I paid a visit to Liang's tonight for some Chinese takeout and to try to solve one of the biggest mysteries in Forest Hills in recent weeks: is Liang's really just the former Peking Duck Palace disguised by a new name? Or is this really, truly a genuine new restaurant?Well, while having not actually asked the proprietors, I can only report what I see with my own two eyes, and, of course, taste. And my suspicion after actually eating the food and comparing it to Peking Duck's is that Liang's food is just too damn good to still be Peking Duck!
Yes, I am happy to report that a decent Chinese restaurant appears to have finally set up shop in the heart of Forest Hills! Imagine that?
For about $27 (yes, quite a lot for Chinese food, but I wanted to sample a wide range of offerings), I took home the hot and sour soup; an egg roll; BBQ spare ribs and Moo Shu Chicken. Oh, and a can of Pepsi.
Here's my review of each:
I started with the Hot & Sour Soup: This was ok, not great. It was very peppery but lacked the sour part to any noticeable degree. Even so, it was still a pretty good soup and I would order it again. (I ordered the meat version, by the way. They offer it without meat as well.) Grade: B
Egg Roll: This I enjoyed a lot more than the soup. It had a perfect crunch and starts off hitting your tongue with just a hint of cinnamon flavor, followed quickly by all the nice veggie and pork flavorings of a good egg roll. And it wasn't overly greasy, either. Grade: A
BBQ Spare Ribs: Now this was the biggest surprise for me. These were delectable. I even breathed an involuntary "Yum!" as I ate the first one. The most noticeable feature was how tender they were. Quite different than an everyday spare rib. And the tangy flavors were spot on. Grade: A+ for some of the best spare ribs I have ever had. (And I cannot believe I just wrote that about a Chinese restaurant in Forest Hills!)
Moo Shu Chicken: This was a pretty good version of the popular Moo Shu Chicken dish, which is served with pancakes and hoisin sauce. I found it to be lighter on the eggs than other Moo Shus I've eaten and more heavy on the veggies, which is a very nice change in these health-conscious days. And it wasn't overly greasy either. I also liked the smoky flavor that came through. My only complaint was the chicken itself seemed a bit light on flavor. But overall, not bad. Grade: A
Overall grade for the new Liang's: A
Liang's is located at 107-12 70th Road (Restaurant Row) in Forest Hills. Here is their menu:
Great! I'll have to try it. Have you had dim sum at East Ocean Palace on QB? It's excellent.
ReplyDeleteit is the same...not knowing they had changed at all, i called to order something that apparently hadn't made it to the 'new' menu...and they checked and old menu and made it...
ReplyDeleteHey all, this is Chef Tsao, executive chef of Liang's. I'd like to thank drake for the wonderful review!
ReplyDeleteI had taken over Peking Duck Forest in March and kept 95% of the staff. All the cooks are the same people. Before I had converted Peking Duck Forest to Liang's I spent 2 months learning all of the recipes and figuring out where I can make improvements, wether it was quality of ingredients or cooking technique. I'm a "western technique" trained chef and graduate of CIA. The cooks and I worked hard to combine the nest of Eastern and Western technique!
The beauty of a "Chinese" kitchen and cooking with a wok is, as long as we have the ingredients, we can make almost any dish from the Peking Duck menu. Unfortunately for some, some dishes did not make it to the "new" menu because I wanted to down size the amount of different ingredients to focus on quality and freshness.
I have a 2nd print of the take out menu coming out w a while page of new additions, I call it "Family Recipes". 99% of which comes from my grandmother who is also one of my greatest inspirations!
I also just released a pre fixe menu for dine in to give customers the chance to sample my desert line and new dishes! Hope to see you all there!
Thanks for sharing that info with the blog's readers Chef Tsao. Good luck with Liang's! I for one am looking forward to trying your family recipes next.
ReplyDeleteTry the scallion pancakes with peking duck next time. It's a new twist on an old dish, and it's delicious to boot!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I second the recommendation for dimsum at East Ocean Palace!