Yahoo! - washingtonian

Best Bargain Restaurants: Tai Shan

Best Bargain Listing | Best Bargain by Cuisine | Best Bargain by Location

Tai Shan
Washington

Recent samplings of tai shan's once-stellar Hong Kong wonton soup have been disappointing: Its dumplings, stuffed with a mixture of shrimp and pork, have had a rubbery texture, as though they had been precooked long before serving. Let's hope this is only a temporary lapse. If you want a meal-in-a-bowl soup here, the ones packed with noodles and generously garnished with fish balls or Cantonese roast duck are currently wiser choices. ð

Like many other Chinatown restaurants, Tai Shan offers a goodly number of dishes cooked and served in rustic casseroles. Among these are the two house specialties, which both involve eggplant, one paired with surprisingly flavorsome baby shrimp, the other simmered in a deliciously spicy ground-pork sauce.

Other dishes that show this kitchen at its best are a combination platter of Cantonese roasted meats; Kingdom Spareribs, which actually is a pork chop glazed with a sweet-and-vinegary sauce; baked crabs with ginger and scallions; Hong Kong chow mein with pork; and the tender, topmost part of the snow-pea plant, stir-fried with the barest hint of garlic.

Tai Shan , 622 H Street NW, Washington; 202/639-0266. Open Sunday through Thursday 11 am to 11 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am to midnight. AE, MC, V. MapIt!

QUALITY: ****Excellent; *** Superior; **Very Good; * Good
PRICE RANGE: $$$= Very Expensive; $$ Expensive; $=Moderate; ¢=Inexpensive

Return to Restaurant & Entertaining Directory