When’s the last time I ate chinese food in the city not in chinatown? I’m not sure if that’s ever actually happened. Mandarin Palace is a random chinese joint near rittenhouse. And you know what? Their food is damn good.
The crab rangoon. I’ve never had these before, although they’re typically found in menus at chinese joints in america. Who wouldn’t like deep fried cream cheese and crab wrapped in wonton? I love cream cheese. I love crab. I love fried wonton. Put it all together, I say!
General Tso’s chicken… served with egg roll and fried rice.
My chicken with asparagus, fried rice, egg roll. I don’t care how unauthentically chinese this is. I love me some americanized chinese food. Even after the crab rangoon and soup, I ate all of this.
And how can you not love a restaurant who hangs this type of art on their walls?

When it comes to an easy meal out near home, SangKee is always one of the top choices. The last time my mom and I stopped by, they had brand new menus with a fancy and colorful cover. It doesn’t matter what day or what time I go to this place. It’s always busy! And it makes sense, because their food is always consistently good.
Here’s something I’d never tried before in all of my previous visits – the fried shrimp dumplings. These suckers are hot, stuffed with yummy shrimp, and serviced with a sweet and savory dipping sauce.
My mom got the whole bronzino with ginger and soy sauce. This was a huge whole fish! Neither of us expected it to be this big. It was light and flaky and fresh. The sauce was a little boring and bland, they certainly could have kicked it up a notch. But it was well worth it. My mom got several more meals out of the leftovers!
I always like their big broth noodles bowls, so I mixed it up from my usual and got the stewed beef with udon noodles. The meat was tender and strong with 5-spice flavor, and I’m a total sucker for thick udon noodles. Service here is always good.

I’ve been to Sabrina’s in Bella Vista a bunch of times. I thought we could check out the Fairmount one, just for kicks. I knew that it would be crowded, but unfortunately, I didn’t know there was also a 5k that sunday, as well as a parade, or that you could call ahead. These all seemed like noob mistakes. Luckily, things moved quickly, and we didn’t have to wait that long. Once inside, it’s completely packed to the gills, at the tables and at the counter. And it’s all hustle and bustle in there.

M’s full stack of blueberry pancakes. This is an impressive heap of big pancakes. He put forth a valiant effort and pretty much ate it all. I love that there’s a dusting of powdered sugar and cinnamon.I went with the huevos rancheros, which is a go-to dish of mine for brunch. It’s hearty, filling, savory, and delicious. The potatoes that came with it were also great. Service was ok, they’re really damn busy here. It can seem a little harried. But as far as solid brunch options go, you can never go with any of the Sabrina’s.