There are no lengths I'm not willing to go to in order to try a new (to me) restaurant. Such is the case when I had a craving for Chinese food, but I could only justify it if I could produce new content for my blog. And since I've tried all the Chinese restaurants in the Charleston area, I was led to Montgomery.



China House Xiu Hunan is the only, I believe, Chinese restaurant in Montgomery, so it has the market cornered. It was previously named Potamkin and has had decent reviews over the years. During COVID-19, they do not have indoor dining, so it looked more like it was used for storage and it had dim lighting. 



I had put in an order online, and when I got there, they said it was ready. But then I waited another 15 minutes or so. Once I got my bag stuffed full of food, I sped home (not literally, in case there are any cops reading) to try it out.



Let's start with the pad thai. This is one of my favorite dishes, but I just have not found a good version in the Kanawha Valley. It's a bit bland, the texture overall is just a bit mushy, and I'm looking for the nutty, sweet, chewy dish I love. And this just wasn't it. 



Next up, I tried honey chicken. I probably ate the most of this - it has the sweet tangy flavor of a General Tso or Crispy Chicken entree you might expect. It's not all white meat, though, which I was hoping for. I also don't think this one exactly agreed with my tummy.



Finally, we also tried the coconut shrimp. The coconut sauce came on the side, which was nice. But the breading for the shrimp was soft and mushy. So, I tried to pick off most of that and just dip the shrimp in the sauce. It wasn't too bad that way.



This place did have a few different items - like a crab eggroll. This had a stick of crab in the middle and like stuffing filling up the remainder. I really liked it. 



Then, of course I had to try whatever a cheese eggroll is. And, it's essentially the cream cheese in crab rangoons enveloped in a spring roll wrapped. I liked it!



And to top things off, I tried the crab rangoons. I think I liked the eggroll one better, because the rangoons are super hard around the fried edges. But the filling - always good.

Grade: C

Hibachi Express has opened on the East End of Charleston beside Main Kwong. Their specialties include hibachi, of course, sushi and Thai.
They seem to be focusing on carryout and delivery during these times, so I placed an order for delivery to check it out.



First up, we have cheese wontons, always. These had a lot of cheese - no crab - and were the turnover style, which I enjoy more. Stuffed to the brim with filling and served with some sweet chili sauce. Tasty.



Then, it was a regular spicy crab roll, as well as a West Virginia roll, which had shrimp tempura, avocado, crab, tobiko and a mango sauce. These were both OK ... not a ton of flavor, but nothing especially bad either.



We also tried the pad thai dish. I love pad thai. But, this too, didn't have much flavor. I was hoping for just a touch of heat and some spices but it was nothing of note. And, the shrimp weren't deveined, which is a pet peeve. Overall, not bad. But I would venture out to try some different options next time.



Grade: C

On my way to visit my parents recently, I stopped in Wheeling to pick up a ton of food so we could have a mini feast at home.



Bridgelin Chinese Restaurant is not unlike many other Chinese restaurants in the area - you have General Tso's, lo mein and eggrolls. But items like steamed flounder, peking duck and lobster tail were not ones I see every day.



Here's a sampling of what we tried: veggie lo mein, sesame chicken, walnut chicken, sweet & spicy Thai chicken, general tso's, garlic shrimp, crab rangoons, udon noodles and spinach dumplings.



Overall, not too bad. Nothing was especially standout - as either good or bad. But I did appreciate the udon.

Grade: B

Chinese food has been relatively hard to come by during the quarantine (why do I feel like I'm writing in a diary). But, Elkview Chinese Restaurant reopened recently, and it was swarmed with locals who needed their fix.



I called in an order and was told it would be about 15 minutes. So I waited for a bit and got there at about 30 minutes after the time it should've been ready (I just had a feeling it would take longer). And still had to wait another 20 or so minutes inside (this part was less fun - not a lot of social distancing or masks). The inside had a handful of tables and chairs, so I gather most of their business is takeout, anyway.



BUT, soon enough, I was home, digging in. The crab cheese rangoons have an interesting texture inside - almost like crumbly. It was sweeter. Not bad. The steamed dumplings were tasty, but needed to be a bit warmer. The honey chicken was good (not on their menu, but it is on a sign in the lobby). It doesn't have the top tier white meat chicken breast, but it was close. And the regular eggroll was decent. Overall, not bad.

Grade: B

No. 1 Kitchen Chinese Restaurant in Huntington along US 60 is one of the few traditionally Chinese restaurants open in the Kanawha Valley area during quarantine.



And as one that I've never tried before, I thought it was a great time to get out of the house for a minute, support a local business and do so while socially distant. Their system was one of the most interesting - I called in an order, when I got to the restaurant, I wrote down my phone number on a piece of paper and put it in a box outside the restaurant. Occasionally, they would fish the papers out of the box to see who was waiting and would then call a name out and bring the food.



So, my haul was honey chicken - sweet, white meat chicken. This is a classic for that sweet and tangy flavor. Then the garlic shrimp with veggies gives me a bit of heat plus some fresh veggies that I love.



Then steamed dumplings. I think these were my favorite part because there is something comforting about a dumpling - whatever form it may be in.



Plus shrimp rolls and crab rangoons. Both were OK




One thing I really did like about this restaurant is that the portions were small (and cheap), so getting a few different things was no problem - which is exactly how I love to order!



Grade: B

Golden Chopsticks is located on Wheeling Island and is pretty well-known in the region for having some of the area's best Chinese food.



When I had some extra time,  I made a small detour from home to check it out. 



The inside is pretty large, but dated. There's a faint smell of cigarette smoke - maybe from a time long ago when it was allowed inside? But there are ornate decorations and a few different dining spaces.



There was a menu board featuring the day's specials, and the menu features a large variety.



The menu has both house specialties and chef specialties, gourmet entrees, lunch specials, classics, specialty menu, and even more. The specialty menu caught my eye, with options like seafood udon noodles, wagyu steak, and jumbo shrimp with oriental eggplant.



But I ordered Thai Chili Shrimp - jumbo shrimp tossed with fresh zucchini, snow peas, mushrooms, red bell peppers, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts all together in chef's homemade sweet and spicy Thai Chili Sauce. This was really tasty and definitely had some heat behind it. But it played second fiddle to the flavor. It's the kind of heat that I don't notice until I am downing water because the flavor is so good, the heat is just in the background. Crisp coating, fresh veggies, and a delicious sauce made for a great dish.



I ordered crab cheese wontons and eggrolls. The wontons came in this awesome re-heatable bag and they were great.



Solid eggrolls too.

Grade: A

Chinese takeout tends to have fairly standard items: General Tsos, Lo Mein, and more. But, in St. Louis, there is an additional standard item - the St. Paul Sandwich.



The sandwich consists of an egg foo young patty (made with mung bean sprouts and minced white onions) served with dill pickle slices, white onion, mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato between two slices of white bread. The St. Paul sandwich also comes in different combinations and specials, such as chicken, pork, shrimp, beef, and other varieties. - Wikipedia



So, I ordered from Hon's Wok to get one of these bad boys delivered right to  my hotel room. First, I dug into the crab rangoons which had super crisp edges but a pocket full of creamy cheese. The eggrolls put all the others in my local area to shame. So good. Finally, this sandwich. It is pretty basic - but it's good! It's simple, but think of a good, seasoned egg and onion sandwich with mayo - plus mine had shrimp. I'm on board.

Grade: B

Everything old becomes new again!

What was once China Gourmet has rebranded and changed its name to PJ Loyal Buffet, which prompted me to make another visit. 

China Gourmet wasn't my favorite local Chinese buffet, so I was interested to see what PJ Loyal Buffet offered.

Walking inside, it looks much the same. There is sushi and a Mongolian stir fried station directly ahead.

There are some options to the left and to the right of that.

The left was more salad and fruit.

And then the bulk of the entrees are to the right and include standard options - general tso's chicken, coconut chicken, beef and broccoli,  etc.

Even though I went right during lunch rush, there were a good bit of items running low. Though, I did see them often replacing trays.

Some of my favorites included their seafood bake and any sort of sweet and sour chicken. Nothing too different, but decent.

Grade: B