Yahoo! - washingtonian

Very Best Restaurants: China Inn

Very Best Listing | Very Best by Cuisine | Very Best by Location

China Inn ***
Washington, ¢

Celebrating its 59th year of continuous operation in the same location and under the same management, China Inn is the perennial elder statesman on this list of award-winning restaurants. For the past 20 years, the consistency of its authentic Cantonese cooking has been unrivaled in or out of Chinatown. Some of its best dishes are unlisted on the menu and known only to regulars: boned duck with watercress, "dry-cooked" spareribs with black-bean sauce, and seasonal stir-fries of asparagus with either meat or seafood. Others, such as the splendid Banjo Duck, require at least a day's advance notice.

But there are plenty of classics to be found on China Inn's traditionally long, set menu: roast pork chow mai foon; Kingdom Sparerib, which is actually a pork chop glazed with a sweet-vinegary sauce; chicken steamed with Chinese sausage; beef with bitter melon; "smoked" lobster with ginger and scallions; and the house signature, Fish Dipped in Boiling Water With Spices.

At lunch, the kitchen turns its talents to the large selection of dumplings and small portions of savory dishes that make up the traditional Cantonese tea lunch. Order a pot of chrysanthemum tea, sweeten it to taste with rock sugar, and watch the passing trays for purse-shaped shu mai, mixed-seafood dumplings, crisp sheets of bean curd stuffed with shrimp and celery, and steamed spareribs with black-bean sauce.

China Inn , 631 H St. NW, Washington; 202-842-0909. Open daily for lunch and dinner. MapIt!

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

Return to Restaurant & Entertaining Directory