Bamboo Café
One of my favorite things in life is finding hidden restaurant gems in unlikely spots. Most often they are situated in a spot similar to where we find the subject of this article. Tucked away in the corner of a grocery store strip mall, hidden by a large Fast Food chain you will find some of the best Orange Chicken in the Valley. Focusing on modern interpretations of classic dishes, while ensuring to use fresh ingredients, they have been pleasing diners for over a decade. The décor is modern and sleek, but still comforting. You will notice that while eat in patrons are considerable; the take out business is just as popular.
When we arrived, we were shown to a nice table and given time to review the extensive menu. One particular interesting menu feature is their Dinner Combo section. Similar to a lunch combo that is often limited only on certain days and times, the dinner combos are available every evening. They have a very well organized and eclectic Asian menu that focuses on many different dishes in the Mandarin style. As we sat and reviewed the menu, I was taken by the creative Chang Ho window style table design. We enjoyed some Hot Tea ($1.50) from a very ornate pot as we started studying the menu.
We decided to start our meal with a few appetizers for the entire table to share. The first one we ordered was the Cha Shao Bao ($3). These are steamed buns that are filled with delicious BBQ pork. They are denser than you might expect yet when you get to the sweet pork center, the flavors all come together. It comes in an order of two and they are about the size of a jelly donut, but with a much different flavor profile.
The next item was the Asian Pot Stickers ($7). These were served fried, but you can also request them to be steamed instead. There are eight to an order, so plenty for sharing around the table. The wonton wrapper is filled with a mixture of pork and vegetables and formed into a small dumpling. They are then served with a ginger and soy dipping sauce. The fried version has a nice crisp exterior texture and when paired with the dipping sauce is a delightful bite of food.
The last appetizer we shared was the Crab Puff ($4.50). There are eight to an order of these hand crafted wonton delights. They are filled with Crab Meat, green onion and Cream Cheese. They are than lightly deep-fried and served on a plate with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. I am a connoisseur of these little flavored pillows of delight. So I say this with ease, they are very tasty here. The flavor while very good, it is hard to beat the value on this dish. Especially when in a larger group, it is nice to find appetizers that are tasty and have more than four to an order.
We then moved on to entrées for the evening. The first entrée was from the Dinner Combo section. We selected the Sesame Chicken Dinner combo ($7.50, $8.50 with a side dish upgrade). The meal comes with white rice, an Egg Roll, and a Crab Puff. You can choose for a dollar to change the white rice to Brown Rice, Fried Rice or Noodles. On this occasion we decided on noodles to accompany the Sesame Chicken. The chicken is lightly breaded and fried then a scoop of Sesame sauce is spooned over the top. If you are anticipating the sweet and sticky Sesame Chicken you find at other places, this is not it. That being said, it was still very tasty, but not as strong with the sesame flavor that you might be expecting. The noodle and chicken serving size was tremendous. Two people, so anticipate taking some to go, could easily share the sheer amount of food that fills the plate.
The next item we ordered was the Orange Chicken Dinner Combo with Fried Rice ($8.75). This is the same style chicken but the Orange sauce adheres itself to the chicken more in the fashion that you expect. The flavor is phenomenal and I can understand after one bite why the Orange Chicken is one of their most ordered dishes. The chicken and the sauce are perfect. Once again, the amount of food is amazing to behold and the pictures do not do it justice.
The final dish of the evening was the Kung Pau Tofu ($8.50). This dish comes with a side of white rice and is full of flavor. It is cubes of tofu that are deep-fried and then sautéed with Peanuts, Water Chestnuts, Green Bell Peppers, and Onions. Then all mixed together in a spicy Kung Pau sauce. If you think you do not like Tofu, this dish may challenge your thoughts. It is a wonderfully flavorful dish and much healthier for you than some options on the menu. When I say the sauce is spicy, I mean SPICY! I was very thankful to have an ice-cold glass of water near by while eating this dish. If you are a fan of spicier dishes and eat them routinely, then this may not be spicy to you, but to me it was. But I would order it again, with an extra glass of water by my side with no second thoughts at all. The flavors from all the ingredients, made you completely forget that there was tofu as the main protein. I was excited to see that their Vegetarian dish was not an after thought, and was given the same care that their other dishes received.
I always enjoy trying smaller, not easily seen restaurants and this one fits the bill perfectly. While the exposure to the main street may not be overwhelming, the experience will be. I also highly recommend trying to find an item on their Dinner Combo section first, if possible. It is a great price, and you get as much food in my opinion as you may on the regular dinner portion. But no matter what you order, be prepared to get a to go box, one of the great things about Chinese food is the next day left overs.
Location and Website – 6615 W Happy Valley Rd, Glendale, AZ 85310 http://www.bamboocafeaz.com