So, a few weekends back (it was actually right after Thanksgiving), I made a mistake…..of asking the Missus what She wanted and offering a few options……Her answer? "Well, I want it and want it all"! Ohhh-kay…like they say, "no good deed goes unpunished" and in all honesty, it was a bit of a challenge……of coordinating takeout from three places. In terms of coordination it turned out pretty well. And here's what ensued.
1 – The "wildcard" if you will was Kangxi is Coming, as I hadn't been there since the pandemic started.
2 – I knew that phone orders for Noble Chef worked well.
3 – I knew that Village Kitchen often did not have items available, plus when I tried a phone order and didn't speak Mandarin they hung up on me.
And so, here's what ensued.
1 – I placed an online order with Kangxi is coming.
2 – I called Noble Chef and was told they were really busy and my order wouldn't be ready for an hour; which worked out perfectly.
3 – I then headed to Village Kitchen and placed an order in person….and while they were out of certain items; I got a couple of things the Missus wanted to eat and told them I'd be back for pick-up.
And so I then headed to Kangxi is coming; where the Suan Cai with Pork was ready when I arrived.
It was quick and painless……no worries there.
I then headed to Noble Chef where my order was ready and picked that up. Ditto Village Kitchen. Take that food app…..
And yes, this is a food blog; so how did things end up?
Well, the Suan Cai with Pork from Kangxi is coming…..
Was lacking the really great fermented flavor of good fermented cabbage….it really ain't that hard making a decent suan cai; but this lacked the deep savory tones and everything seemed a bit overcooked.
Noble Chef was fast and easy….though they had packages piled up along several tables and folks waiting in their cars in the parking lot. The roast duck did well after I went and did the "usual" with it.
And for some reason, the Missus likes the Wintermelon Soup from NC.
Because the Missus wanted the Wintermelon Soup; I decided that anything with stinky tofu might not do well. I ended up ordering the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg and Pork with Cucumber Skin.
And while my first choice would have been La Rou (Hunan smoked pork) with cucumber skin; this version was quite good.
What I consider to be the signature dish here; the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg was terrible.
The eggplant was undercooked and not mashed, there was almost no roasted chilies in this, there was a pervasive greasiness. It was really bad……..kinda sad……don't think the Missus is going to want this again soon.
Still; I think I did a pretty good job doing the "I Want It and I Want It All"…….huh? What do you think?
Kangxi Is Coming – **** Kangxi is Coming has closed
4428 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
The Noble Chef
6159 Balboa Avenue
San Diego, CA 92111
Village Kitchen
4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117