Vinh Kee - Late Night Chinese Restaurant That Smells Like the Zoo

Vinh Kee
3103 Graham Road
Falls Church, VA 22042
http://www.vinhkeerestaurant.com/

Hot and Sour Soup

After eating yogurt bingsoo at Shilla Bakery a couple of people were hungry so we went to Vinh Kee to eat.  I had never been here before, but I have driven by here almost everyday on the way to work.  Vinh Kee is not to be confused with Miu Kee and Full Kee, both of which I also drive by on an almost daily basis.  I had always wanted to try Vinh Kee.  The first thing I noticed when I walked in was a terrible smell.  I guess it smelled like a cross between a nasty seafood department and an animal exhibit at the zoo.  We ordered hot and sour soup, one of the standards by which I judge a chinese restaurant.  There's only one large size for the soup for a staggering $6.95 and it's not even a seafood hot and sour soup.  We also ordered the Vinh Kee chicken - a dish they are well known for.  it's basically crispy fried chicken.  We got a half sized portion.  The hot and sour soup came out first.  When the waiter brought it out it didn't even look like soup.  The serving container looked more like a chaffing dish than a soup terrine.

Vinh Kee Chicken

The consistency was very thick.  Maybe it had been over reduced after being kept warm all day long, but even so the soup was extremely sour.  The bits of chopped up red pepper skin were tough and hard to swallow.  This probably the second worst hot and sour soup that I've ever eaten.  The worst was from Peking Village II.  That soup was actually sweet tasting which is worse than being overly acidic.  The hot and sour soup did have lily flower buds in it, something that most chinese restaurants omit.  Too bad the rest of the soup was no good.  The Vinh Kee chicken was very crispy with bits of crunchy minced garlic on top.  The chicken was fairly moist, especially considering how crispy the skin was.  The problem was the chicken didn't have any flavor.  Some marinading or some sauce would have made the dish a lot better.  Another person at the table ordered wonton noodle soup.  I got to try a little of the broth, but it was waaaaaay too salty!  Anita said it too was caused from over-reducing.  Beef and cabbage was the final dish that someone else ordered.  I thought it was pretty average.  Nothing to write  home about.

The verdict?  If you're in the Falls Church area and it's late at night I'd probably recommend you go to IHOP next door!  Don't bother with Vinh Kee.

Yogurt Bingsoo

Shilla Bakery
7039 Little River Tpke
Annandale, VA 22003

Yogurt Bingsoo

Bingsoo is a shaved ice dessert from Korea. This is not to be confused with frozen yogurt (fro yo) because bingsoo is strictly speaking just shaved ice.  The shaved ice is not to be confused with shave ice from Hawaii.  Shave ice is totally different because this shaved ice is a little bit hard and crunchy.  Bingsoo can have toppings, which can include frozen yogurt or ice cream. Shilla offers a yogurt bingsoo (along with green tea, ice cream, and some other options, none of which I have actually ordered). The yogurt bingsoo dessert is comprised of a base of shaved ice, sweet red beans, frozen yogurt, rice cake slices, assortment of fruit (banana, strawberry, various melons, kiwi, and other fruits), topped with a fruit syrup, and sprinkled with frosted flakes. It's a large bowl and enough to share with more than 1 person (if you don't mind the germs). The yogurt is the plain and crisp taste of natual yogurt so it compliments the fruit very nicely. The yogurt is very similar to the style from Pinkberry and Red Mango. Of course, Pinkberry is still the best, but this is a little different because of the shaved ice and the because  selection of fruit is predetermined (you don't get to pick what you like).

The verdict? Definitely try the yogurt bingsoo from Shilla, but make sure you go to the Annandale location and not the newer one in Fairfax. The fruit just isn't as fresh at the Fairfax location. Also please note, that Shilla is quite the hot spot so it can be hard to find a seat on a Friday or Saturday night.

Flippin' Pizza - Definitely Not NYC Style Pizza

13916 Lee Jackson Memorial Hwy, store 22
Chantilly, VA 20151
(703) 230-6920
www.flippinpizza.com

Half Cheese Half Sausage Pizza

I first learned of Flippin' Pizza when I drove by Sully Plaza in Chantilly and happened to see a Flippin' Pizza food truck in the parking lot. The truck really sparked my interest. The design on the truck and the name: "Flippin' Pizza" made me think of New York Style pizza. How could there possibly be a good New York Style pizza in the DC area and from a food truck no less? That cannot be!  It sounds too good to be true so I wanted to check this place out.

After many many missed opportunities we finally made it to the Flippin' Pizza in Sully Plaza, the same location where I drove by and saw the food truck.  We went in on a holiday Monday (Memorial Day 2011, that just shows everyone how far behind I am on posting reviews) around 7:30 or 8pm.  There was no one else in the restaurant.  We weren't even sure if the place was open because it was a holiday evening and the place looked dark from the outside.  We ordered an 18" half cheese and half sausage pizza and 2 fountain sodas for dine in  (I think the guy behind the counter was hoping we'd take it to go).  There were only 2 guys working and neither really seemed too enthused about working that evening.  When I tried to pay and the employee asked me something like "don't ya wanna eat your pie first?"  I assumed in this type of pizza place it was normal to pay first and then wait for your food.  I don't know if this is the norm or the guy was just being nice but I was a little thrown off.  Anyway, I paid and got our Pepsi fountain drinks and sat down.  While our pizza was in the oven the employee went outside to check on some other guy's car (I think he worked there too) he told us he'd be back in a little.  Meanwhile another employee who had been out making deliveries came back.  I was worreid about our pizza burning in the oven, but after a couple of minutes the guy comes back inside,  who knows what he's been doing outside for the past couple of minutes.  By the time he comes back inside our pizza is ready!  I get up to bring the pizza to the table.  The pizza is very thin and greasy and I notice the sausage isn't the normal crumbles that I'm used to, it's more like sliced italian sausage links.  This must be normal for this style of pizza because it's certainly not the first time that I've had this sliced sausage on my pizza.  The greasiness may very well be the hallmark of a NYC style pizza.  Anita and I each take a slice and then take a bite.  Nothing remarkable.  The crust is blah and the pizza is dripping with oil from the cheese.  There's no great flavor or crust!  The crust is really mediocre.  There's not much sauce on the pizza.  This definitely not worth $15+ for a "NYC style pizza!"  There's not really much there at all.

Anita and I obviously couldn't finish an 18" pizza by ourselves no matter how thin it was so we asked to take the rest of the pizza home with us.  I guess Flippin' Pizza is trying to save money, because when we asked for a box to take the leftovers home with us we were given a sheet of aluminum foil, a couple of paper plates, and a paper bag.  Wouldn't a small pizza box have been a lot easier?  With the "to-go" packaging that we were given we had to be very careful to make sure our precious slices didn't slip out of the open side of the brown paper bag on the the floor of the car.

The verdict?  Talk about a disappointment.  Mamma Lucia in Fair City Mall over by the Shoppers on Pickett is definitely a lot better!  Try Mamma Lucia for a decent pizza in Fairfax or head on up to the Big Apple for  real NYC style pizza.  Flippin' Pizza is way overrated and overpriced! 

A&J - Spicy Beef Noodle Soup

A&J
4316 Markham St
Ste B
Annandale, VA 22003

Dumplings

So it was a typical Friday evening for David and I, as always we were contemplating
on where to go for dinner. We have to meet up with my cousin at Korean bakery, Shilla for bingsoo after dinner. For those who don't know what bingsoo is, it is a ice shaved dessert with assorted delicious toppings. It made sense for us to eat somewhere in Annandale for dinner. Of course, we would go to Korean restaurants since there a a lot of restaurants in the area to pick from. Unfortunately, we just recently had Korean food so we wanted to try something else. David wanted to go to Silverado, I was a little hesitant however I did not have any other idea so I agreed. 30 minutes later, we arrived at Silverado, that place was packed. The hostess said that it will take close to an hour to get a table for two. We didn't have enough time to wait, plus we were getting hungry so we left. David suggested that we try A & J knowing that I wanted to try Taiwanese food. I have never been there before, but David has.

Milk Bubble Tea

A & J is located in the building which appears to be a small shopping mall. The restaurant looks almost like fast food place. The waitress handed us two paper menus and two pencils as we sat down. I was a little confused but quickly realized that she wanted to us to circle what we want. This reminds me the sushi menu at the Japanese restaurant but this is Taiwanese. Not a bad idea I assumed there would be nothing lost in translation.

Spicy Beef Noodle Soup

We ordered dumplings, wonton noodle soup, and a spicy beef noodle soup. David also ordered a milk bubble tea to drink. The dumplings came out first. The dumplings were not typical Chinese dumplings that you used to see. These dumplings are like long rolled instead of traditional half mooned shape. There was a decent amount of filling, however it could definitely needs a little flavor beside the soy sauce dipping sauce. David commented that the bubble tea was very weak and watery. He wasn't too impressed with it. At last, our soups came out. The wonton soup has shredded fried egg and bok choy. The broth didn't have me at hello after I tasted it. It was a nothing memorable about it. What memorable about this wonton was I took a bite of wonton and realized that pork inside was bright pink. Immediately, a flow of thoughts and images of Gordon Ramsay screaming and yelling came to my head. Is this filling raw? We asked the waitress if the filling is raw. She was explained that it is not. They put special ingredient to make the pork pink. I'm not too sure what is it because I couldn't understand her very well. But she offered to bring it back to cook it some more. Meanwhile, I watched David eats his spicy beef noodle soup. I tried the soup, it was alright I didn't know how long we waited for the wonton soup to come back but the two tables next us came after us and left. At that point, I was getting a little agitated and didn't feel hungry anymore. I just wanted to leave.

Wonton Noodle Soup

David came up the counter to pay and said that we don't want the wonton soup anymore. The waitress was telling us that it should be ready soon and they're making a new soup for us. Are they just omitting the special ingredient or cooking the life out of the wonton this time? How come the second time around took so much longer than the first? I don't like to create attention to myself or make a scene but I said I don't want it and left. It was the first time that I have walked out of the restaurant, unfortunately we also paid for the wonton soup. Overall, we were not impressed at all with the food. I had better frozen dumplings and wonton from Chinese take out. It was the worst experience and I don't think I will go back to A& J.

By the way, they only accept cash.