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New Chinese restaurant


Shira

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Okay, folks, breaking news: since my early posts on this thread, I have eaten at not just one, but THREE very good Chinese restaurants in Mexico City. Each is in a different part of town: one in the Centro Histórico, one in Col. Viaducto La Piedad, and one in Colonia del Valle. Any of these is extraordinary, after a long, long time of finding no Chinese food worth eating in the entire country.

I particularly like the one in del Valle, since it is a mere ten minutes from my building. The dry-fried green beans with pork and chile--ambrosia! A dish of thin noodles with chicken and vegetables--divine! Chivo con cebollín y gengibre--wow! Honest-to-god steamed dumplings, each order a huge plateful--oh my god! This restaurant (as well as the other two) are the real deal.

Remember that in my ill-spent youth I was a Chinese chef in a restaurant in New York, where I specialized in Szechuan and Hunan cuisines.

Excuse me while I go wipe the drool off my chin, we may have to go back this weekend.

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Guest RevImmigrant

More Liana, you are indeed fortunate. I first had the Sichuan green beans in Chinatown in Singapore and it became one of my favorites, in addition to the black fungus in vinegar and chiles. I have a big Chinese steamer I brought from Germany and make jiaozi and keep them in my freezer in packages of 2 and take a package out when I want to use one. Around here you have to cook it yourself if you want decent Chinese, but, of course, you know that.

As far as where are we, I had some excellent Chinese food at a restaurant in Istanbul in the Sultan Ahmet quarter (old town) 6 years ago. I also found some very good to excellent

Chinese restaurants in Germany, particularly in Berlin. Even that small town where I lived on the German-Polish border had a good Asian restaurant and Frankfurt-Oder has a very good VietNamese and Thai restaurant. I miss them all.

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Unfortunately we do not have a decent Chinese restaurant at Lakeside other than the China Inn in Jocotepec. We've been many times over the years and have always appreciated the cleanliness, the friendliness of servers and the slight "Japanese" slant to many items. If I'm not mistaken the always present woman who we've assumed is either the owner or the wife of the owner is possibly Japanese. However, whatever her nationality she brings much to this little restaurant. Frequently we've simply made a luncheon meal of just their wonderful egg-rolls. They try hard and it's worth the drive. Our only complaint is the terrible plum sauce but we decided a while back to simply take our own because, here in Mexico it is somewhat of an expensive condiment. The prices at the China Inn are excellent and have not changed much over the years. It' truly sad though that with the much larger expat population in Ajijic we don't have anything close to a Chinese restaurant. Having to resort to P.F. Changs at the Andares mall in GDL simply isn't a convenient alternative.

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P.F. Chang's at the Andares mall is more than just inconvenient - it's not Chinese food or even close. Low quality white vinegar and Japanese soy stands out as the main nightmares. Can't they import the real ingredients for the prices they charge?

I'll have to give in and try this China Inn in Jocotepec but with no great hopes - especially after reading that they serve plum sauce (and terrible at that)? Can anyone say 1960s American-Chinese? But the pessimist can be pleasantly surprised when things aren't as bad as expected, to paraphrase Ben Franklin.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Those are directions to China Inn - and I like their tempura. But is there a Red Dragon?

The best Tempura we have had is at Ricki's Japanese and Thai restaurant on Marcellos Castellanos. You can get the Shrimp Tempura appetizer, 6 shrimp for 55 pesos so lightly battered, without a hint of oil or you can get the Shrimp Tempura dinner with the veggies. All their other food is excellent too including sushi.

Most reasonable food prices in Ajijic.

Simply Thai restaurant is excellent too. Every dish is well prepared. They have combo specials now which include their egg rolls or rice paper rolls for about 20% less than their previous prices. Thip is the owner and is very nice too along with their wait staff,

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More Liana wrote, in part, on August 30th:

Okay, folks, breaking news: since my early posts on this thread, I have eaten at not just one, but THREE very good Chinese restaurants in Mexico City. Each is in a different part of town: one in the Centro Histórico, one in Col. Viaducto La Piedad, and one in Colonia del Valle. Any of these is extraordinary, after a long, long time of finding no Chinese food worth eating in the entire country.

After which Artsnob requested, on the same day, the names of the three restaurants which were apparently inadvertently omitted by More Liana, so Artsnob could try these "...very good Chinese restaurants in Mexico City...." where Artsnob maintains a residence.

We have yet to see a response from More Liana and, while we don´t maintain a residence in Mexico City, we visit there occasionally and would also like to know the names of these restaurants so we can try them while in the city and, perhaps, report back to Lakesiders where they can find some really good Chinese food in the big city if we find we share More Liana´s high opinion of these places - especially since she was, at one time in her youth, a chef in New York City specializing in Schezuan and Hunan style cooking which are among our favorite variations of Chinese cuisine.

We thank More Liana in advance for sharing the names of these restautrants with us when she has an opportunity to respond.

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The best Tempura we have had is at Ricki's Japanese and Thai restaurant on Marcellos Castellanos. You can get the Shrimp Tempura appetizer, 6 shrimp for 55 pesos so lightly battered, without a hint of oil or you can get the Shrimp Tempura dinner with the veggies. All their other food is excellent too including sushi.,

We have always been fans of Ricki's but our recent visit was disappointing. The sushi menu has been reduced, many favorites disappeared, and the tempura was not up to standard. The tempura at China Inn was always better, anyway IMHO.

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We have always been fans of Ricki's but our recent visit was disappointing. The sushi menu has been reduced, many favorites disappeared, and the tempura was not up to standard. The tempura at China Inn was always better, anyway IMHO.

Ricki has been having the same poor business that all restaurants have had lately and doesn't want to serve anything that is not up to his standards. without the good business flow he cannot keep up a supply of fresh fish necessary for sushi so he'd rather not sell it. also, if business is low, he'd turn off his fryer until it was needed and it takes awhile to heat up to the proper degree. i'd cut Ricki and all the other restauranteers that are trying to make it in this tough economy some slack or we're going to loose a lot of diversity....if you are missing your favorites make a reservation with Ricki in advance and ask him if he can get what you want, i'm sure he would be willing....
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well I appreciate all the inputs, however disappointing, about my original question; any good Chinese restaurant from Chapala to Joco. Yes, Mexico is best known for it's Mexican food and we get plenty of that as I do when I'm in the states, but sometimes a person just likes some international flavors such as Chinese which usually you can find in just about in country. I've been very disappointed in Chinese food in Mexcio. (haven't been to Mexico City)

We will try the one mentioned in Joco and get back to this board with our findings. Great feedback here. Thanks everyone!

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It would be great if the members of CASA (Culinary Arts Society of Ajijic) who have held many of their regular meeting at Min Wah restaurant in upper Ajijic would spend some time and expand their many talents by trying to convince the owners that their current offering of Chinese food is simply so terrible that anything would be an improvement. Perhaps a couple of their monthly sessions could be directed solely to Chinese recipes suitable for restaurant offerings. The winning or selected recipes could then be taught to the kitchen staff, providing they're willing and interested. However, there is one other area in this particular restaurant that needs attention and that's a serious upgrade in cleanliness both for the restaurant itself but frequently the staff. On our last visit we could not remain despite being the only customers present as there was not a clean table cloth on a single table and many tables has uncleared dirty dishes. Obviously no supervision.

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Guest RevImmigrant

A friend and I took another friend to China Inn in Joco for her birthday. One friend and I had the shrimp tempura, which was excellent as usual. I had the shrimp soup, served in a large bowl. It had bean sprouts, broccoli and other vegetables in the broth and was excellent and very filling. The birthday girl had General Tso's chicken, a new dish, which was excellent (she gave us samples). They are now having white rice as well as the fried rice available. The lady who runs it brought the birthday girl a beautiful fruit plate as a gift when she learned it was her birthday. All in all, we enjoyed it very much and will definitely go back.

We noticed a new Chinese restaurant on the right on our way out of Joco back to Chapala. Does anyone know anything about that one? We're well-satisfied with the China Inn, but youth wants to know!

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Guest RevImmigrant

I don't go there just to eat. I go there to shop at Toyo Asian store, Costco, Sam's and other stores. Obviously, since I'm gone all day, I eat lunch somewhere while Im there.

Ricki's is in the village and doesn't have any parking.

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I don't go there just to eat. I go there to shop at Toyo Asian store, Costco, Sam's and other stores. Obviously, since I'm gone all day, I eat lunch somewhere while Im there.

Ricki's is in the village and doesn't have any parking.

I'm handicapped and I always find a place within 2 doors of his front door or on the Carretera near the corner,

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I don't get all these comments about good tempura anywhere here - we've tried many places including at the Abastos market (they are Korean), several restaurants around Guad and in Ajijic (China Inn is still an open question and we will report, though what has tempura got to do with Chinese????). Any time we had tempura it was soggy, heavy batter with vegetables massed together, not airy and crisp and light as the Japanese serve it. It might as well have been KFC. At Suehiro it might have been the right texture but I'll never know - they stuck the pieces in a Bento box and made them steam!

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