Sun Wah Hits it Out of the Park

It's been a week since the GNR Presentation Dinner at Sun Wah, and tonight I found myself with a craving that had to be addressed, so off to Argyle we went. Our party of four, which included Mr. & Mrs. Wiv, myself and a friend went somewhat wild with our ordering (what a surprise) and ended up with a feast that was every bit as good as the meal we had last week. It seems that Sun Wah has really hit their stride and is consistently turning out perfectly executed, fantastic tasting food these days.

We started with some soft shell crabs and Peking Duck service.



Also on the menu was crispy skinned chicken, Chinese broccoli and an order of BBQ pig with skin as perfectly crispy as the whole pigs we had last week.



They were featuring a special of house cured "Chinese Bacon" served with stir fried veggies. This was a very interesting dish.



This dinner really hit the spot on a cold Monday night. As much as I like Sun Wah, it just seems to get better and better every time I go.

Sun Wah BBQ
1134 W Argyle St
Chicago, IL
773-769-1254

Wow, are those lotus roots with the veggies? That looks terrific, can't wait to get back!

I was all set to go there last night but one of my other jobs called and I had to go take care of it, I see I really missed out again. I can't wait to get back there, their hot sour soup with their chili oil has been on my mind lately.

Octarine wrote:I was all set to go there last night but one of my other jobs called and I had to go take care of it, I see I really missed out again. I can't wait to get back there, their hot sour soup with their chili oil has been on my mind lately.

Are they open again?

jpschust wrote:Are they open again?

They are open every day excpet Thursday.

Mhays wrote:Wow, are those lotus roots with the veggies? That looks terrific, can't wait to get back!

Mhays,

Good eye, the lotus root in the Chinese bacon and veg was spectacular, lightly vegetal with a crisp clean definitive snap, very fresh tasting, not from a can like much of the lotus root that finds its way into stir fry.

Chinese Bacon served with stir fried veggies



While the entire meal was dead-on, baby pig in particular, our fourth was a Chinese speaker who had recently been in both Beijing and Hong Kong and loves salt baked chicken. After a bit of back and forth with Mr. Cheng we had an earthy brown salt based sauce that was equally amazing with salt baked chicken as the typical ginger/scallion mix.

Ginger/scallion, Salt based sauce, Salt Baked Chicken



Terrific food, lovey people, off the charts flavor for value ratio.

Enjoy,
Gary

stevez wrote:

jpschust wrote:Are they open again?

They are open every day excpet Thursday.

I thought they were closed by the health department? Wasn't that the subject of a thread lower on the page?

jpschust wrote:

stevez wrote:

jpschust wrote:Are they open again?

They are open every day excpet Thursday.

I thought they were closed by the health department? Wasn't that the subject of a thread lower on the page?

they have obviously corrected that issue, and reopened.

I cant wait to go back, its been a week already, and I am jonesing for some duck, and pork.

Enjoy.

Mike G and I went today for lunch and had the Peking Duck. Couldn't agree more with the sentiments above. The duck was fabulous and the plum sauce was the best I've had. The vegetables were very fresh as well.

Now that's a duck.


Shanghai bok choy. Simple, tender, terrific.

anyone order the chicken skin cracklins?

mmmmm

King's Thursday wrote:Mike G and I went today for lunch and had the Peking Duck. Couldn't agree more with the sentiments above. The duck was fabulous and the plum sauce was the best I've had. The vegetables were very fresh as well.

I think I was sitting at the next table! I thought I recognized Mike G from his pictures, but didn't really want to say anything. I'm glad you guys had a good lunch--mine was fantastic as well--wonton soup with roast duck and egg noodles, plus one soft shell crab. *sigh* I kind of want to go back for dinner tonight.

Sharona

Funny, every time someone came in I looked to see if it was a familiar or half-familiar face. Say hi next time, your noodles looked good!

We really, really need to get that LTH hand signal down...or maybe we should all tattoo our foreheads with black and brown diamonds...

Hey guys!

There's a new Sun Wah fans group created in Facebook!! Add pictures and stories! Search for Viva Sun Wah in the search field!

or

http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.ph ... 3508664359

No surprise our lunch at Sun Wah after the Snout to Tail event was typical top notch Sun Wah & a good meal.

We started with egg rolls(I know not tooadventurous, but something I must have when eating Chinese food). Their egg rolls are good, but I still think the best in Chicagoland are at Fabulous Noodles in Lisle.

We ordered: Blue crab stir fired with ginger and green onions, beef fried rice, Hong Kong Style pig, BBQ Duck, Singapore Mai Fun, Chinese Broccoli in Oyster sauce.

All were excellent, my favorites were the crab dish of course, as well as the BBQ duck, BBQ Pig, and the Mai Fun noodles.

Mai Fun:


BBQ Duck & BBQ Pig:


Blue Crab with ginger and Green onion:

A group of 8 of us had a fantastic feast at Sun Wah last night, which included the 'getting-more-awesome-each-time' Beijing Duck . . .


Beijing Duck at Sun Wah

Need I say more? I think not (well, I could but I'd just be repeating myself)!

=R=

Beijing Duck for lunch today with a couple of friends. Along with a side order of garlic fried ribs, just an outstanding way to spend part of this cold, football-free afternoon.

The duck was just as amazing as I thought it would be. Moist and flavorful meat. Deliciously crispy skin. An impossibly good bargain at $30.

Even with some general New Year's Eve chaos in the restaurant, Kelly was an extremely gracious hostess...providing us with a "schtick-free" tableside duck carving.

Again, just a fabulous fabulous lunch.

Does anyone know how Sun Wah cooks their bok choy? I tried to repeat this at home, but was unsuccessful. I steamed the bok choy and it was not crisp and was rather wilted. In addition...what exactly is that simple sauce that gives it the shiny appearance?

CM2772 wrote:Does anyone know how Sun Wah cooks their bok choy? I tried to repeat this at home, but was unsuccessful. I steamed the bok choy and it was not crisp and was rather wilted. In addition...what exactly is that simple sauce that gives it the shiny appearance?

Don't know how Sun Wah cooks it's bok choy but it is definitely not steamed. I stir-fry my bok choy in a wok with peanut oil added. Once it's hot, throw in a few sliced garlic shards, stir-fry for about 30secs then add the bok choy. It does not take long for the bok choy to cook. For flavoring, I add some salt, Shao Hsing cooking wine and oyster sauce! The shorter time it cooks, the more crisp it is. You can place a cover over your wok to cook the boy choy longer. You can repeat these steps for broccoli, cabbage, or capsicum and throw in some sliced beef!

So the key is a wok! That shiny appearance is probably from the oil.

CM2772 wrote:Does anyone know how Sun Wah cooks their bok choy? I tried to repeat this at home, but was unsuccessful. I steamed the bok choy and it was not crisp and was rather wilted. In addition...what exactly is that simple sauce that gives it the shiny appearance?

The shiny appearance is from corn starch slurry added to the sauce, brought to boil to thicken and quickly served.

I would be very surprised if Sun Wah steamed their bok choy. I would think it was stir fried in a little oil in a wok, some broth added, then the corn starch to thicken. This is a basic cooking technique covered in Chinese cookbooks.

I'll be there tomorrow night. I will check with Sun Wah on how it is generally prepared, if they are not too overwhelmed with guests.

Regards,

i would be glad to tell you guys on another night how it's cooked, but tomorrow we have a packed house so i don't know if i will be able to answer any questions. depending on how late (or how drunk, because it will be all byo ;-P) you guys will be, i will try to answer questions after the craziness. i may have to withhold info in case laura and dad want to plan any cooking classes in the future...hehehe!!

quack quack!
kelly

Nice articles from today's Trib - http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... 9658.story and http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... 538.column

That first piece--the story--is a nice story: well done, informative, and enlightening. The Vettel review is, well, a Vettel review. He has his admirers, I'm just not one of them. Both pieces are well-deserved and overdue in my book.

Gypsy Boy wrote:That first piece--the story--is a nice story: well done, informative, and enlightening. The Vettel review is, well, a Vettel review. He has his admirers, I'm just not one of them. Both pieces are well-deserved and overdue in my book.

Agreed. (On both counts - phew! )

I don't read Phil Vettel, so could you fill me in on what "a Vettel review" is?

It's a review. He likes the food. The behind the scenes story is much more interesting.

I actually thought the Vettel review was better than most of his because it actually contained some detail and dislikes. But the more in-depth story about the Chengs was fascinating and well worth reading. Both pieces have left me craving duck.

Mhays wrote:

Gypsy Boy wrote:That first piece--the story--is a nice story: well done, informative, and enlightening. The Vettel review is, well, a Vettel review. He has his admirers, I'm just not one of them. Both pieces are well-deserved and overdue in my book.

Agreed. (On both counts - phew! )

Also agreed.

We had a wonderful birthday dinner (mine) Tuesday at Sun Wah. I agree with Vettel about the asparagus and bacon (pork belly)--the pork's smokiness and chewiness were a great contrast to the crisp green asparagus. We had also had stir-fried lobster with green onion and ginger as a birthday treat, which was very good ($22 for the lobster that was swimming in a tank moments before appearing on our table). Kelly gave us a bottle of prosecco in honor of the occasion--thanks, Kelly! Even though it was a snowy Tuesday night, there were a number of other tables filled. We like the room, we like the Chengs, and we like Sun Wah!

Evy