CHINA STAR : Part Deux

 In my last review of China Star, I promised to go back to try some of there more authentic Chinese dishes. So back I went to try there much ballyhooed Tea Smoked Duck. Being that my eating partner is not all that adventurous, I bought her some Orange Beef. We both shared a Pu Pu platter as well. So lets get to the review shall we.

PU PU Platter ($10.95)

 The Pu Pu platter was a disappointment. It came with 2 of the following. Spring Rolls, Crab Rangoon, Unidentified Fried Thingies, Teriyaki Beef, BBQ Spared Ribs.
 The spring rolls were crunchy and filled with a pork/veggie mix, and were decent tasting.
 The Crab Rangoon was lacking in that there was not enough filling. What filling there was, had little crab flavor, and tasted like plain cream cheese.
The unidentified fried thingies (UFT) looked like a shrimp toast, but there was no seafood flavor at all. They tasted like fried wonder bread, and were very greasy. Looking at the China Star Menu , I think these might have been the scallion pancakes, but I really have no idea. 
 The Teriyaki Beef was infused with a nice teriyaki flavor, however the beef was slightly tough and stringy.
The BBQ Ribs were meaty and had a nice Chinese BBQ flavor to them.

Orange Beef ($10.95)

 The Orange Beef was one of the better versions of this dish that I have eaten. The coating on the outside of the beef was crunchy yet slightly over-coated  for my tastes. Inside the beef was very tender. The sauce was very good  with orange, soy, garlic, ginger, and pepper flavors. Imagine a General Tso's sauce with an overriding orange flavor. The dish had a great balance of sweet, sour, and savory. Someone needs to tell the chef to cook the broccoli along with the sauce, as it was quite dry and plain. Letting it cook in the sauce would have infused the broccoli with some much needed flavor.

Tea Smoked Duck ($13.95)

   The Tea Smoked duck hit my palate with flavors that I had never tasted before. The duck itself was juicy and slightly fatty, yet it missed having that crunchy skin which makes Peking duck such a treat. The tea smoke flavor was quite different from the usual hardwood smoke flavor (hickory or oak) that I am used to. The tea smoke was almost floral in its flavoring, and that flavor was quite pronounced throughout the duck. It honestly took me a little while to get used to the strange flavor. While I cant say that I did not like the flavor, it wasn't good enough that I would order this duck dish again. It seemed like it needed some type of sauce, to balance out the smokiness of the duck.

RATING

PU PU Platter: 4/10 



Orange Beef: 7.5/10 



Tea Smoked Duck: 5/10 


China Moon
100 McIntyre Square
7900 McKnight Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
412-364-9933

China Star Restaurant

There has been a lot of talk recently of a relatively new Chinese Restaurant in the North Hills area. China Star has been getting a lot of positive word of mouth for their authentic Chinese menu. China Star has your typical American/Chinese hybrid menu, but they also have a special menu with specialties of the Sichuan region of China. Some of the specialties include Tan Tan Noodles, and Tea Smoked Duck.

Before getting into the review, I am just getting over the flu, so I decided not to be to adventurous this time around, and I decided to order some of the more traditional items off there regular Menu. My order included Cold Sesame Noodles, Pork Egg Foo Young, and General Tso's Chicken. Called in my order for takeout and was told it would be ready in 30 minutes.  A half hour later I arrived and found my food waiting for me. The restaurant had quite a few people waiting for tables when I arrived. The dining room is rather small so expect a wait on Friday nights if you plan on eating at the restaurant.

Cold Sesame Noodles $3.95

Well to start off I tried out the Cold Sesame Noodles. These wound up being the highlight of my meal.  These were your typical oriental rice flour noodles, but the sauce that these noodles came in was excellent. The sauce was Thai influenced with flavors of garlic, peanuts, sesame, and red chili oil. All of these flavors accompanied the noodles nicely. The noodles are also available hot for those that prefer it. My thought when I finished these noodles was damn I should have got two of these. 

Pork Egg Foo Young $8.95

Next up was the Pork Egg Foo Young. The Foo Young came in a portion of 4 large patties accompanied by an oriental brown sauce. The sauce tasted like a typical brown gravy with notes of soy, ginger and garlic.  The Foo Young patties were full of napa cabbage, carrots, sprouts, a generous amount of pork, and heaven forbid peas. As a note, your beloved reviewer hates peas. Dont know why, its always been that way for me. Sorry, cant help it. Despite the peas best effort to ruin the Foo Young, I found it to be one of the better Egg Foo Young's that I have tried. Being that I did not want to go through the whole dish avoiding those disgusting little green things, I gave it to my Mother. She was also of the opinion that the Egg Foo Young was very good, and she even ate the peas.

General Tso's Chicken $9.95

 The General Tso's Chicken was the biggest disappointment of the meal. The serving was a generous amount, enough  to feed two people. The sauce was typical of a General Tso's sauce, sweet, and slightly spicy. Matter of fact I was wishing that it could have been a little more spicy. The chicken in my opinion had a little too much batter on it, which led to the chicken being more gummy then crispy. The General Tso's at the Sesame Inn down McKnight Rd from China Star is the gold standard for this dish, and this version of General Tso's just didn't measure up.

 In conclusion I found my dishes from China Star to be pretty darn tasty. Im looking forward to going back for another order of their Sesame Noodles, and I think I will try something off their authentic Sichuan menu.

REVIEW


Cold Sesame Noodles: 9/10 

Pork Egg Foo Young: 7/10

General Tso's Chicken: 5/10

OVERALL: 7/10 

China Star Restaurant
100 McIntyre Square
7900 McKnight Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
412-364-9933