The best Chinese restaurant (Jacksonville, Orlando: buying, college, shop)

[PinoyDoc]

Originally Posted by travelingfood

Just tried Hong Kong Bistro and got to tell you all that it's by far the most authentic Chinese/Cantonese comfort food you'll find in JAX (yet, I hope)...>snipped<..They have the potential to run the business for a long while, I'm pretty sure lots of local Chinese been waiting for this type of quality. Price is fair for the local market and in order for them to survive...>snipped<)

Trav-food, I'm happy to hear you liked the place. By the way, as regards local Chinese' eating out, I have to tell you that I had seen one of the wait staff from the China Buffet in Regency near Outback eat at the HKB... probably had to get away from the moo goo gai pan and cheese wontons and get some genuine Chinese grub. Can't blame him, though...

[HIF]

I'm feelin a dim sum jones coming on....even if it is $3 a pop!

[travelingfood]

Originally Posted by PinoyDoc

Trav-food, I'm happy to hear you liked the place. By the way, as regards local Chinese' eating out, I have to tell you that I had seen one of the wait staff from the China Buffet in Regency near Outback eat at the HKB... probably had to get away from the moo goo gai pan and cheese wontons and get some genuine Chinese grub. Can't blame him, though...

hah that's funny, but yeh I mean they're not forbidden to eat elsewhere. Silverstar guy said they get plenty of other restaurant folks too. it's all fair game I guess. I get restaurant people asking me if I also own restaurants too lol. only if! But I know most of those workers just get something cooked up by the chef, and usually it's nothing like the menu. More of a home cooking stuff.

[dhaubner]

Chan's on Dunn is good. You will see oriental people eating there as well. Always a good sign to me.

[danny404]

Originally Posted by jj970

I'm Chinese...I just moved here from San Francisco, where finding good food is not a problem.
Let me qualify though. I'm not Chinese-Chinese...I'm pretty Americanized...I was born here and don't actually speak the language...I only speak English and Spanish.

However, I grew up with all kinds of Chinese food and I know what is "real" Chinese and what isn't.

So far, there is no place here in Jax that has real Chinese food. I find it sad that people mention Mama Fu's or even PF Chang's. Neither of those places serve real Chinese food. I would imagine that most people here in Jax have no idea what Chinese food is beyond fried rice, lo mein, sweet and sour *insert meat here*, or broccoli beef.

I'm not bashing at all. I acutally like those kinds of things too once in awhile. But you just have to know that they aren't really what Chinese people consider Chinese food. Those restaurants just make it cuz that's what sells.

I'm really eager to try Hong Kong Bistro. Dim Sum? Yes please. I wonder if it's only on weekends?

You are so right. It's sad when people ask me what's the best choice for Chinese food, I have to say PF Changs. Seriously that's just sad. I do like Mama Fu's Pad Thai though. Check out Hong Kong bistro, the owner is Taiwanese.

[danny404]

Originally Posted by shigwamei

We also tried out Silver Star this past Saturday. My husband says it reminded him of having dim sum in Memphis, where you checked off what you wanted on a piece of paper. We both believed the items we did have were good (fried taro, shrimp wrapped in rice noodles, rice covered in lotus leaf, spared ribs, shui mai, char siu pao) but they only had the bare basics and will most likely not visit it again.

Hong Kong Bistro will definitely be our Dim Sum restaurant of choice. We like our turnip/rice cake and seafood pan fried noodles!

On another note, we were trying to go to Sushi World next to Tinsletown and found it was closed. However on the window, there was a sign stating there a new restaurant will open in its place, I think it said it would be called Bamboo Cove? and it would have Authentic Hong Kong Style Dim Sum.
Yeah!

Yeah, I was good friends with the owner of Sushi World, but I know they weren't making any money. I am looking forward to the new place. Too many white peopl in Jax that can't appreciate real Chinese food.

[travelingfood]

Originally Posted by danny404

Yeah, I was good friends with the owner of Sushi World, but I know they weren't making any money. I am looking forward to the new place. Too many white peopl in Jax that can't appreciate real Chinese food.

real Chinese food can be hard to handle, not exactly any healthier.
lol. but can't help it when there's a Chinese take out place on every street corner.
HK bistro owner is Taiwanese? they were speaking Cantonese like..a lot when I was there.

Any ETA on when that new place on Tinseltown will open?

[shigwamei]

Is the owner, the petite lady at the front? I had a feeling she had a little Taiwanese twang in her Mandarin but haven't heard any Taiwanese spoken by anyone in the restaurant. Yes, the waitresses all spoke Mandarin and Cantonese and pretty good English (well good enough) for my broken Chinglish.

Anyways, just heard that there is a bubble tea/boba place in Regency Mall?

We usually go to Aroma Cafe - in the mall that's across the street from the Winn-Dixie on Baymeadows/Old Kings Road. I just want to make people aware of them because I want them to stay in business! They have the greatest milk tea and coffee jelly... Their tea/coffee jelly are a great alternative to the pearls/boba, which I could never finish.
For those who do not know what boba is, they are brown chewy tapioca balls, usually the size of a pearl, and are a great addition to a big cup of chilled milk tea. They also have other little pastries for sale.

Ok ~ time to get off my soapbox.

[travelingfood]

Originally Posted by shigwamei

Is the owner, the petite lady at the front? I had a feeling she had a little Taiwanese twang in her Mandarin but haven't heard any Taiwanese spoken by anyone in the restaurant. Yes, the waitresses all spoke Mandarin and Cantonese and pretty good English (well good enough) for my broken Chinglish.

Anyways, just heard that there is a bubble tea/boba place in Regency Mall?

We usually go to Aroma Cafe - in the mall that's across the street from the Winn-Dixie on Baymeadows/Old Kings Road. I just want to make people aware of them because I want them to stay in business! They have the greatest milk tea and coffee jelly... Their tea/coffee jelly are a great alternative to the pearls/boba, which I could never finish.
For those who do not know what boba is, they are brown chewy tapioca balls, usually the size of a pearl, and are a great addition to a big cup of chilled milk tea. They also have other little pastries for sale.

Ok ~ time to get off my soapbox.

Yeh HKB owner is Mrs Liu, one that's not in their red uniform.
We have another bubba tea place in town? wow... there used to be one in the Orange Park Mall food court, they didn't last too long. And there was one around PVB couple years ago, the Asian co-owner was killed during robbery though, not sure if the co-owner kept it open still. JAX doesn't have enough Asian population to make it work out too well...

Regency mall one's called Boba Blends probably according to search.

There's Qcup in Orlando which is a boba/Taiwanese deli chain from CA.

Also you can make your own milk tea and bubba, there are supplies you can buy in stores. And there are online stores that sells what they use in chain stores too. Be it powder or syrup mixes for coffee and fruity smoothies, tastes pretty great.

oh and here's the info on that boba shop owner that was killed...
amw.com | Unknown Hiep Nguyen Killer - Fugitive

[HIF]

Any boba shops near Mandarin?


The thing to do would be to put an ice cream/boba/coffee shop in the same plaza as HKB....