Every time I eat Chinese food, I always go to one of those typical Chinese restaurants swarming with Chinese-speaking only workers. Service is generally not top-notch, but the food is good and legit. Yesterday was Allen’s mommy’s birthday and we went to a Chinese restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga called China Republic. This restaurant is decorated pretty upscale with white servers in a dimly lit atmosphere. The tables and chairs were dark wood and the place settings were gracefully set. You get the Americanized ambience of fine dining. But this is with Chinese food. This is a first for me and let’s see how they cook too!
seaweed salad. Wait.. Isn’t this a Japanese dish?? What is it doing here! I mean I know Koreans eat it a lot too, but I’ve never seen this at a Chinese restaurant. Actually, it’s not even on the menu but we somehow managed to order it. Funny.
hot braised string bean. They cook this pretty well! Just as good as in the Chinese restaurants In fact, even better because it’s a lot less oily! Still has that crunch when you bite and chew.
beef steak French style. This was so good! The steak pieces were very tender and soft and chewy. Well flavored. No MSG. Nice 🙂
house special lamb chops. This was so good!!!! I don’t know what seasoning they used on the soft lamb chops, but it was as savory as it was tasteful.
honey glazed walnut shrimp. This is one of my favorite dishes to order when eating Chinese food. I call it mayo shrimp. It wasn’t overwhelming with mayonnaise like how some of the Chinese do it and the walnuts are perfectly crunchy. And unnoticed there was an additional ingredient to this dish I have never seen before! Those crispy wontons?! The same kind that you see in the Chinese Chicken Salad. Adds extra variety in the crunch you’re getting!
dried scallop egg white fried rice. This was delicious!! I loved this fried rice dish even though I have always preferred noodles to rice. The diced pieces of the sea made it easy to eat with the rice and eggs!
Peking duck. Also another one of my favorite dishes! I think everyone’s actually! And look at this presentation.. So much neater and prettier than the Chinese version. The skinned pieces numbered the same to how many buns there were! Perfect! And that meat pile of duck in the middle? It does look a little less though, but that’s what you sacrifice for presentation.
So how to eat this? Hong King BBQ style:
1) Open up your bun.
2) Spread the sweet, dark sauce on.
3) Add some onions.
4) Slap your meat in between.
5) Enjoy 😉
Overall, this was a great dining experience!! The food tasted almost as good, if not better, than the super Chinese restaurants!! The pricing is also a lot more expensive. This goes in hand with the more fine dining ambience experience. The service was amazing and our waiter was very attentive. This is a lot different from the service you would get from a typical Chinese restaurant.
But good job Rancho! You’re starting to get a lot of good Asian restaurants up in here! 🙂
