Hi,

If time is tight, why not make reservations. If you might want the Peking Duck service, advise that in your reservation. You may want talk to Kelly or Laura to reaffirm your wishes.

There is nothing obnoxious about ordering too much food. Many people over order to have food for lunch the next day.

Please note there is a wedding in the Sun Wah family sometime in September. Calling ahead will make sure you are not colliding with that event.

Regards,

We were at Sun Wah yesterday and ordered far more than we could eat. I'll be working late tomorrow and am already thinking about polishing off the bbq duck when I get home. My question: what's the best way to reheat the duck?

John R wrote:My question: what's the best way to reheat the duck?

Indirectly over hardwood charcoal is the best way in my book.

Barring that, reheat it in a moderate oven covered loosely with foil. If you seal it too tight, the meat will steam, which is not what you want. Only heat it long enough to warm the meat (approx 15 minutes or so). Don't try to get it too hot or you will dry out the meat. Remember, even in the restaurant, duck is served just slightly warmer than room temp. Enjoy.

Kathy,

We were in a seminar from early this morning with the only break being for lunch, so making a reservation ahead of time would have been impossible unless they were there and answering the phone at 8:30 am. I assume most restaurants are not staffed so early.

I apologize if my wording was not what it should have been. I was in no way making any judgement on what others' had ordered and posted about. Those 2 sentences were intended to be completely independent of each other. Most Chinese places do not have S/M/L, so I was simply trying to clarify what the portions were. If a large portion was intended for 3-4 people, that would not have been desirable for us on this occasion (we love leftovers - but had no way to keep them cold the rest of the day). The other sentence was meant to imply, "if you would only be ordering 2 dishes, what would you recommend?

I hate to overexplain myself, but I hope my intent is now clear. We have another seminar about a month from now, maybe it will be in the cards then and I will have plenty of time to make a reservation.

Christine,

No need to explain. Take what you need and ignore what isn't.

Fortunately what you couldn't do today, there is next month.

Sun Wah opens at 9 am.

Regards,

Cathy,

Thank you. And how in the world after coming here for years I misspelled your name, I will never know. My sincerest apologies for that.

Next Sunday, 9/25, Sun Wah will be closed, or at best they will have very limited hours. This has been a public service announcement.

My husband and I went to Sun Wah last night for the first time. I'd been curious about it ever since we moved to Chicago. So glad we went and so glad to have this board for recommendations. My husband was too "scared" to try the duck, so we ordered: BBQ ribs over rice, crispy noodle (egg) with vegetables, chicken fried rice & wonton soup. Everything was excellent, but the soup. Perhaps we just don't have a palate for wonton soup, but we were disappointed with it. However, we are willing to try another soup next visit. Also, the table next to us had ordered the Bejing Duck Dinner and he was very intrigued. I hope next time to convince him to try that or at least a plate of roasted duck. Our bill was less than $25 and we, of course, had plenty leftover for lunch today.

jewel4352 wrote:My husband and I went to Sun Wah last night for the first time. I'd been curious about it ever since we moved to Chicago. So glad we went and so glad to have this board for recommendations. My husband was too "scared" to try the duck, so we ordered: BBQ ribs over rice, crispy noodle (egg) with vegetables, chicken fried rice & wonton soup. Everything was excellent, but the soup. Perhaps we just don't have a palate for wonton soup, but we were disappointed with it. However, we are willing to try another soup next visit. Also, the table next to us had ordered the Bejing Duck Dinner and he was very intrigued. I hope next time to convince him to try that or at least a plate of roasted duck. Our bill was less than $25 and we, of course, had plenty leftover for lunch today.

Ive had the hot and sour soup so many times over the last 20 years that the waitresses are genuinely perplexed when I don't order it:) The other soups are ok but the hot sour is fantastic.

stevez wrote:

John R wrote:My question: what's the best way to reheat the duck?

....reheat it in a moderate oven covered loosely with foil. If you seal it too tight, the meat will steam, which is not what you want. Only heat it long enough to warm the meat (approx 15 minutes or so). Don't try to get it too hot or you will dry out the meat. Remember, even in the restaurant, duck is served just slightly warmer than room temp. Enjoy.

Steve, many thanks for the advice. The reheated duck was great.

A friend had relatives in town and invited us to join them at Sun Wah for dinner on Saturday. I had recommended he order the duck service ahead of time. We supplemented with fried scallops, fried wontons, Mike's Fried Chicken (which we had not preordered, but got lucky in that they had a couple extra orders), and sauteed chinese broccoli. It was a great meal, especially loved by the 7 and 10 year old boys at our table. They went to town on the duck and the chicken. The adults split the tab, which came to $25 each for 5 adults. The table behind us had ordered a small roast pig and the kids at our table were fascinated by the carving process. If I wasn't scared of the cleaver, I might have tried to snatch a piece of the pork as we left.

Probably a bit late in the game, but will be in town with a couple of others and am going to check out Sun Wah on Saturday the 5th at noonish. Would happily share a table and some dishes with local LTHers if anyone was intersted to check out more items. Thus far the only thing I know for a fact we'll be getting is the Beijing Duck.

If anyone is interested you can message me here or via the blog.

http://endoedibles.com

for those interested, we are now taking turkey orders. email or phone please! i don't check these boards as often as i like to answer everybody. =D

quack quack!
or in this case,
gobble gobble!
kelly

Mr. Maki and I went there for the first time last night, with some friends who'd been there before. I perused this thread yesterday afternoon and got some ideas. The friends made the reservations and when we sat down, the male-half of the couple said, "so, I was a little presumptuous and went ahead and ordered the duck." I squealed with joy. We ordered the beef chow fun and the pork belly with taro, also.

I think I've reached food nirvana and may not need to eat anywhere else. I'm already planning my next visit with a big group so I can try more things.

A few of us had dinner at Sun Wah last week and I have to say that the Beijing Duck was the best it's ever been...and that's saying quite a bit. Even the accompanying fried rice, noodles and soup were phenomenal. In fact, everything we ate -- Mike's Fried Chicken, Crispy Chow Fun with Duck and Pork, Fish Fillet with Stir Fried Ginger and Green Onion, Hakka Tofu, Lamb Casserole -- was delicious but that perfect, crispy-skinned duck has been in my mind ever since.

=R=

I also had a terrific meal at Sun Wah ... Friday night. The duck was terrific with ever so crisp skin. So were the egg rolls. We avoided the duck fried rice ... never liked it that much ... but just an fyi - substituting the noodles for the rice wasn't perfect because they don't do the noodles extra crispy in this dish.

But most interesting is that I tried a new dish that a friend ordered - steamed tofu stuffed with shrimp, which I liked quite a bit ... might even become a regular order for me.

A follow-up question as my next trip will be with a big group- besides the Beijing Duck, is there anything else you have to order 24+ hours in advance? Do they still have the the garlic ribs that were talked about early on in the thread and needed to be pre-ordered? I assume the whole pig needs to be pre-ordered. Does anyone know what the approximate cost on that is?

abe_froeman wrote:A follow-up question as my next trip will be with a big group- besides the Beijing Duck, is there anything else you have to order 24+ hours in advance? Do they still have the the garlic ribs that were talked about early on in the thread and needed to be pre-ordered? I assume the whole pig needs to be pre-ordered. Does anyone know what the approximate cost on that is?

I'm not sure about any items that need to be ordered in advance ... but the duck does not need to be ordered in advance.

The garlic fried ribs and Mikes fried chicken are both on the regular bbq menu. I had the garlic fried ribs, roast pork, beef chow fun, and hot sour soup Saturday early evening. It was as wonderful as ever. The ribs were a little larger than I remember but that made them easier to hold and gnaw every little bit of sweet garlicky goodness.

BR wrote:

abe_froeman wrote:A follow-up question as my next trip will be with a big group- besides the Beijing Duck, is there anything else you have to order 24+ hours in advance? Do they still have the the garlic ribs that were talked about early on in the thread and needed to be pre-ordered? I assume the whole pig needs to be pre-ordered. Does anyone know what the approximate cost on that is?

I'm not sure about any items that need to be ordered in advance ... but the duck does not need to be ordered in advance.

Looks like it's not required, but highly recommended.

abe_froeman wrote:

BR wrote:

abe_froeman wrote:A follow-up question as my next trip will be with a big group- besides the Beijing Duck, is there anything else you have to order 24+ hours in advance? Do they still have the the garlic ribs that were talked about early on in the thread and needed to be pre-ordered? I assume the whole pig needs to be pre-ordered. Does anyone know what the approximate cost on that is?

I'm not sure about any items that need to be ordered in advance ... but the duck does not need to be ordered in advance.

Looks like it's not required, but highly recommended.

I suppose it can't hurt, and indeed I called ahead Friday before dinner Friday night, but they told me it was not necessary to pre-order the duck. Note that reservations are recommended - Friday at 7:30pm multiple parties were waiting to be seated so we were glad to have a reservation.

It's probably also worth mentioning that on the night we were there, they were out of the crispy-skinned roast pork. Though, it was definitely a rare occurence, if there's something you really want to eat, it can't hurt to call.

=R=

If you are planning to go for dinner Friday or Saturday, absolutely get a reservation.

If you are going to want a duck, you will definitely want to call for this also - if not, there is a good chance they might have extras ready, but there is also a very real chance they may not.

You can do this all in one fell swoop - just call, say you want to reserve a duck, and give them the day and time.

Crowds can actually get pretty crazy on the weekends. Having a reservation will ensure you immediate seating. Granted, you will probably get a few dirty looks from waiting, hungry patrons as you breeze by them - but hey, don't hate the player, hate the game.

A lot of people do not realize you can make a reservation for Sun Wah but I do it every time just in case. The restaurant handles it very well and I have never once had a problem.

DClose wrote:If you are planning to go for dinner Friday or Saturday, absolutely get a reservation.
[...]
Crowds can actually get pretty crazy on the weekends. Having a reservation will ensure you immediate seating. Granted, you will probably get a few dirty looks from waiting, hungry patrons as you breeze by them - but hey, don't hate the player, hate the game.

A lot of people do not realize you can make a reservation for Sun Wah but I do it every time just in case. The restaurant handles it very well and I have never once had a problem.

My regular time for visiting Sun Wah is Sundays before noon, and we've never had a problem getting a two-top immediately at that time. (Actually, part of the reason we go at that time is so we can get a four-top for the two of us--we order too much food to fit on a two-top.)

However, I recently went for a 6pm Sunday dinner and didn't make a reservation either. Our group of four had to wait less than 10 minutes for a table, but shortly after, there was a much lengthier wait. I could see the door and parties waiting from my seat and felt bad for much of the meal since we talked a lot and dawdled. So, even for early evening on a Sunday, a reservation seems like a good idea. I was surprised.

We went back for the second time on Saturday. We had 6 people, so we got 2 ducks, a medium plate of roast pork, and the pork belly with taro. Oh, and mixed veggies with tofu, to balance it all out

I don't think we realized last time that you could get your duck turned into rice or noodles, so we got one of each this time. The rice is good, but the noodles are excellent.

I'm trying to get a big group together to go sometime in February, and to entice them, I made a video.

Love the video! The sound track is superb.

THAT may be the best post I've seen on here to date--if you haven't already, you MUST send the link to Kelly--she will love it. PM me if you need her email address.

hi everyone,

for those who usually starve on thursdays, i do want you guys to know. we will be OPEN this thursday, 12/22/11, regular hours form 9am-9pm. dining room is 11am-9pm. we want to stay open to take orders for the holiday, feed the masses that can't make it in over the holiday weekend, and because it's "chinese christmas" (as mom puts it). really, it's the winter solstice and it's a big holiday for chinese and vietnamese people. very similar to christmas. so, yes, this is a thursday exception where we will be open. =) and to answer an upthread comment about the video, i took a few minutes to read the posts from the last time i was here and i've checked out the video. very cool. =) my guy is going to have to start charging to get his photo take and videos made of him...hahaha!!!

quack quack!
kelly

Dragged 12 of my fellow managers from our office here for a holiday lunch and everything was well received. Despite my cautioning, the other end of the table ordered way too much food to accompany the two ducks that I had pre-ordered for the group. I think we ended up with 5 or 6 full entrees, 2 "small soups" and some eggrolls, Wontons and Fried Shrimp to go along with the eggplant and chinese broccoli I had ordered to go with the duck (sadly they were out of the baby bok choi). We made a valiant effort but I left with about 1/4 of a duck, half of the duck noodles and most of the duck soup which I just polished off for dinner (well, not all of the soup).

Even the picky eaters seemed happy with what they ordered. I wasn't sure how the duck was going to go over but I was very glad I ordered two of them...the first platter moved around the table in the opposite direction of my end of the table and before it got back to the middle, it was empty.

Thanks! Just my second time using iMovie! It's probably a matter of time before the copyrighted music is noticed and it gets taken down. My first iMovie project was stuff I did on a visit to Bell's Brewery and that got taken down because of the music. Pesky copyright laws!