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Last Friday I had a hair appointment in the H-Mart area in Carrollton. I rarely venture over there anymore so I got some of my friends to meet up for dinner in that area. There are so many new places to try!
I wanted to go check out Gang Jung Chicken Cafe. They specialized in Korean fried chicken, which I love!! I never got to try BonChon in Dallas, although I was told it wasn't good anyways. Now, I've had BonChon in Korea and it was sooooo good.
Gang Jung Chicken Cafe
2680 Old Denton Rd # 156
Carrollton, Texas 75007
(972) 306-3100
Price: $-$$
This place is pretty new. Opened in the fall of 2013. It's located in the same corner as Spa Castle. It's a cute place. Not very big. Wooden tables and benches, a very typical Korean look. You order at the counter and pick up the order at the counter.
5 of us got there around the same time so we went up to order. The guys behind the counter were very nice and tried to explain the menu to us. There were 2 sides to the menu: Gang Jung and Fried Chicken. From what I could understand, Gang Jung is still fried but the sauce on the chicken is more sweet and comes with rice cakes. Spicy Gang Jung is spicier than Crazy Spicy Chicken which confused us. Because if you call something craaazy spicy, I expect it to be hella spicy. haha. I found the menu a bit confusing but the guys were patient and gave us recommendations (despite a little lacking in English). They also let us taste the different spicy sauces. They said we should get 4 mediums to share between the 5 of us. And that comes with 4 sides.
Here are the sizes and prices:
Small (Chicken breast or wings; with 1 side) $8.99~
Medium (Chicken breast or wings; with 1 side) $13.99~
Large (Chicken breast or wings or whole chicken; with 1 side) $17.99~
So we took their recommendation and got a mix of spicy and non-spicy flavors.
Spicy Gang Jung (garlic, red chili, soy sauce, capsaicin, hot powder). We chose Chicken Breast for this.
This is supposedly the spiciest of them all. It was just spicy enough for me, but I eat pretty spicy in general. My friends that don't eat spicy couldn't handle it. I didn't think it was insanely spicy though. The chicken breast was amazingly juicy and tender. The chicken pieces were quite large. The batter was a little thick, but was crispy and partly softened by the sauce. I liked the batter but some friends didn't care for it. This also included fried rice cakes which was awesome! I loved the added texture after it's fried. The sauce flavor did have a certain spice/flavor that was interesting. The whole night I was trying to decide if I liked it.
Crazy Spicy Chicken (corn syrup, soybean sauce, garlic, hot sauce, capsaicin, hot powder). We got these in Wings.
This was my favorite. It was also spicy and sweet like the Spicy Gang Jung, but it didn't have that extra spice. The wings were pretty large and juicy. I will definitely get this again. With the different sizes, the number of chicken breast pieces and wings are different. You get fewer wings to chicken breast per order.
Soy Garlic Chicken (soybean sauce, soy sauce, potato starch, onion, garlic, garlic powder, soybean oil). We got these in Wings.
One of my friends wanted sweet, so they recommended this. This was my second favorite. It was definitely sweet, but worked very well with the garlic. Again, the wings were nicely fried and very juicy.
Green Onion Chicken (deep fried chicken with green onion in creamy green onion sauce; soybean sauce, onion, garlic, mustard, garlic powder, caramel syrup). They said this is their best seller and is very good with Chicken Breast. So we took their suggestion.
The bottom is basically regular fried chicken and topped with a ton of shredded green onions. Probably my least favorite out of the bunch. The chicken was fried well and very moist but it was lacking in flavor, especially when it's next to all these awesomely sauced other flavors. The sauce comes on the side. It's a little sweet, slightly creamy and has a mustard-y, horseradish-y flavor. The sauce is much needed for this and was able to make it more unique. I'd skip this next time. I wonder why it's their best seller?
French Fries $2.50~ We also got an order of fries. They made some extra so they gave us another order for free! How nice! :) The fries were good. Paired well with the chicken.
Sides:
Daikon Radish. Pretty standard. The radish is a little sweet, a little tangy and helps cut the spiciness and greasiness from fried chicken. It's quite refreshing.
Corn Salad. It was like coleslaw with corn in it. I liked it with the chicken. It was good to have some veggies with all this meat!
Rice. Steamed rice. Pretty standard. haha.
So while we were deciding what to order, another friend showed up and ordered before we even noticed. :P He got a medium Parmesan Chicken (deep fried chicken covered with parmesan powder). He chose Wings.
We all shared. These were quite popular at the table. I feel like it was the first to disappear. I thought it was ok. I prefer the Korean sauces and stuck to the other ones more.
OMG. We killed it all. There was nothing left. I just kept eating, and eating, and eating. Anything fried is always so addicting. It was a lot of food too... I'd actually say we'd be ok with 4 mediums among the 6 of us... I really enjoyed our meal though. I hope to go again soon. :) I'm so happy that we have good Korean fried chicken in Dallas again. Just a warning... if you don't like sweet and savory, this is not the place for you.
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Ming Yue. This is also a must visit on every trip. Just around the corner from my grandma's place. I think it beats Ding Tai Fong... less hype, less wait, cheaper, and just as delicious!
Rice Cake
Xiao Long Bao (Pork Soup Dumplings)
Stirfried Water Spinach
Pot Stickers
Green Onion Pancakes
Modern Toilet. I've been to both locations in Taipei. My cousin wanted to go so we took her to the one in Ximen Ding.
Shaved Ice (with various cookie toppings, raisins, chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream, sprinkles) NT$120 The waiter told us this was shareable for 2 people. Um... Are these 2 people ginormous?! It was HUGE!! Set on a giant squatting toilet dish, this was bigger than my head. And it looked pretty nasty. hahaha. Which is the point here. A mountain of shaved ice with chocolate sauce and condensed milk. And all sorts of toppings to look like.. well you get the idea. haha. I don't want to get super gross. There were 3 of us. We made it through most of the toppings and maybe 1/3 of the ice. Not the greatest shaved ice, but it was fun and definitely photo worthy.
Royal Honey Milk Tea (cold) NT$150. My sister also got this. It comes in a "urinal" hehehe. Their drinks are pretty good.
My parents told us of this beef noodle soup place that was supposedly the best in Taipei. It's won awards or something. They hand make the noodles and also the pancakes for the beef rolls.
Beef Rolls. These were yummy. The pancakes were nicely pan fried and slightly crispy. The sauce inside was kinda sweet which I liked.
Zha Jiang Mien (dry noodles with meat/tofu sauce, cucumbers, carrots) Small. I love Zha Jiang Mien. It's probably my favorite. So I got it since I can try the beef noodles from other people. It was ok, definitely not the best I've had. I'm all for thick noodles but these were a tad too doughy. Still tasty though.
Beef Noodle Soup (half meat, half tendons) Small. Same type of noodles. The broth flavor was really good though. I'm assuming they won an award based on that. The beef tendons were awesome... great texture and huge pieces! The beef was really dry so that brought it down a little.
Yong Kang Beef Noodle Soup. One of my cousins took my sister and I for more beef noodle soup. This place is well known in Taipei. We've been before, years ago. There was a line outside at 2pm! We got seated pretty quickly though. We had to share a table with 2 other groups.
Beef Noodle Soup (half meat, half tendons) Small NT$210. I think the broth flavor ranks just a smidge under the previous noodle place. But this place had better noodles and beef. So I say they win!
Spicy Steamed Pig Intestines NT$100. We like pig intestines cooked any way. haha. This was tender and slightly spicy.
Spicy Wontons NT$100. It had a peanut sauce which was very tasty. Yum!
Man Tan Hung Hot Pot - All You Can Eat.
Some people have left already but all the remaining relatives joined us on our last night for some hot pot! All you can eat hot pot in Taipei is the way to go. Food, drinks, and Haagen Dazs ice cream included! Unlimited Haagen Dazs!!!! Did you hear me?? haha :D
Spicy Hot Pot
Unlimited Soda
Unlimited Ice Cream
Last but not least... Can't pass through Narita Airport and not visit the JAL Lounge! The best lounge I've ever been to and they have the BEST beef curry ever!! I got to take my sister for her first time and she loved it!
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I had told my family about Mian Cuisine after I went a few weeks ago. My sister has gone once since and said it was pretty good. So we decided to have our family lunch there this past weekend.
Mian Cuisine
121 West Spring Creek Parkway
Plano, TX 75023
(972) 517-1688
http://miancuisineplano.com/
Price: $
We arrived at 1:30PM on Sunday and the place was pretty packed. Luckily we got a big table in the back.
As most of our family meals go... we order a lot of food (usually too much). haha. We did everything family style of course because we want to sample everything.
Spicy Hotpot (pork intestine, tofu, duck blood, pickled greens) $10.59~
My sister really wanted to try this. We all love this dish in general, and tend to get it if it's on the menu anywhere. It's definitely not for the unadventurous eater! haha. This was my favorite dish of the meal. It had bold flavors, was actually spicy, and had lots of ingredients in the hot pot. Everything was cooked well and tasty.
Stir Fried Rice Cake & Vegetable (with pork) $6.99~
They have pretty big portions here. The rice cake was cooked well but overall the flavors were very mild. I didn't mind that, it's better than overly salty in my opinion. This dish was ok, not one of my favorites...
Soup (with ginger and goji berries). We also got 2 free soups, I'm not sure which dishes it came with though. I'm not a fan of these soups but my sister is, and she finished one on her own.
Chili Beef Noodle Soup $6.99~
I've had this before and I liked it. My family didn't think it was spicy enough, which I agree, but at least you can still taste the spiciness. And I love the texture of their noodles.
Fried Bean Sauce Noodle (Zha Jian Mian) $6.99~
This was the main thing I wanted to try. It's one of my favorite Taiwanese style noodles of all time. I was disappointed here. The noodles were great, but there was not enough sauce, I had to ask for extra. And again, it was quite bland. I actually put some of the sauce from the hot pot and mixed it in there. Wasn't half bad! haha. I wouldn't order this here again though.
Basil Crispy Chicken Rice $6.59~
This came in a bento box with a lot of stuff. I wanted the try their rice with minced pork on top since I didn't get to try it last time. I did not like it at all!! Yuck! The meat texture was weird and flavors were not right. I didn't eat anymore. Bleh.. :( The crispy chicken was ok. I prefer the one at Genroku more.
Handmade Scallion Pancake $3.50~
I liked this the first time I had it. It's not as fluffy as it should be but I did like the crispiness on the outside. It was good dipping into the spicy sauce of the hot pot. hehe.
Chives Box (fried chives dumpling, 2pcs) $4.99~
I'm not a fan so I didn't try. My dad says the flavors were pretty good, but it wasn't a good deal. You only get 2 and it's quite expensive! Go to JengChi Bakery for dumplings...
All in all, it was a good meal. We still stuffed our faces as usual. The food is decent as far as Dallas standards go and the location is definitely closer to me than Chinatown in Richardson. I'll be back again. There are still other menu items I'd like to try.
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