#4 - Fuzhou House - Sam's synopsis

Ahh, Fuzhou House.  Every time I walk by this place it brings back memories of freshman year of college, where my hallmates and I would often order food from one of the local chinese take-out places, exclaiming their names in horribly offensive faux-chinese accents. YUUUMMMY GAAAHDEEN!  RIIIIIN'S GAAAHDEN!  I never went inside these holy temples of late-night quenchers of food cravings, but I imagine they looked just like the inside of Fuzhou House - a disheveled counter, a low-tech looking ATM, and a drink fridge full of regular soda but also containing take-out containers full of pink and yellow liquids labeled "lemonade."  After placing my order of wonton soup, vegetable fried rice and sesame chicken, we proceeded to sit at one of the two tables while waiting for our food. Not much else going on in terms of decoration, although there was a neat picture of a bridge. When we sat down, I noticed that a delivery was already being made 15 minutes into the restaurant being open, which I initially took as a good sign,

An outdated ATM, a delivery bike and a visual menu: the three key ingredients to any take-out chinese restaurant.

but then realized it was Sunday morning and someone was probably really hung over.  Soon after that, a group of college frat bros walked in and ordered a ton of food, pretty much confirming my thoughts that a large proportion of customers who eat here are probably trying to recover from a night of heavy drinking.  And there is nothing wrong with that.

We ended up eating at my place again, because the restaurant was too cold to sit in and we decided it was probably a good idea to have a private bathroom nearby, because you can never really be sure with american chinese food.  I started off with the wonton soup, because it was fucking cold that day and I love wontons.  Overall, I was pretty impressed with the taste and quality of the soup.  The wontons were a nice ratio of noodly-outside to pork-and-veggie inside, and the broth wasn't extremely salty.  And the wontons were flavorful too... one time I had take-out from one of those chinese restaurants in west philly (and actually I think there's one around the block from me now) where everything is behind "bulletproof" paneling and it was the worst wonton soup I have ever had.  Tasted like eating paper.  Anyways, wonton soup = delicious.  The veggie fried rice was pretty standard, but just what I was craving, so no complaints there (where standard = tastes salty and has colorful chunks that sort of resemble vegetables).  And finally, we get to the sesame chicken.  I decided to order sesame chicken because it's a staple of chinese restaurants, and I used to eat it a lot.  I probably should have gotten something that I currently find more appetizing (I was eyeing the cashew chicken), because I was really disappointed in the sesame chicken.  The chicken itself was fine, but it was the sauce that I really did not like at all.  It was too sweet, with no balance of other flavors. I took a few bites and that was it - no more sesame chicken for me.  I would not recommend it to anyone, unless disappointment is a hallmark of your life.

looks can be deceiving

mmm wonton soup

eat all the food!

Since I am incapable of ever being seriously mean to anyone, I will leave a slightly nicer note.  Sandya ordered some pork dumplings, and they were among the better ones I've had from any chinese restaurant.  Fried, delicious and paired with the perfect dipping sauce... mmm.  And, like I said above, their wonton soup lived up to my expectations.  So all in all, the dining experience was pretty much what I would have expected, but don't expect to hear me yelling FUUUZZZHHOOOUU HOOUUUSEE! late at night unless my freshman hallmates decide to come to Philly for reunion.

Finally, let's not forget the most important part of any chinese food experience: the fortune cookie.

In case you can't read that second one, it says: "Listen to life, and you will hear the voice of life crying, Be!"  thanks, fortune cookie, because that advice is super helpful.  Also, haven't had a chance encounter or visit since I got that fortune... you can't trust anyone these days.