Monday, March 9, 2009

No. 1 Panda Chinese Restaurant - 3/6/2009

I don't remember if I've said this before, but I want to start posting food I get at restaurants in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area in addition to what I make myself. This will probably take some time to get off the ground, but it's worth a shot. This week, some friends and I went to Number 1 Panda Chinese Restaurant.

No. 1 Panda

Sorry these pictures aren't the best since I only had my phone with me. The word on the street (which street, I'm not sure, but I got word from there anyways) is that this restaurant is more authentic than most other Chinese restaurants, which was definitely true. The menu is quite lengthy. We took about 10 minutes making up our minds because there were so many choices. They had some typical stir fries, but they had dishes you don't find at your local Takee Outee, pork liver stir fry and frogs legs being the most notables. They also had some interesting translations. "Sizzling cowboy bone" and "shelled shrimp (crab)" were my favorites.

Juicy Pork Dumplings

We started with some dim sum (some dim sum dat), which is pretty much like an appetizer or tapas, though I hear they are often eaten for breakfast. This first item is a set of dumplings that are filled with "juicy pork," meaning the dumpling not only contains some good pork, but there is also some soup sealed within the dumpling. So when you bite into it, the juices release into your mouth. These were very delicate and also very delicious.

Red Bean Sesame Balls

Our next dim sum was red bean sesame balls. They are balls of dough filled with a sweet red bean paste, then fried and covered with sesame seeds. A nice indulgence.

Shrimp with Walnuts

My meal was shrimp with walnuts. The shrimp had some thin batter on them, then they were mixed in a sweet sauce with the walnuts. You don't often think of walnuts when someone mentions shrimp, but this dish worked very nicely, though the sauce was a little on the sweet side. Our meal at No. 1 Panda was very good and I would recommend it to anyone in the area who wants some more traditional Chinese food.

No comments: