FGFB New Years Chinese Food Spotlight: Highland China House. Rochester, NH

What witty play on words or what hilarious gif can I insert here to knock the final Chinese food spotlight out of the goddamn park? You're not sure? I am. And you'll see both in my absolutely riveting review of Highland China House, located in East Rochester, NH.

Let's get started.

You'll be shocked to know, that as a freelance artist, I'm not a man of means. So, when choosing my selection for this review, price was definitely ringing around inside my brain like the loose change in my pockets. The Highland China House is like any other hole in the wall Chinese food strip mall establishment, with one glaring difference, which I'll fill you in on momentarily. I've been coming here for years. Watched the small children grow from babies taking their first wiggly steps in the corner, to preteens watching cartoons on ipads, in the corner. The HCH is small, and on NYE, crowded as hell. So me and the lady grabbed a bag moderately filled with food, and popped on the television for some GODDAMN AMERICAN Holiday festivities.

If science could replace my blood with Lo Mein noodles, I'd be jamming my arm in between two boulders and would be feasting on it for the next 127 hours.

It's odd that Chinese food has developed this symbiotic relationship with itself where noodles or rice has to be present despite the vast amount of award winning cast members throughout the menu.
HCH Lo Mein is stellar, not that greasy, and doesn't have that weird half plastic aftertaste that I've found some cheap Chinese places have. It provides an excellent appetizer vehicle, in which exotic meats can safely be delivered into my mouth.
 

The chicken fingers here were oddly thin. The batter, crispy, but within a small wedge of meat, although tasty, leaves you wanting MUCH more. I'm sad I only got a smaller order of these, but if you'll remember the whole change jingling bit I did above....but yeah! Don't shortchange yourself and get a large. Odd at first, but that may in fact be the beauty of them.

Crab Rangoons often times make of break whether or not I'll visit a Chinese place again. Highland China House has probably the best recipe for Crab Rangoons within a 50 mile radius of Rochester, NH. Crispy and sweet, the cream cheese that is encased within this fried wonton is not as thick as you'd imagine. Perfect in it's simplicity.

Another tried and true staple of Chinese cuisine, Beef Teriyaki. Now, these guys, these....are a little odd. Presented well, the meat tastes slightly over processed and segments off the stick really easily. It tastes decent, but not great, not horrid, and just leaves you with a slight uneasiness. The teriyaki sweetness is a like someone dipped their finger in a bowl of really good teriyaki sauce, then took that finger, and then rubbed it all around the outside of your lips.

it's there, you want to taste it, but it's nowhere near strong enough.

I obviously went with the most basic of meals for Highland China House, and if an extablishment can't get what is the absolute basics down, how would they fair if you decided to get a little more adventurous? I think, in HCH's case, they do farely damn well. The food, slightly greasy but doesn't leave your stomach in knots, they excel in some areas, lack in others, but one thing about HCH that we have to keep in mind: They aren't gross. 99% of the small hole in the wall chinese eateries are downright awful, and with that knowledge, it is refreshing to see a place take pride, taking the high road, NAY, the HIGH LAND, and reflect that pride in their product. I'm glad they're around.

I give the Highland China House a
B. 

-Review by Josh

 

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FGFB NEW YEARS CHINESE FOOD SPOTLIGHT: Golden City in Seattle!

We're kicking off the new year by having each of us write a review of a Chinese restaurant in our areas! We realized that for many, getting a ton of Chinese food and staying at home has replaced going out to bars and dodging drunk drivers on New Years Eve. So we thought we'd each try a different spot in a different state and report back! Well, we're starting in the upper left side of the good ol' U.S. of A in Seattle with Rich! 

Many of you know that I moved out here from the east coast a year ago. What you might now know, is that Chinese food simply IS. NOT. AS. GOOD. On the west coast. I know, I know, bombard me with the argument that it's "MORE AUTHENTIC", and "NOT AMERICANIZED" all you'd like. I heard these stories of sub par Chinese food and didn't quite understand until the first time I tried to order it and didn't see the classic staples I had known all my life. No chicken fingers?! No teriyaki sticks? No boneless spare ribs? I was like: 

But luckily we tracked down a place that has a handful of great items and we if we're smart about ordering we can tweak their menu a little bit to make it more what we want. Golden City in Ballard is that place! Located at 5518 20th ave in Seattle, it's nestled right in the middle of Ballard. There's a bar attached that I have never been in. The inside is your traditional decor. I know they do a ton of takeout, but I rarely see anyone sitting down eating inside. I would have gotten a picture of the outside but when we got the food it was already dark out. Rookie mistake right?

This year we started with an order of Crab Cheese Wonton...known on the East Coast as CRAB RANGOONS! 

The Crab Cheese Wontons at Golden City are pretty damn great. Their shell is very crispy all around and in the middle there's a blob of weird cream cheese goo just like we all enjoy. I find both the cream cheese and crab flavors to not be as prominent as in Chinese places back east, but they are still awesome, despite having NO DUCK SAUCE TO DIP THEM IN. Yes, that's another issue. Every restaurant out here has that terrible red sweet and sour sauce instead of duck sauce. At least the ones I have come into contact with. But duck sauce aside, these bad boys get a thumbs up from me. 

Next up...ALMOND CHICKEN without the sauce, aka: CHICKEN FINGERS (kinda). 

What we found here is that there's no way we've found to order just chicken like this. They are sort of like mini Chinese chicken fingers. Instead they come as Almond chicken covered in a sauce that looks like something a goblin would have puked up in an 80's horror movie. The trick is, you order it with the sauce on the side and you're left with a batch of golden, crispy chicken fingers that are damn good.

Then we also got some veggie Lo Mein. With the rest of the meal being pretty meat-heavy, it only made sense to get a bunch of noodles and vegetables, right? RIGHT?

As far as Lo Mein goes, it was par the course. Noodles, lots of big veggies and that familiar sauce. It was good, but probably the least memorable part of the meal. A little less broccoli might have made this better. Can we all agree that cooked broccoli taste a little bit like farts? I think we can. Less of that in my meal, the better.

But the main event of this Golden City feast was the General Tao's chicken. This stuff is spectacular. It's made with a different batter than the chicken fingers. This one seems a bit tougher to stand up against the sauce that the pieces are drowning in, and that's a good thing. Each bite has just the right bit of crunch, and the sauce is out of this world. Borderline too spicy after you've eaten a bunch, but also very sweet and tangy. There's what seems to be razor thin slices of garlic in here too and each one bursts with flavor. This is right up there with my favorite "Generals" chicken ever.

For all those out there who may not believe the legend that West Coast Chinese food is lacking, I can tell you that at least up here in Seattle, I haven't found and equivalent to back home in New England.  But I'm glad to have found Golden City to quench my thirst for crab rangoons when it gets too intense. Ahem, Crab Cheese Wontons, sorry.

But if you find yourself in Ballard and are looking for some damn good General Tao's Chicken, head on into Golden City and that and a side of Crab Cheese Wontons will be sure to make you leave happy. Check out their website for more info!
http://www.goldencityseattle.com/

Stay tuned for three more Chinese food restaurant reviews coming up next!

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