Mandarin Restaurant Where Family and Great Food Stick Together-
Wanna eat some sticky-finger-lickin'-chicken? The Yu brothers have some in their kitchen for you. They brought it over from Pakistan. Well, not like on the plane or anything. But they've managed to meld some of the tastes of their home with the flavors of their heritage, in a wonderful bi-cultural pot. What's that about? It's about some really satisfying food!
The Springfield Plaza, in Springfield, VA is home to Mandarin Restaurant, known by it's informal name as Mandarin Halal. It's a busy spot on a weekend night, with most of the tables taken up by families. Big families. With lots of little kids. It's easy to count no less than five extended families passing around steaming bowls and platters to wives, aunties, sisters-in-law, husbands, grandmoms, little sisters and a couple of friends, all at the same table. It doesn't get any more family-friendly. Which is totally natural because Mandarin Restaurant is a family-run place. There's main chef Kevin Yu in the kitchen stirring up homemade sauces and entrées, with brother Richard doing backup on one of the other four stoves. Kevin's sister-in-law Lynette heads up the front, managing the place and overseeing everything else, including the teriyaki beef she makes.
Now, back to the sticky chicken. Almost everybody can relate to good chicken wings, so the General Tso's chicken wings that Mandarin offers are a real treat. Not sure exactly if the real General ever actually ate this dish (though there are several amusing, albeit conflicting reports of it's origins), but no doubt he'd salute the ones served here. First of all, they're not those little stingy wingettes most restaurants give out. Mandarin gives you the whole wing, and they're big and meaty and fried in a light batter, so they're not heavy. Then they get coated in Kevin's sticky, tangy sauce that blends hints of citrus and soy. At $7.50 it seems pricey for an appetizer, but when a platter of 8 of them arrive at your table and your table-mates are plotting which pieces they'll fight over, it's actually very reasonable. Two or three people can easily be satisfied attacking, er...eating a few of these.
Lynette may be great at running a tightly operating restaurant, but she could make a second career with her teriyaki beef. It's a totally uncomplicated dish of thinly sliced strips of beef, marinated in a few simple ingredients like hoisin sauce, garlic, and soy, then threaded on bamboo sticks and quickly deep-fried. They come out so juicy and medium rare inside that you're almost certain to think they were grilled. They're not oily in the least, and the only other thing you may need is another plate of them. $5.00. Worth it.
The Pakistani influence is subtle, but it peeks out in the spicy dishes like eggplant in garlic sauce, chili chicken or the Hakka crispy chicken .The Hakka are a group of ethnic Chinese who settled around the area known as Manchuria in China. They eventually migrated to Malaysia, northern India, Pakistan and beyond, taking the unique flavors of their cooking with them, and once they settled in Mumbai and Kolkata they took up the spices and ingredients closest to what they used in China, and the blending began. So if you think you're about to bite into some colorful bell peppers, think again and watch out for those little red and green chilies.
The Mongolian beef, one of the most requested menu items, give a brief nod to the spicy influence with just one or two renegade green chilies trying to disguise themselves among the green onions that decorate this dish. This is a meat-eaters meal, with a platter piled high with tender shoe-lace thin strips of sautéed beef and sweet onions in a brown sauce. Again, there's enough to share easily and the $10.95 price won't burn a hole in your pocket.
So pack up your extended family, and their kids, and their friends and grab a big table at Mandarin Restaurant. Sip some sweet horchata flecked with nutmeg and cinnamon, or a lassi or an icy mango shake before your food arrives. Then get ready to pass those bowls and platters, and lick your sticky fingers.
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Mandarin Restaurant
6366 Commerce St., Springfield Plaza (inside the plaza next to Sears Auto), Springfield, VA 22150.
703-912-5855 or 703-912-3118.
Open Sun: Mon and Wed, Thurs 11am to 10 pm, last dine in 9:30pm.
Fri and Sat 11 am to 11 pm, last dine in 10:30 pm.
CLOSED ON TUESDAYS
