Kam Fung

I finally made it back to Kam Fung last weekend for their late night menu (11 - 2am) and had a few more dishes.

I was not able to scan the special late night menu where all the dishes are 3.95 but we had mushrooms, tofu, bok choy, beef, chicken, and noodles.

They were all very good and the place was crowded with an international student crowd despite the fact that it was after midnight.

After 2 trips and especially with the small portion late night menu I will be visiting this place often.

I am curious as to others opinions about this place and the more traditional hong Kong style Dragon Court located at 2414 S. Wentworth

I am pretty excited about both lately and do not see any references on the board.

Thanks

Here is a copy of the menu

Hi LTH, here's my first post for your forum. I've lurked around here for a few years now, thanks for all the tips on where to eat and what to order. You've made an aspiring foodie who moved to Chicago in recent years very happy, and very well informed. I've posted this review on yelp, but since no one over here seems to be chiming in on Kam Fung I figured I would post it here as well, tailored slightly for you LTHers:

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On a recent trip to Chinatown with some friends, my BF & I wound up at their favorite restaurant for a late dinner. Walking in to Kam Fung is an unimpressive event, it looks like every other little restaurant you've ever seen around the country that doesn't care about their decor. Paper flags on all the linoleum walls with specials (I think) printed in Chinese with random prices, minor decor, all items picked up at the local stores, and huge lazy susans in the middle of each table.

Don't let that deter you, once you get your first dish from the kitchen, you'll swear you're sitting in heaven.

We lucked out and hit the place at a great time. We walked in at about 9:30 on a Sat. night, and easily had our choice of any seat in the place. That quickly changed, as Kam Fung serves a midnight menu (until 2am) where everything is $3.99. By the time we left we were the only non-Chinese people in the place and there were people waiting for our table.

We started with soups - wonton, which had a flavorful, fragrant broth and multiple (!) wontons; and a hot & sour, which was loaded with pork, chicken, mushrooms, and tons of other things in a thick, brown soup. I'll be getting the wonton again next time I go back, which will be soon. On to the egg rolls - served hot & crispy without any stray oil & grease.

By this time I'm bouncing around with anticipation like a little school girl waiting for the main dishes. I mean like silly giddy. We ordered 4 dishes, which was WAY too much food. But that's ok, because it was soooo good that all the leftovers (2 more meals worth!) got devoured.

We had the:
Shrimp & vegetable chow fun - served in a casserole dish, the noodles were delightfully slightly crunchy while being the perfect noodle consistency at the same time. The sauce was light, the vegetables plentiful & crunchy, and the shrimp was wonderful.

Seafood w/XO sauce - Kam Fung doesn't joke around when it comes to seafood. This dish was piled high with shrimp, scallops, octopus, and other fish that escapes me right now. Yum. I'm now a huge fan of XO sauce.

Shredded Pork in Ya Shung sauce - I'm not a big pork eater so I only had a bite to taste this, but it tasted remotely like barbeque. It was as good as something you don't really like can be. The 2 guys at the table who love pork raved about the dish; flavor, texture, and anything else they can think of. It was an overflowing plate of food and they put a nice dent in it.

Shrimp in lobster sauce - You all know this dish. An old standard that Kam Fung does well. They do theirs with a yummy thick brown sauce with tons of giant shrimp & black beans. Certainly not disappointing.

I haven't had good, real, Chinese food since moving here from NY, and my BF, who is from Alabama, has had great NY Chinese, but nothing as authentic as this. We've only eaten from place on the northside, and after many, many, attempts still can't find anything better than Yen's. Which isn't bad, just not... well... orgasmic. Kam Fung is the real deal, and restored my faith in Chinese food in Chicago and in general and opened his eyes to an entirely new world of Chinese. I can't wait to go back, and I'm sure it'll be soon.

Everyone left stuffed and elated, and brought home over half their dish. But we all clutched them tightly on our way homes, for fear of forgetting our delishiousness in the cab.

Go and try this place. I can't stress it enough. Judging by their late night crowd they're not hurting for business, but you'll certainly be thrilled you went.

((Note - I've been to LTH recently as well, and plan on trying LSC on my next trip down there. Kam Fung is a bit more Americanized than LTH, but that might be because we stuck with safe dishes at Kam Fung and at LTH I had my first (religious) experience with S&P shrimp, extra crispy, with shells & heads on, as well as some of Gary's chili oil. Damn is that stuff good. The BF loved the chili oil, couldn't do the shells/heads on shrimp. The rice & tea are much better at Kam Fung, and I plan on ordering something more 'exciting' on my next trip there. The people who spoke fluent Chinese who were ordering off the Chinese menu had more interesting plates coming to them, like shrimp w/heads & shells on in random sauces. ))

I have been back to Kam Fung a few times since last posting and have been impressed each time. In my visits communication has been challenging since my Mandarin is, oh yeah I don't speak mandarin, and I can't quite figure out what is on the menu not printed in english.

Pictured here is my last lunch which was dictated by a friends shrimp allergy and our inability to communicate such with the staff.

We ordered the chicken fried rice which my companion proclaimed authentic. I will abstain from qualification since I never lived in China but I will say I enjoyed the rice.


The Salt and Pepper Squid
At 4 bucks is an absolute steal.
The jalepenos had a nice flavor and a level of heat which played nicely with the salty citrus-savory seasoning of the squid.


I will get back with a larger group and the camera and post more breadth in the future.

Edited to include another visit

Another late night / early morning trip.

We ordered randomly off the chinese menu which has dozens of options for $4.95. We had no help with the translation and I expect they served us the more "American" offerings since everything was pretty standard.

The vegetables were good. Crisp with light complimentary sauce


The tofu was a favorite of mine. Notice the fresh jalepenos


Spare ribs were very peppery and more savory than sweet which is a plus for me. I would call this a decent rendition of a dish that is frequently poorly executed


Beef. Again more savory than many nearby versions. Meet was lean and dish came out piping hot and fresh.


We also had the squid again as well as the rice. It was around 1:30 am when we ate and everything seemed to be made to order.
It was pretty standard fare which was a little disappointing but everything was prepared well for the very low price of 4.95 a dish.

I will work on a translation of the menu

We've been going back here more & more as well. I really enjoy this place. I took some pics on one of our last visits; I will try and find them. My current favorite is something that they're simply calling 'eel rice bowl'. It's not on the English menu & the only reason we got it was because we had a waiter who spoke better English than most. He recommended it as a house specialty. It's a giant bowl of rice w/broiled eel, cut into nice pieces, scallions, sauce, and something else that escapes me right now. It was delicious. Going back and trying to order it again was an ordeal; I now have a card in my wallet which has "Eel Rice Bowl" written on it in English & Chinese. Now I can just show that to a waiter.

dupreeblue wrote:Going back and trying to order it again was an ordeal; I now have a card in my wallet which has "Eel Rice Bowl" written on it in English & Chinese. Now I can just show that to a waiter.

Great idea!

G Wiv wrote:

dupreeblue wrote:Going back and trying to order it again was an ordeal; I now have a card in my wallet which has "Eel Rice Bowl" written on it in English & Chinese. Now I can just show that to a waiter.

Great idea!

Thanks. I thought so as well. My friends thought I was nuts.