Another day, another chinese restaurant. I actually think there might only be one or two more, but they are ubiquitous in pretty much every city or college town or just regular town for that matter. Spoiler alert: This one was pretty good, and much better than Fuzhou House. Ah, but before I move onto the review, it looks like another restaurant we sauntered to has closed its doors. Apparently we are cursed, or people take our reviews very seriously.
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| doesn't it sort of remind you of a pizza place? |
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| I am always happy when a maneki-neko is around |
It was a hot summer day when we ventured to Fortune, so the A.C. was much appreciated as soon as we walked in. The layout reminded me of your local pizza joint but with chinese restaurant decor, and it was pretty empty save for the people working and the TV tuned to the world news channel of what I believe was a French broadcasting network. They had a pretty good lunch deal where you can get a main course, rice and some sort of appetizer for cheap, so I went with moo goo gai pan and wonton soup (obviously) as my appetizer, and fried rice as my rice option. I used to always get moo goo gai pan when I went out for chinese with my family, so I know it's a dish I enjoy, but now that I've looked it up on wikipedia so I could link it to those unfamiliar, it seems kind of silly since I don't like mushrooms and that's what the "moo goo" stands for... the more you know I guess. but I have always been a fan of the sauce that comes with it, and Sandya benefited from my dislike of mushrooms. We placed our order with a very enthusiastic and apologetic cashier, who answered the phone during the middle of our order and proceeded to get a little confused when we finished up our order, but felt pretty bad about it even though she had no need to feel that way.
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| I liked the decorations they had |
Our food came out pretty quickly, but there was a slight problem with our order - we had gotten drinks but the cashier forgot to charge us, so when she brought the food over she had to apologetically ask us for a few more dollars. No big deal for two laid back ladies such as ourselves, but this poor woman felt so awful that she apologized at least 20 times and hoped we weren't mad at her. Hence my earlier descriptor of her being apologetic. But as I also said, she was very energetic and friendly, so it was hard to convince her that we really weren't that offended or upset that we had to pay for the drinks. I don't really know how to convey what transpired at Fortune, but it was a unique experience, because I've never met a cashier who took mistakes like that so seriously. She kind of reminds me of myself in that regard, feeling guilty for things that are obviously out of your control and/or not really a problem to begin with -- anyways, I digress. Onto the food!
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| the lunch combo - wonton soup, moo goo gai pan and fried rice + soy sauce for good measure |
The wonton soup was only okay - the broth was good but the dumplings were not very flavorful. The main dish, on the other hand, was surprisingly delicious, and if it weren't for that "this tastes somewhat healthy but in my mind I know it's loaded with really bad things for me and it's from a take-out chinese restaurant so now it's starting to taste a little artificial" taste I would have thought it were from a nicer sit-down restaurant. Interesting how biases work. Anyways, presumptions aside, it was pretty tasty and made for a nice lunch the next day. The fried rice was also exactly what I wanted - rice with a little more oomph. As Sandya pointed out, we didn't get fortune cookies which seems a shame for a restaurant named Fortune. But I think if we had reminded our cashier that she forgot to give us cookies she probably would have quit her job, so we settled with returning to Philly Cupcake for milkshakes instead - a great way to end a surprisingly great meal. I would recommend ordering take-out from Fortune if you live in the area, as it is so far the best chinese take-out restaurant I've encountered with very friendly service (n=2).
Fortune
1828 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
(215) 546-3366
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