hong kong palace

hong kong palace
6387 seven corners center/leesburg pike, falls church, VA 22044
tel: 703) 532-0940
hours: sunday-thursday 11am-10pm, friday-saturday 11am-11pm

what was consumed: among other things, dan dan noodles, cumin beef, tofu and veggies, some green beans things, some shrimp thing, mapo tofu, fried rice, some of these crazy fried potatoes that tingled in your mouth ... and, of course, tsingtao beer!

it's been just about a year since i've been to the hong kong palace. part of it is because it's far (remember - i'm sans car! for now), part of it is because i really do feel like it's a place you can't go to by yourself (i.e., you have to order a variety of different dishes in order to get the full experience. this necessitates quite a number of people to be in attendance). why has it taken me so long to write about it!? especially when i'm often looking for chinese food (yes, it is true that the options in chinatown are few and far between. oh, the irony). maybe it's because i'm lazy. maybe it's because i'd forgotten and only recently came across my photos again. maybe it's because it's almost my friend's birthday (sort of the reason we were there to begin with). most likely, it's a combination of all of those, with the biggest blame being on the laziness. leave me alone!

anyway, here's the story. i'm at an afternoon bbq (i think it was a baby shower?) and it's also my friend's birthday. i get a call saying that they're meeting at hong kong palace and i respond with, "huh?" i then proceed to arrange for some sort of ride situation (i had ridden with others to the baby shower). of course, i had no idea where hong kon palace was and all people kept telling me was, "oh, it's in virginia." hello, that is not enough information! but if someone else is driving, then i'm not one to ask questions. just drive me home, please. oh, and thank you (these days, i feel really restricted not being able to drive myself around. does this mean i'm "growing up" and becoming more adult-like? or maybe it means i'm being more frivolous. a combination of both?! who knows. anyway ...)

so, once we figure out the ride situation (thanks, mike!) and we actually find the place, we meet up with the rest of the crowd and begin to order. there were probably a good 8 of us there ... and here's what we ate:

YUM.

what a great combination of foods! apparently, a mix between szechuan and cantonese cooking (who am i kidding, as though i know the difference outside of the most obvious) and despite having been still full from the previous event, i proceeded to consume my fair share of the lots and lots of food that was presented to us (lots of people were also recovering from a night of debauchery - how great is chinese food for that? awesome). they have the standard chinese dishes as well as some special ones. i still remember those crazy tingle-y fried potatoes (bottom right). i think we concluded that it was the boatload of msg that was in it (love me some msg!!). i have no idea if that was the case, but i want to go back and eat them. besides, you know me and fried potatoes ...

hong kong palace is also right next to the dogfish head alehouse. so, after a filling meal of chinese goodness, maybe a nice dessert and some great beer is in order. that's what we did last time. let's do it again!

online: www.hkpalace.webs.com/