what do I know

My colleagues and I have been looking for a good Chinese place near work. We tried 1-6-8 Chinese on Turkey Lake as well as a place down on Westwood Drive and I-Drive, but didn’t really find anything we liked. This week we tried Dragon China in the Publix plaza on Sand Lake Blvd. It’s a small location in the strip mall, but when you walk in the place is clean and the people are nice.

We kept it simple and went with the lunch combinations (~$6). Each combo has an A or B option; A is the meal and rice, B is the meal, rice, and an egg roll or soup. We ordered the Pork with mixed vegetables, pork egg foo young, Mongolian chicken, and bourbon chicken as well as the wonton soup, hot and sour soup, and an egg roll. Additionally, for $1.50 you can add brown rice to any meal. The egg roll didn’t seem to be anything too special. The wonton soup was your basic chicken stock with scallion and wonton. The hot and sour however was done pretty well; it was made with a nice variety of fresh mushrooms, bamboo, and spices and wasn’t too salty. The meals themselves were pretty good made with fresh veggies and lean meats. The brown rice was equally as good and a nice option with our meals.

The food came out quickly, was hot, and our glasses were always filled. Hot tea is free, so that is a huge plus for me. Overall Dragon China makes lunch easy while tasting great. If you’re in the Dr. Phillips and need a good Chinese restaurant, definitely keep this one in mind.

Dragon China is located in the Publix plaza in Dr. Phillips at 7538 W Sand Lake Rd, Orlando, FL

The adventure to find really great Chinese food in Brevard has come to an end for my wife and me. Yen Yen Chinese Restaurant uses some of the best ingredients and has one of most diverse menus we’ve found yet. We always try to find other Chinese places that compare but we never can. Whenever we find our way back, we always remember why we drive 30 minutes for good Chinese food. During the week Yen Yen’s offers lunch specials and on the weekend they offer early bird, so no matter what time during the week, you can find price breaks on their menu. Unfortunately their dinner menu is a little steeper than what my wife and I are used to paying for Chinese food. That being said, it’s definitely worth it and if you order during the right time the pricing isn’t bad.

This time around we went on a weekend and got the early bird special. We started with the Crab and Corn soup (~$4) and a couple egg rolls (~$3 each). The soup is an egg drop soup with tender chunks of fresh crab meat and sweet corn. The egg rolls had huge chunks of shrimp and pork and were fried perfectly, not burnt or dry like you’ll get sometimes at other places. For our meals, we ordered the Shelly Chicken (~$9) and the Hunan Lamb (~$9); both came with a choice of fried or white rice. The Shelly Chicken is thin strips of chicken fried and then stir-fried with an extremely sweet ginger-like sauce, broccoli, and celery strips. In fact, the chicken is so sweet it’s almost like eating dessert without getting a sugar overload. Definitely an amazing alternative to a sweet and sour or honey garlic chicken. The Hunan Lamb was just spicy enough (and I like spicy food) and came with peppers, onions, and jalapeños in a brown pepper sauce. One of the nicest things about Yen Yen’s is their tea selection. They charge per the pot ($2.50) and only have a few choices, but one of those choices is Chrysanthemum tea (they also have green and jasmine). I rarely find Chrysanthemum tea when I go out so it was nice to finally enjoy a pot. To finish the meal with something sweet, we ordered some Almond cookies (~$2).

I can’t emphasize enough the great quality of the food served at Yen Yen’s. The atmosphere is great, the staff is very attentive, and the food is always hot (virtually steaming right from the pan). I’d recommend Yen Yen Chinese Restaurant as the best Chinese food in Brevard. If anyone knows a better place, please let me know, so I can try it out and prove you wrong.

Yen Yen Chinese Restaurant is located in Cocoa Beach at 2 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach, FL.

Since my wife and I moved from South Florida to Melbourne, we’ve really started to enjoy the slower pace that Central Florida brings as well as some great new places to eat. One of the things we do miss however, is the great New York style Chinese food that the area had to offer. There were 2 places that we always knew we could go (Beijing Garden and Peking Duck House) to to enjoy some great Mandarin and Cantonese style food. Unfortunately, Melbourne has yet to offer any really great Chinese food in the Suntree area. We really like Yen-Yen’s in Cocoa Beach, but it’s a bit of a drive for us.

Last week, we ordered from Lucky Garden 2 for lunch and I have to say it wasn’t that bad. I had eaten in the restaurant once before and had a really good Chinese pot of chicken curry with yam and white rice (not sure if they still serve this). This time we ordered the Honey Garlic Chicken lunch (~$8.50) and the Signapore Noodle lunch (~$8). Take-out wasn’t too bad at all. The Singapore noodles weren’t very spicy, but that was a problem easily corrected with a little red pepper paste. The noodles had healthy portions of shrimp, chicken, and pork, as well as some scallions and onions. I don’t remember any peppers, so that would have been nice, but the curry they used was good. It’s kinda hard to screw up Singapore noodles, so if a place is able to, it’s a nice indicator to not go back (Hop-Bo on Murrell in Rockledge would be one place that comes to mind). The chicken was white meat chicken that wasn’t over fried and the honey-garlic sauce was a nice balance between the 2 flavors. I didn’t care for the pork fried rice that came with the lunch special, but the egg rolls and hot and sour soup (lots of mushroom and bamboo) were pretty good.

We had plenty left over for lunch the next day and it is close to the house, so I think we’ll be going back. They also have sushi, but for now I’ll stick to Banzai on Lake Washington. If someone if looking for descent Chinese in the Suntree/Viera area, definitely check them out.

Lucky Garden 2 is located in Suntree at 6300 N Wickham Rd #127, Melbourne, FL.