We've developed a term for restaurants like Royal Mandarin. We call them "ABCDE", that's pronounced "Ab-cee-dee", otherwise known as "American Born Chinese Dining Establishment". You know those places, no chopsticks to be found; when you ask for them and old drawer will be opened and wooden chopsticks delivered. Royal Mandarin is such a place:
Located on busy Plaza Boulevard, Royal Mandarin serves a mix of ABCDE and Chinoy type of Chinese Food. As is typical with many of these restaurants when you enter, it's as if you've stepped into a time warp; the decor screams 60's Chinese Food. This quite non-descript storefront is deceptive. Many times the restaurant is packed to the gills.
The menu here is similar to other ABCDE restaurants; namely Mandarin Canton and Golden Chopsticks. So today instead of heading over to Golden Chopsticks, we drove one block East to Royal Mandarin. We started with an order of Upside Down Crispy Noodles($7.50):
I've explained my quest for "Cake Noodles" in previous posts, and really didn't expect anything close. And was proven right again. These were just deep fried noodle cakes, with stir fried veggies, shrimp, and beef in a brown sauce, which in this case was pretty tasteless. The broccoli was cooked to perfection, cooked completely through, and still crunchy.
Salted Pepper Shrimp without Shell ($9.95), probably the most expensive dish on the menu:
These shelled and deveined shrimp were dusted with flour and deep fried, instead of being heavily battered like we're used to. So we approached this with some doubt. But the shrimp were very tasty, not overly salty, slightly sweet, and the shrimp were cooked to perfection. A good rule of thumb for restaurants like these; "when in doubt, go for the fried." If they can't do fried well, they can't do anything.
After this visit, I found out that Royal Mandarin is one of the "players" in the Best Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings sweepstakes. In fact we saw trays, and in one case a whole cart of wings leaving the premises while we ate. There is a general consensus(maybe urban legend) that the "original" Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings were first served here. So armed with this info we paid Royal Mandarin another visit.
We started with the Classic ABCDE dish, a favorite of the Missus, Wor Wonton Soup for Two($4.50):
This soup was not half bad, the broth was much better then the usual tasteless watery broth. There was nice plump shrimp and several wonton, bamboo shoots, button mushrooms, and spinach.
And of course those Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings ($6.25):
These have the same "crack-like" addictiveness as the version at Golden Chopstick. This version has less of the garlic-green onion mixture and the chicken is placed on the top of the mixture instead of visa-versa. If I were to do a comparison, I'd say, the RM's wings are more crunchy, obviously from more cornstarch, there are more drumettes instead of wing pieces, and have a more balanced flavor. GS's version has much more "punch", and alot more of the delici-yoso garlic-green onion "topping".
The real hit of the meal was the Salt and Pepper Fish Fillet($7.95):
The batter on the slices of fish had a texture between a beer and tempura batter; crunchy, light, very tasty; and the fish was so moist. Three fried salt and pepper dishes, three different batters. This was by far the best.
Now the guilt kicked in. And in our weakness we went against our normal strategy and ordered Buddha's Delight($5.50):
Blech! This vegetable dish was very bland, though the veggies were cooked well, this was a waste.
Here are a few other fried from other visits.
Salt and Pepper White Meat Chicken($5.95):
Can you say Salt and Pepper McNuggets? Too dry, same batter as fish fillet, but doesn't work here. Very bland. The price – it's cheaper then the Chicken Wings should have been a clue!
Salt and Pepper Tofu($5.25):
Though a textural delight – cubes of tofu are deep fried were nice and crunchy outside, creamy inside; this dish would be better served with a sauce. Served in this manner it tasted rather bland. Can you say Tsoh(stinky) Tofu without the smell! Funny thing, on this visit our waitress thought the Missus was Filipino, but thought I'd want chopsticks because I was "Korean", after she found out the Missus was Chinese, they had some very nice conversations in Mandarin. The Missus noticed that a combination of Cantonese and Mandarin was spoken by the Employees. As we were leaving, we noticed a whole aluminum tray of Wings(60 pieces – just $17) sitting on a Lazy Susan on one of the tables with other dishes. There were 8 people just totally "grinding" on the wings, my kind of people! Why bother with plates – just give me a tray; I can deal with that! Also, as we were driving home, we noticed, no thirst, no swelling, it seemed that the amount of MSG in the food is pretty low, which I found to be strange considering the type of dishes we selected.
So the next time you're at a Filipino party in San Diego and the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings are brought out, you can be pretty sure they've come from either Mandarin Canton, Golden Chopsticks, or Royal Mandarin. And when faced with an ABCDE, go first with the fried. If they can't do fried, I'm pretty sure they can't do anything!
If I can get some volunteers, I'll be willing to do a Salt and Pepper Chicken Wing tasting. Any takers?
Royal Mandarin Restaurant
1132 E. Plaza Blvd
National City, CA 91950
