6 or 7 of us are going for duck on Tuesday. If you are there, look for the table with 14 or so bottles of wine...
Stop by for a glass!

So my friend Jim from Boston was here all week with 22 year old daughter in tow while his wife was stuck in a conference in Evanston. We went to Sun Wah on Tuesday: various noodle soups, bbq pork on rice, octopus (actually squid) whiskers, duck fried rice, egg rolls, soft shell crab. Big hit, everything. Today when they were leaving town and had to go to the airport at 2:00 and they said, do we have time for Sun Wah again? More noodle soups, pork lo mein, garlic fried ribs, and I just had to have another soft shell crab. Very happy all around. We did Parthenon on Wednesday just because they wanted a Chicago experience they couldn't get in Boston. But their hearts belonged to Sun Wah. And more excuses for me to go there twice in a week.

ATTENTION:

(hopefully that got your attention...hehehe!!!)

there will be no duck this weekend as we will be CLOSED for dinner this saturday and sunday (8/21 and 8/22) at 3pm. we apologize for any inconvenience or disappointments this may cause. we promise to be raring to go with duck for dinner on monday. see you all soon!

quack quack!
the sun wah family

Awwww....my DS was so looking forward to going on Sat. Oh well. Next time.

We had another lovely dinner here a week ago. I felt bad, though, because as Laura (I think it was Laura) was carving up the duck, my mom is saying how she thinks the buns are bland and doesn't want hers. Then she goes on about how the soup is bland and she doesn't like it. Right in front of Laura, like she's not even there!

leek wrote:We had another lovely dinner here a week ago. I felt bad, though, because as Laura (I think it was Laura) was carving up the duck, my mom is saying how she thinks the buns are bland and doesn't want hers. Then she goes on about how the soup is bland and she doesn't like it. Right in front of Laura, like she's not even there!

LOL, we must be related!

Being temporarily homebound, some friends brought Sun Wah by for dinner earlier this week and it was fantastic. I was thrilled to have such a tasty meal and thought the duck and pork -- super crispy skin -- were both stellar, even with a bit of travel time factored in.

Moral of the story: It doesn't matter if your family doesn't like Sun Wah, as long as your friends do!

=R=

Had another excellent meal here when I was in town on Monday. This is always on my must visit list when I come to Chicago. A big thank you and congrats to Kelly.

In previous trips to Sun Wah when I've been in charge of ordering it's been easy. My upcoming visit is a little different. I'm expected to order for 7 but 5 of them are vegetarians. I have no idea what to get.

Thoughts?

MarlaCollins'Husband wrote:In previous trips to Sun Wah when I've been in charge of ordering it's been easy. My upcoming visit is a little different. I'm expected to order for 7 but 5 of them are vegetarians. I have no idea what to get.

Thoughts?

Are they strict vegetarians or is seafood acceptable (pescatarian)?

There are lots of options, if you call in advance and ask, here are some obvious and not so obvious ideas:
- chinese broccoli with oyster sauce (there isn't any oyster in the sauce, mostly MSG), or sauteed with garlic is good, too.
- tong or ong choy (water spinach) sauteed with fu yu (fermented bean curd)
- any of the noodles, fried rice, or chow fun dishes can be made without meat, such as Singapore mai fun, beef chow fun without the beef (ask if you can substitute with tofu instead)

Some of the not so obvious, variations of menu items:
- Bittermelon in black bean garlic sauce
- eggplant dish - either yu shiang or black been sauce, or they might have a better idea
- Fried tofu Salt & Pepper style, like the shrimp, but with tofu
- Sweet and Sour tofu (off-menu, but can usually be done) The tofu will either be fried crispy without batter, or battered
- Seafood tofu casserole, but with tofu and vegetables -only
- Ma Po Tofu, without meat - this is the cantonese version, nothing like Lao Szchuan.
- Black Mushrooms with Fried Tofu
- any of the vegetarian tofu dishes on the menu

Do call in advance so they are prepared.

petite_gourmande wrote:

MarlaCollins'Husband wrote:In previous trips to Sun Wah when I've been in charge of ordering it's been easy. My upcoming visit is a little different. I'm expected to order for 7 but 5 of them are vegetarians. I have no idea what to get.

Thoughts?

Are they strict vegetarians or is seafood acceptable (pescatarian)?

There are lots of options, if you call in advance and ask, here are some obvious and not so obvious ideas:
- chinese broccoli with oyster sauce (there isn't any oyster in the sauce, mostly MSG), or sauteed with garlic is good, too.
- tong or ong choy (water spinach) sauteed with fu yu (fermented bean curd)
- any of the noodles, fried rice, or chow fun dishes can be made without meat, such as Singapore mai fun, beef chow fun without the beef (ask if you can substitute with tofu instead)

Some of the not so obvious, variations of menu items:
- Bittermelon in black bean garlic sauce
- eggplant dish - either yu shiang or black been sauce, or they might have a better idea
- Fried tofu Salt & Pepper style, like the shrimp, but with tofu
- Sweet and Sour tofu (off-menu, but can usually be done) The tofu will either be fried crispy without batter, or battered
- Seafood tofu casserole, but with tofu and vegetables -only
- Ma Po Tofu, without meat - this is the cantonese version, nothing like Lao Szchuan.
- Black Mushrooms with Fried Tofu
- any of the vegetarian tofu dishes on the menu

Do call in advance so they are prepared.

Perfect. Thanks!

There were a number of complaints about service and waiting times for food when Sun Wah opened in its new location. For those who haven't been to the new location (or those who have not returned after a sub-par service experience), you should know that Sun Wah is adapting very well to the new, larger location and to the increased number of customers. A number of new service staff has been added and I've now been there twice when the dining room was quite crowded (filled with far more people than the old location could ever hold) and on both occasions the service was prompt and food delivered fresh, hot and tasty. In short, Sun Wah in its new location is the same Sun Wah you grew to love.

They have new, fancier menus . . . slightly difficult to read because they're separated in halves, and no matter which half you are looking at, the other half is upside down. Please note that Mike's fried chicken is listed under the bbq items.

Like many other Chinese restaurants, they will not allow you to order appetizers and maybe a soup while you relax and consider the menu. Everything has to be written at the same time on the same ticket. When I send the waiter to the kitchen with my starters, it is obvious that it has not been turned in, and he is merely waiting for me to decide on the remainder. Then, of course, you have to wait for them to bring out the appetizers, closely followed by everything else, and all the dishes start stacking up.
I realize that is Chinese family style eating, but a party of two is not a Chinese family.

BR wrote:There were a number of complaints about service and waiting times for food when Sun Wah opened in its new location. For those who haven't been to the new location (or those who have not returned after a sub-par service experience), you should know that Sun Wah is adapting very well to the new, larger location and to the increased number of customers. A number of new service staff has been added and I've now been there twice when the dining room was quite crowded (filled with far more people than the old location could ever hold) and on both occasions the service was prompt and food delivered fresh, hot and tasty. In short, Sun Wah in its new location is the same Sun Wah you grew to love.

We went for the first time ever on Monday night. (Been wanting to for years now, but some things take time.) And you describe the situation we encountered. Big, bustling, busy, but very efficient and flaw-free service from start to finish of the experience. Our server even went beyond the call of duty by making sure we didn't order more than one soup for the three of us--basically not permitting us to! (Accustomed to other Chinese restaurants we've been to, we assumed that a small soup was a serving for one. We didn't dream a small soup could be enough for three people twice over. But of course she was right, and we were grateful to her.)

All the food was wonderful. I had the BBQ duck, of course. (Had to.) Which brings up a question. Foolishly, I put the first slice in my mouth whole, only to go through the embarrassing procedure of picking nearly ten different pieces of small bone out of my mouth, which not only made me self-conscious but nervous (what if I missed one and swallowed it?). I learned from this to be very careful with the next slices. In my trial-and-error experience with the duck, I came to feel that really the only safe way to eat this dish was to pick up each piece in my bare hands and take very tiny, careful nibbles. But that's messy, not to mention less self-consciously performed with the leftovers in the privacy of one's home than in a public place. So I'm basically asking, is that the right way to do it? (I know some will answer, "Hey, whatever works for you is what works," but that's not the answer I'm looking for.)

I was floored by the amount of the bill. Three people, soup for all with seconds for all, a large shared appetizer, three very generous entrees that yielded leftovers, a large Matilda--$50. What is this, 1974?

Mikey wrote:Like many other Chinese restaurants, they will not allow you to order appetizers and maybe a soup while you relax and consider the menu. Everything has to be written at the same time on the same ticket. When I send the waiter to the kitchen with my starters, it is obvious that it has not been turned in, and he is merely waiting for me to decide on the remainder. Then, of course, you have to wait for them to bring out the appetizers, closely followed by everything else, and all the dishes start stacking up.
I realize that is Chinese family style eating, but a party of two is not a Chinese family.

Guess I must be special then. I've done exactly this many, many, times. Hot sour soup, chinese broccolli, and a side of roast pork is my go to first order.

riddlemay wrote:I was floored by the amount of the bill. Three people, soup for all with seconds for all, a large shared appetizer, three very generous entrees that yielded leftovers, a large Matilda--$50. What is this, 1974?

This is the best part about going to Sun Wah with someone who has never been there. I took a group of 4 other people there for dinner on Saturday night and 2 of them had never been there. We had the duck dinner, a couple of plates of pork, baby bok choy, garlic fried ribs, and a bunch of beer. The look on everyone's faces when I told them it was going to be $25 per person was priceless. It was even better when I told them that included tax and tip.

Took my Mom there a few weeks back (along with the wife and our young son) and we had a great time. Ordered way too much food (as I usually do) so we had leftovers for 2-3 more meals.

Just a few comments/responses to some points made up thread.

I love the duck (as did everyone at the table) but we universally found the soup part bland. We wanted to skip the soup course completely but they insisted on giving us two large containers to take it to go. The pork buns are kinda bland, but isn't that the point? They are there to make sandwiches and the flavors come from the duck and the sliced up vegetables and the sauce. I wouldn't want a strong flavor from the buns. For what they are, they are super. I think in the future we'll have to make a point to order a few extra.

We were originally told the wait was going to be 20-30 minutes. We thought we would beat the rush going to dinner at 5:30 on Sunday, but I guess lots of other people thought that too. I don't think there's a great spot to wait at the new place ---which is an improvement since there was NO place around the corner at the old location--so we just stood in front of the windows looking at the BBQ/Soup stations. But lo and behold the wait was about 5 minutes!! We were of course thrilled to be seated so soon, but that original estimate was WAY off. Some other party might have bailed only to learn the wait was a 1/4-1/6 of what was quoted.

And is Thursday a common day for restaurants to be closed. I had my in-laws visiting a month or so ago and wanted to take them to Sun Wah and made the mistake of trying to take them on Thursday--and not checking to see if they were open, because what restaurant is closed on a Thurs??? right??. OOPS. Had a very nice meal at Silver Seafood but it didn't strike me as odd being closed on Thursday. Monday? sure. Tuesday? I have seen it happen. Thurs?? Never before.

I've been going to Sun Wah now for close to 25 years and it is a true Chicago treasure. Even better and nicer in the new location and menu additions.

--Dirk--

groovedirk wrote:
And is Thursday a common day for restaurants to be closed. I had my in-laws visiting a month or so ago and wanted to take them to Sun Wah and made the mistake of trying to take them on Thursday--and not checking to see if they were open, because what restaurant is closed on a Thurs??? right??. OOPS. Had a very nice meal at Silver Seafood but it didn't strike me as odd being closed on Thursday. Monday? sure. Tuesday? I have seen it happen. Thurs?? Never before.

--Dirk--

I believe the Thursday closure is an old Argyle hangover, from when all the places would close of different days, for example Tank is closed Wednesdays.

Octarine wrote:

Mikey wrote:Like many other Chinese restaurants, they will not allow you to order appetizers and maybe a soup while you relax and consider the menu. Everything has to be written at the same time on the same ticket. When I send the waiter to the kitchen with my starters, it is obvious that it has not been turned in, and he is merely waiting for me to decide on the remainder. Then, of course, you have to wait for them to bring out the appetizers, closely followed by everything else, and all the dishes start stacking up.
I realize that is Chinese family style eating, but a party of two is not a Chinese family.

Guess I must be special then. I've done exactly this many, many, times. Hot sour soup, chinese broccolli, and a side of roast pork is my go to first order.

You so tricky, order complete meal and they foolishly take it to the kitchen.

Bumping up this question, because I'd really like to know, and I know some of you have good input to give:

How do you eat the duck at Sun Wah? Specifically, how do you handle the "many small bones" issue? Pick up each piece with chopsticks and nibble on it? (Beyond my skill level.) Cut very small pieces of the meat away from the bones with a knife and fork? Pick up each piece with your hands and gnaw, using your teeth to pull away tiny bits of meat away from the bones? Put the whole slice in your mouth and extract the bones from your mouth as you come across them?

I'm sure one answer is "Hey, whatever works for you," but I'd really like to know the more "approved" methods for doing this.

I'd also like to know people's duck eating methods. Also, are the garlic fried ribs advance notice special order items or is it on the menu?

riddlemay wrote:Bumping up this question, because I'd really like to know, and I know some of you have good input to give:

How do you eat the duck at Sun Wah? Specifically, how do you handle the "many small bones" issue? Pick up each piece with chopsticks and nibble on it? (Beyond my skill level.) Cut very small pieces of the meat away from the bones with a knife and fork? Pick up each piece with your hands and gnaw, using your teeth to pull away tiny bits of meat away from the bones? Put the whole slice in your mouth and extract the bones from your mouth as you come across them?

I'm sure one answer is "Hey, whatever works for you," but I'd really like to know the more "approved" methods for doing this.

I use my hands... This is not fancy dining!

riddlemay wrote:How do you eat the duck at Sun Wah? Specifically, how do you handle the "many small bones" issue? Pick up each piece with chopsticks and nibble on it? (Beyond my skill level.) Cut very small pieces of the meat away from the bones with a knife and fork? Pick up each piece with your hands and gnaw, using your teeth to pull away tiny bits of meat away from the bones? Put the whole slice in your mouth and extract the bones from your mouth as you come across them?

I eat duck the same way I vote. Early and often...usually any way I can. I don't go much for formality, so any of the above methods work for me depending on the circumstances, the company I'm with and the general cut of the duck in question. I wouldn't agonize too much over this, although I will say that I have never taken knife and fork to a duck Euro Style at Sun Wah.

With the Peking Duck, the boniest parts kind of go away to be made into the soup, don't they? What you get on the plate is slices of breast and whole legs, as I recall.

FoodSnob77 wrote:I'd also like to know people's duck eating methods. Also, are the garlic fried ribs advance notice special order items or is it on the menu?

Not sure if they're on the menu or not, but I was able to get them without pre-ordering a couple of weeks ago.

Done correctly, I agree w/ Mike G. that the boniest, most difficult duck pieces are not plated.

IIRC, the ribs are on the current menu. The new menu is large and includes the octopus whiskers and many other items which were previously unlisted or listed only on the very fancy paper plates stuck to the wall.

BR wrote:Done correctly, I agree w/ Mike G. that the boniest, most difficult duck pieces are not plated.

Mike said that he believed this was the case with the Peking Duck. So from what you and he are saying, I'm inferring that Peking Duck and the item on Sun Wah's menu called BBQ Duck (which is what I ordered) are very different in the amount of bones they contain. Sun Wah also has Peking Duck, of course. So the conclusion is that the more expensive Peking Duck is the way to go, unless you want a more economical alternative that will come at the price of having many bones to pick, in which case the BBQ Duck is your option. Is that about right?

riddlemay wrote:I'm inferring that Peking Duck and the item on Sun Wah's menu called BBQ Duck (which is what I ordered) are very different in the amount of bones they contain. Sun Wah also has Peking Duck, of course. So the conclusion is that the more expensive Peking Duck is the way to go, unless you want a more economical alternative that will come at the price of having many bones to pick, in which case the BBQ Duck is your option. Is that about right?

You're right - they're different. The issue is that you don't always want a whole duck. When I lived right near by, I used to get the bbq combination over rice (char siu, roast pork, and roast duck over rice, with some greens and half an egg - $5) regularly as a carryout dinner.

I have no problem gnawing around the bones and such, but can definitely where some people wouldn't care for it. I brought coworkers to Lao Sze Chaun and almost no one was interested in the twice-cooked frog once they encountered all the bone shards... oh well, more for me.

-Dan

I've gotten a whole duck to go several times at the counter in the front. When you watch them cut it up, it's clear they have a very specific way to doing it because the pieces come out the same each time. After a few times, you get to recognize the different pieces and where the bones are in each piece. I have to confess that every time I eat think, my brain is thinking how authentic this is, but my mouth is wishing for a duck cut up "western" style! I like gnawing the last bit of meat off a bone, but I have to work so hard on each and every piece when its cut up this style.

Jonah

dansch wrote:You're right - they're different. The issue is that you don't always want a whole duck...I have no problem gnawing around the bones and such, but can definitely where some people wouldn't care for it. I brought coworkers to Lao Sze Chaun and almost no one was interested in the twice-cooked frog once they encountered all the bone shards...

To me the concern isn't even as much one of convenience or neatness, as breathing. I worry that I'll miss one of those small bones that's hiding where I least expect it and choke. Obviously others are more adept and/or fearless, and I can see how the BBQ Duck wouldn't be a big deal for them.

Although the whole Peking Duck would be portion-overkill (I'm often the only duck-eater at the table), I think I would more than happily "resign" myself to a couple days of leftovers. This sounds like the option for me.

I took friends to Sun Wah on Sunday for their first visit. The place was packed at 7 when we arrived, we ran into Octerine and fifille waiting and played spot the LTHer for a while. I had luckily made a reservation so we were seated after about a 10 minute wait. Kelly was running the host stand like a general preparing for battle, she was covering all the bases as the hungary hoards descended. We started with the scallops, the lobster with ginger and scallions, a veggie Kelly recommended (don't remember the name daisy something) and the duck service. We told them not to serve the soup, just pack it to go, but we managed to finish the rest. The young man who carved our duck didn't didn't look old enough to be out that late, but he did a magnificent job, I'm going to attempt to carve my duck that way someday. It was great to see them so busy and service was just fine. They had a lot of people to make happy, but our food came out promptly and our requests for more water, napkins and beer were quickly fulfilled. It was wonderful to see them firing on all cylinders.