It all started with missing white rice.
I had been working all day and hadn't consumed Chinese food in about a year. I love Chinese food but I have been paying off debt like Al Capone wanted his loan-shark money back, which led to me going from 27.3k to currently 1.8k on my Discover within a year.
This background is to let you know why I haven't been eating a lot of Chinese food. It has nothing to do with sodium. But this is about wonton soup, sesame chicken, lo mein, white rice, and a drunk guy (not me).
All of the food items listed above were solid. And they are always solid across the board. I wouldn't put this restaurant as #1 for any of those individual items in Lake Norman but I do put them #1 for all food as a whole.
In other words, Jin Jin has the best wonton soup but you only get four wontons and they aren't as good at other stuff, and it just doesn't seem as clean--Huang's Chef is impeccably clean.
Huang's China Bistro in Cornelius has the best sesame chicken but their lo mein and wonton soup aren't quite as good (still very good though).
Lotus on River Hwy (Rt 150) has the best lo mein but not quite as good on the other stuff (but still very good).
Huang's Chef (Mooresville) is a solid 9.0 across the board so it's where I order most.
But the time prior to this one, I drove all the way to Huntersville and they forgot my white rice. This isn't a major issue but it kind of does ruin the experience after spending $30 for one person on dinner.
Fortunately, they gave me a free pint of wonton soup the next time I went in. I was so excited to eat their food again that I ordered when driving by and had to wait.
While outside and thinking I was alone on the strip-mall sidewalk, I practiced pronouncing "Huang's Chef."
In order to do it, you need to inhale 5% on the "Huah" sound and exhale 95% on the "Wang" sound.
I was getting good at it and repeating, "Huah-Wang's Chef ... Huah-Wang's Chef" while pacing, but a dude from from Marty's Bar popped out to smoke a cigarette and looked at me funny.
"Just practicing," I said while nodding to indicate all was normal.
"For what?" he laughed.
I could tell he was one of those friendly drunk guys.
"Huah-Wang's Chef."
He walked over to cut the distance between us in half and laughed while taking a drag of his cigarette. Tall and skinny guy mid-60s with scruff and loose clothes that fit his personality.
"Huah-Wong's Chef," he said.
"No," I corrected. "It's Wang."
"No it ain't," he cackled. "It's Wong."
"That would be the Cantonese version. That's not correct."
"I don't eat cantaloupes." He just started cracked up at his own joke, which wasn't funny, but then funny because of how much he enjoyed it. Then he continued, "What if we just put it together and start our own Chinese restaurant called Wang-Wong!"
Bar guys always talk about things like this but know they will never follow through, and I didn't want to start a Wang-Wong Chinese restaurant with a scruffy-looking drunk guy.
I had the perfect out anyway because Huang's Chef told me 15 minutes and it was about that time.
"Good to meet you, but I have to go get my food now at Huah-WANG'S Chef."
"Wong!" he cackled again as I walked away.
Anyway, I definitely recommend Huang's Chef. It's a good price with solid portions and quality taste across the board. The restaurant itself is one of the cleanest Chinese restaurants I have ever seen, which is always a good sign.
Definitely recommended. read more