Welcome back to another installment of boozings, where we try all of Philly’s Top 15 Drinks! Next up we go to Kong, for the Kowloon Taxi. It is concocted with Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur, Ketel One vodka and cranberry juice, mixed with muddled fresh ginger and orange slices, and served straight up in a martini glass, garnished with stirrer full of candied ginger.
I was actually dreading having to drink this because I’m not the biggest fan of ginger. I like when ginger is used as a flavoring (ginger powder, crushed / minced ginger), but I don’t actually like it being visible in my food. There’s nothing I dread more than biting into a hunk of ginger. The pickled ginger that comes with sushi? I don’t touch the stuff. That’s why I was so surprised to like this drink. Seriously. This ginger-phobe liked this ginger based cocktail! It’s very gingery and spicy, but not in the campfire way that the chile infused drink was. It’s spicy in the gingery way. And incredibly strong as well. As I kept on drinking it, the ginger flavor became less offensive, and I really started to enjoy it. I still did not like it when I actually bit into a hunk of ginger, which thankfully only happened once. And the candied ginger that came on the stirrer, I even took little bites of that and enjoyed it a little bit. But I still can’t see myself ever just eating candied ginger for fun.

I’d never been to Kong before but on this monday night, it was completely deserted, which made me a bit sad. The place is beyond beautiful. I have read mixed reviews about the food, which is probably why the place was so empty, but perhaps the location in Northern Liberties isn’t the best for a place like Kong. If this place was in chinatown, it would probably be packed every night.

Ok, 8 down, 7 more to go!

Before heading home, in order to avoid the traffic on 95, I grabbed a quick bite right near the customer. There’s a big fancy strip-mall with all kinds of stuff, so I randomly selected Jesse Wong’s. It was either this or california pizza kitchen, quizno’s, or panera. I always pick the non-chains as much as I possibly can. snowboarding, the hunger set in and I had to eat. This place is large and kind of fancy. It’s definitely not your typical chinese joint. It’s definitely trying to be upscale. There’s a large sushi bar in the middle. It’s an open kitchen so you can see all the hubbub. This place is trying so hard to be fancy, there’s even a dude playing the piano! It’s a little crazy.

I could hardly make a decision. I wasn’t sure whether to go for chinese or to go for sushi. I kept going back and forth. Then when the waitress showed up, I just decided on chinese. So I ordered some hot & sour soup. This was an extremely large portion of soup. For $3, you get so much soup! I liked this a lot. It was extremely flavorful. I’m a big fan of hot & sour soup, and it’s definitely a soup that you either like or dislike. This one I liked, despite it being the darkest and most opaque hot & sour soup I’ve ever had.

For my entree, I got the chilean sea bass in a spicy black bean sauce. This was so good! It was a nice sized hunk of fresh chilean sea bass (you could definitely taste the freshness) in an extremely savory sauce. The fish was lovely and flaky and the sauce was perfect for it. It was a bit on the salty side, but not in a bad way. The fish came on top of three pieces of broccolini. It was the perfect accompaniment. Service was ok. Prices were a bit on the high side for chinese food, but not overpriced. There were plenty of items on the menu that were very affordable, so there’s something for everyone. All in all, a nice surprise.

Jesse Wong’s Kitchen
118 Shawan Rd
Cockeysville, MD 21030
(410) 329-1088