Sunday, November 27, 2005

charles plaza



charles plaza
234 north 10th street
philadelphia, pa
(215) 829 4383

type of cuisine: chinese
culinary excellence: 5
vegan friendliness: 10

my first official foray into the chinatown veg scene followed a viewing of antonioni's the passenger at the ritz bourse. while i do highly recommend the film, i'm on the fence about charles plaza. of the three chinese restaurants i've visited since relocating to the main line, this one easily ranks highest for decor (tablecloths, dimmed lighting) and service (charles is as genteel and accommodating as can be), but the food was strictly average. we started with a "for 2" order of wanton soup from the vegetarian menu. the broth was pleasant and hot, swimming with delicate cabbage bursts, little pieces of chewy mock pork, vegetables and minced wanton bundles. overall, a fine soup, though there was an aromatic flavor to some bites that i could not place and did not particularly care for. next up was a crispy sesame fried chicken appetizer. i have never seen sesame chicken actually coated with sesame seeds! the result was intriguing at first - almost like halvah chicken - but ultimately not so appealing. finally, we shared an order of general tso's chicken made from seitan and served in a thick gloopy sauce. this was pleasant enough, with nicely textured wheat meat in a crispy batter. still, i preferred the same dish at golden empress garden. our "side" of vegetable fried rice was enormous, more than enough for a meal in and of itself. made with brown rice and chock full of actual fresh vegetables including cauliflower and snow peas, it had a smoky, slightly oily flavor. for dessert it was a few wedges of orange and uneaten fortune cookies offering wisdom of the ages.

update: tried some more of charles' menu items: spring rolls are too greasy to actually taste any flavor; orange beef is soft battered chunks of seitan in a gloopy, slightly citrus sauce - not orangy at all - served with some carrots and asparagus; beef with asparagus is soft little pieces of seitan in a smoky soy sauce with really good asparagus and other veggies.

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