ARLINGTON – A friend and I recently discovered it’s difficult to find a quality restaurant that’s open on Sunday afternoon. Luckily, we found one: Peking Palace, which is in what used to be the Food Pavilion shopping center in Smokey Point.
Peking Palace opened about four months ago in a space that was a Japanese restaurant. The new owners didn’t have to do much to convert the place – a new name across the front windows and a few red Chinese lanterns in the dining room. Below the lanterns, the pumpkin- and squash-colored walls elegantly compliment the green glass tables and black chairs accented with chrome.
Be sure to enjoy the glass doors between the dining room and bar.
The bar was closed when we arrived for our early Sunday dinner, but the dining room was busy with families enjoying their meals. We were instantly greeted two steps inside the front door and led to a table that gave us a wonderful view of Mount Pilchuck, which we enjoyed between courses.
We ordered Peking Style Dinner No. 3 ($13.95 per person) because it sounded like just the right amount of food for two hungry people with a great combination of dishes. The No. 3 has a choice of egg flower or hot and sour soup, egg rolls and fried chicken wings as an appetizer plus sweet and sour prawns, chicken lo mein, fried or steamed rice and a main dish called “Happy Family,” which is one of the restaurant’s specialties.
The 16 house specialties include three entrees that feature prawns – crystal prawns and scallops, which are sauteed with pea pods and water chestnuts; honey walnut prawns that are lightly battered with honey and served with walnuts ($13.95 each); and lover’s prawns, which is a half portion of prawns in white sauce and a half portion of deep-fried prawns ($14.95). Happy Family combines thin slices of beef, chicken, prawns and scallops with vegetables in a rich brown sauce ($14.95).
Like many area restaurants serving Chinese food, the menu is long: 17 poultry dishes, 11 beef choices, seven pork entrees, 13 seafood selections plus egg foo yung, noodle and fried rice choices, and eight vegetarian dishes. For me, a menu this long makes the combo plates more appealing because they take less coordination between dishes and those dining with me.
My friend and I enjoyed our dinner because every dish was so right-off-the-stove it was too hot to eat. The things we praised included the crispness of the chicken wings, the extra garlic kick in the lo mein and the rich soy taste in the Happy Family.
Most important to me: The fried rice didn’t have any withered canned peas and carrot cubes, just soy-laced rice and bits of scrambled eggs, a rare treat any day of the week.
Herald restaurant reviewers accept no invitations to review, but readers’ suggestions are always welcome. Reviewers arrive unannounced, and The Herald pays their tabs.
Contact Anna Poole at features@heraldnet.com.
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