kam Man Supermarket on Route 1 near Penang both have very complete takeout departments.
Sadly, the best of all - the food court at the Hong Kong Supermarket is now closed but the word on the street is that they will reopen in a new nearby location as soon as they can.
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re: BrianYarvin
BrianYardin, Are you sure you were talking about Hong Kong Supermarket on Rt 18. Just had lunch there not 1 hour ago and talked to Mai, the older lady behind the counter at the buffet. She speaks a little english, but she knows nothing about the buffet closing or moving, and she's part owner.So please folks, It's the best deal in town, and it's real chinese home cooking. Not the stuff that passes for chinese food at the rest of takeout joints. You have no idea how funny it is to the resturant owners what we order and eat and consider to be great chinese food. Have you also noticed that all the sauces are getting sweeter? Why? because they have noticed we love it that way.
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re: currymouth
Folks!
The one that closed was in South Plainfield. The Route 18 branch is as lively as ever. The question was about Edison and Metuchen.
I stand behind my claim that the takeout at the big Chinese supermarkets beats the local restaurants by a long mile.
...and I take rides to these places all the time!
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re: BrianYarvin
BrianYarvin. Please..... I was offering options to the OP, Who asked for Resturants around New Brunswick. If I am not mistaken, East Brunswick is quite a bit closer than Edison or Metuchen. And in turn agreed with you that tasty,quality chinese food can be had at these supermarkets.
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Tiger Noodle in Princeton gets my vote! Best Chinese around and it's a BYO! They also have a great place to eat outside in the summer.
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re: RPMcMurphy
Sunny palace has "passable" food . but where they shine is their Dimsum, Even better than Chinatown. They still use Steam carts, and everything is so fresh and authentic. They bring in a team of Dimsum chefs on Friday night and all they do is crank out sublime food all weekend. Get there early or it's a wait.
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re: bgut1
The wife and I was there at 11.30am on Saturday, Had the buns as well as the chicken feet. Buns were just soso, but the feet was great. Must also try the scallion buns and shrimp with leeks. The last one is new on the menu. When we first starting going there for Dimsum about 6 years ago and I ordered the Chickenfeet the young lady would always do a double take, now it's the first thing that hits the table, even before the tea.
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re: currymouth
The Chowhound Team
Feb 25, 2008 11:33 AM
Folks, we removed some off topic discussion about arranging a chow gathering.
We have a couple of guidelines we ask organizers of gatherings to follow in order to keep the focus of the boards on chow talk and not on RSVPs and other organizational details. The main guideline is that posts to the boards should be announcements (and followup reports!) only--all discussion, scheduling and RSVPing should happen off the boards.
If you'd like to organize a gathering--and they are a lot of fun!--please post again, and include an email address or other offline contact information so people can reach you. If you use the 'report' flag to let us know once you've posted, we'll sticky your announcement to the top of your local board so more people will see it.
Check out our Etiquette for more tips on planning these gatherings: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/36760...
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re: bgut1
CatLadyJan
Mar 9, 2008 11:43 AM
Sorry, but "chicken feet" are definitately out; as are "frog's legs". I'll pass on that, thank you.
catladyjan
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re: bgut1
angelo04
Mar 10, 2008 09:47 AM
bgut1 - Your opinion is pretty well respected around here so I am intrigued when you endorse Chicken Feet. I will eat anything though honestly wouldn't seek out chicken feet. Now I just might try them. Plus the fact that I am in Old Bridge and Sunny Palace is real close and my wife and I were just saying how we have been craving their dim sum. Downside - The weekend is 5 days away!!!!
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re: angelo04
bgut1
Mar 10, 2008 09:56 AM
angelo - Thank you for the nice words. Obviously all food is a matter of personal taste however I believe people "limit" themselves by their preconceived notions. If you can look past the fact that these are in fact "feet" I'm sure you will enjoy them. Trust me, people wouldn't eat them if they weren't good.
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Big fan of Chinese food here, and have eaten it all over the world. That being said, my favorite in NJ is by far Tiger Noodle in Princeton. Not the nicest place to sit down in but they opened a new spot in a strip mall on Route 1, which is much nicer for a sit down meal. Food is always top notch.
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re: JustJake
Moved here from upper west side, where every block had a fairly decent chinese restaurant, and in our 10 years here, only like YA YA NOODLES which is on route 206 in Montgomery/Skillman, in the mall that has the only movie theater that has decent inde and foriegn films. we drive 16 miles for a decent film and decent chinese food now!!!
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re: JustJake
equal_Mark
Nov 16, 2010 04:33 AM
Some of their stuff is OK but I find much of what is offered at Ming Ying to be under seasoned. Dishes that are supposed to be spicy such as General Tso Shrimp, Beef Szechuan Style, Kung Pao Chicken which are marked with a chile pepper on the menu, simply aren't spicy at all. Many other places use those dried red chile peppers in their cooking, but no matter how much I emphasize that I want it very, very, very, EXCEPTIONALLY SPICY, there is nary a chile pepper to be found. Although the ingredients are very fresh, the seasoning level is generally on par with a can of La Choy.
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re: equal_Mark
Ming Ying is above average for a take out place for sure...but equal Mark is right...they're afraid to make it spicy!! For genuine Chinese Food, try Shanghai Bun or Westlake in Matawan. Both the real deal!! And Mark, at SB, if you want it spicy (or if it has a red mark), it's spicy....because that's what it's suppsed to be!!
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Shanghai Bun Restaurant
952 State Route 34 Ste 6, Matawan, NJ 07747Ying Restaurant
520 W Side Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07304
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I grew up in Hong Kong. It's sad to say that there aren't any great ones in Central NJ even with the high Chinese population.
As mentioned, Shanghai Park in Highland Park has decent Northern Chinese dishes (buns and dumplings).
For Cantonese Seafood and Dim Sum: Other than Wonder Seafood on Rt. 27, there's also the 1-9 Seafood Restaurant on Route 1 South Bound Side in Avenel/Woodbridge.
For Chinese style BBQ and Noodle soup, China Bowl, also on Rt. 27 in the strip mall where Asian Food Market is located, has them. BBQ pork is decent and the noodle dishes are as authentic as they come without crossing the Hudson River.
There is also a tiny little place called Hong Kong Garden located in Somerset off Easton Ave and Cedar Grove Lane just before the entrance to Rt 287. It's located in a strip mall that has a Drug Fair. The family that run the place is from Hong Kong (as you may have guessed). Nothing fancy about them but the dishes just has that "Hong Kong taste" that remind me of restaurant in HK.
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re: yCf
CatLadyJan
Mar 9, 2008 11:42 AM
I've been to 1-9 Seafood; those little shrimp dumplings in like an almost rice type paper noodle were to die for. I wish it were closer to my house; I'd be there once a week. Another good place in that area is Dragon Phoenix off of Oak Tree Road. Shopping Center is kind of dumpy but the place is large and clean on the inside. I like the shredded chicken with long hot peppers. Yum.
Catladyjan
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re: al3h
shabbystorm
Apr 17, 2009 04:29 PM
They serve Dim Sum everyday but only on the weekends do they have cart service, during the week you can order dim sum only off the menu. Call them to make sure they are serving what you want to try. They are not open on Mondays yet, but certain times of the year they are open 7 days. Hope this helps.
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re: yCf
shabbystorm
Mar 16, 2009 06:51 AM
I got take out from Hong Kong Garden Easton Ave Somerset NJ this weekend. They make an AMAZING Beef Chow Fun with Black Bean Sauce!
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re: yCf
bogsidebunny
Apr 25, 2011 01:22 AM
yCf,
Have you tried "The Hunan Gourmet" in Manalapan, NJ?
I've been to a lot of places but I find this place's food great and the atmosphere very nice and clean. And they have a liquor license too!
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Hunan Gourmet
357 US Highway 9 Ste 23, Englishtown, NJ 07726-
re: bogsidebunny
Have not tried Hunan Gourmet. As a general, I usually I stay away from Chinese restaurant that also do Hibachi & Sushi. With that said, the Chinese food might be fine but I just don't like restaurant that dabble in other cuisines..
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Hunan Gourmet
357 US Highway 9 Ste 23, Englishtown, NJ 07726
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re: albinoni
shorebilly
Dec 26, 2007 09:38 AM
Anyone been back to Peking since they re-opened? I used to love it there but have yet to make it back since the fire. By the way I'm referring to Peking on Route 33 just outside of Freehold.
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re: shorebilly
I've been a few times since the reopening and enjoy it for what it is ... inauthentic Americanized Chinese food made with fresh, high quality ingredients. So much better than the recently opened P.F. Chang's at the nearby Freehold Raceway Mall. I mention P.F. Chang's because both places seem to derive from the Asian Fusion mold, but with P.P. executing at a higher level (IMO of course).
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re: shorebilly
My husband and I went to Peking Pavillion shortly after it re-opened. The food and service was incredible as always, but I am not find of the decor. The concrete makes it very cold and loud :(. We just went to PF Changs a couple of weeks ago. The food and service was great as always. Both have great food. I am a Chinese food freak and these two places are definitely my top picks.
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The deafening silence speaks volumes. While there probably are a few passably good Chinese restaurants in the Garden State, I've yet to find one this side of the Hudson that's remotely classifiable as 'great'. Please! Somebody prove me wrong!
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re: ashulman
We have been to the H.P. Shanghai Park, which is the original location. Their steamed buns, aka soup dumplings, are superb! We've not tried too many other dishes on the menu, but what we have tried would not, in my view, be described as great. In 2004, it received a rating of "Good" in the "NY Times":
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage...-
re: RGR
bgut1
Dec 26, 2007 07:33 AM
Another vote for Shanghai Park. I went there last year and while I found the decor to be "dingy" at best, the food we had was very good (soup dumplings, salt and pepper shrimp and pickled cabbage and pork soup). Be prepared however, the service was quite rude and the authentic Chinese menu was not translated to english. Of the others in the Edison area I've tried and can recommend the following: Wonder Seafood, Sunny Palace, and Grand Shanghai. The only one I can't recommend is Kings Village. You might want to try this informative post: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/395626
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re: jrd303
Miss Needle
Nov 15, 2010 05:55 PM
I was there yesterday and thought it was just not good at all.
The xiao long bao were way too thick and large and cumbersome. It was difficult to eat in one bite or even in two as the skins were too thick the soup kept spilling out. Also had a beef egg pancake which had way too much hoisin and muted the taste of everything. And I'll bet that the seafood shu mai were of the frozen variety that one gets in the supermarket. It was super mushy with no texture whatsoever.
I'm really surprised to read positive reviews of the place because I thought it was just so bad. Not sure whether it's a downhill thing or people are saying it's good relative to the area. But I don't think I'll be going back.
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