Blogmas Day 18- Chaan Teng (Modern Chinese Food) Review

I've basically hit the motherload and discovered one of the best modern Chinese restaurants in the city. Now being in a large and diverse city, there are obviously several similar restaurants (Pinch Chinese, The Chinese Club, Red Egg, etc...). But I think Chaan Teng takes the cake because not only is the food flavorful and delicious (and if you haven't noticed already I love well flavored food), but its also very well priced for the Hell's Kitchen/ Midtown area. Personally, I think its a hidden gem because its located in an area where good food isn't known to be located so its constantly overlooked. The restaurant has a 1930's Shanghai era feel with its blue and white decor and Ming Dynasty inspired porcelin on display. Their menu has a variety of inventive dishes (fried cheese curds in sweet and sour sauce) as well as Chinese classics (pan fried dumplings) so it caters to a wide audience. A solid 5 toasts!

We started off with the chicken pan fried dumplings ($7) based on the recommendation of the waiter (and the fact that my friend refused to order the cheese curds). There was honestly nothing special about the taste of these dumplings, but they still tasted much better than the frozen Gyoza dumplings many other Asian restaurants offer. Next time I would probably try another appetizer dish. I do like how they made the dumplings chicken based instead of the usual pork because many people don't eat pork these days.

I ordered the General Tso Chicken and Waffles ($12.95), while my friend ordered the spicy noodles ($12). Her noodles reminded me of the Thai Pad See-Ew noodles, except spicier. There was lots of vegetables mixed in and the dish was quite plentiful. I really liked the freshness of the noodles and the burst of flavor that one bit offered. My chicken and waffles were on a different level though. The batter of the fried chicken was seasoned perfectly to where it was similar to the popular Taiwanese popcorn chicken bites and it was fried to the point where it wasn't too oily (a pet peeve of mine when it comes to fried chicken). The General Tso sauce was also lightly rubbed all over the chicken so it didn't effect the crispiness of the chicken, but still had enough flavor. In other words, the chicken wasn't drenched in sauce. the waffle had prunes on it and came with a light syrup on the side. Delicious!