Bow down to the Nan King!

Steph and I were tired and wanted something easy so we decided on Nan King.  It's a little Chinese restaurant in the shopping center on the southwest corner of 183 and Anderson Mill.  Near Reale's Italian if you know where they are located.  The first thing you'll notice is just how nice they treat the customer.  A warm smile, a how are you and you're off to your table.  You can tell it has a ladies touch with pink table clothes but that just adds to the gentle and happy fell of the restaurant.  I order iced tea and Steph has water.  Now to crack open the menu and decide what sounds good.  They have a traditional menu of American Chinese food.  The sweet and sour this and that, the sesame whatever you want, tender fried surf or turf with a big plate of veggies.  I think their strong point is the vegetables have always been fresh and crunchy but cooked and their sauces are very flavorful.  Dare I say BOLD.  But in that delicate Chinese food way.  You get the idea.

I decide on the Twice Cooked Pork, Nan King style dinner.  It comes with egg drop soup, egg roll, wanton and steamed rice.  I usually get their hot and sour soup but egg drop came with the meal so I gave it a try.  It had plenty of flavor as egg drop soup goes though I did add a little salt.  The little slices of green onion add just the right touch of texture and flavor.  Next they bring out the egg roll and wantons.  I thought the egg roll was good.  Nice and hot on the plate it had a slightly salty taste combined with the cabbage and carrots inside.  Again, the veg was cooked but still had a bit of crispness to it.  The wantons were fine, nothing really to say about them.  Now to the entree.  The plate was full of pieces of pork that were hot, tender and juicy with a whole chopped up green bell pepper.  Everything was fresh.  The sauce was something like a brown gravy with a bit of heat to it from little pieces of red pepper.  They all played nice together as I enjoyed my dinner.

I also stole some of Steph's dinner.  Sesame chicken.  Basically the only thing she ever orders at a Chinese restaurant.  So if you want to know the subtle differences between that dish for most every place in town then she's the one to talk to.  In true Nan King style her plate came out hot, fresh and steaming from the kitchen.  They serve their sesame chicken with broccoli which seems to be traditional.  The meat is all white and not even a hint of gristle, lightly battered and fried then sauced with a very flavorful sweet sesame sauce.  I'll have to admit that I ate a few more than I should because it was so good.  Don't worry, I haven't gotten a fork in the back of my hand yet.  Yet...

That all I can say about Nan King.  The nicest restaurant in town.

Until tomorrow great things will come to those with positive outlook.