Kenny Tang’s – Coral Springs
I was tipped off to this place by the Sun Sentinel, who gave it a very good review. I was particularly impressed that the owner and chef had served 2 U.S. presidents dim sum when they were in the area. That is serious cred. Also, there is a tremendous shortage of good, safe reliable Chinese places in South Florida. The closest thing we have in many cases is P.F. Chang’s, which is not a joke. So I decided to drive the 30 minutes to Coral Springs. It helped that we were meeting my cousins for dinner who live in South Broward. This is almost a perfect halfway place to meet that is 30 minutes for us both. From the Sawgrass Expressway, it is a quick ride from Atlantic Blvd. Sadly the place was almost empty, but it was Monday night. Décor was fine, nothing fancy. They had an open kitchen, something that I have never before seen at a Chinese restaurant and something that gave me immediate confidence in the place.
They specialize in dim sum, which is another way of saying dumplings. I love this and I think almost everyone does. Have you ever met someone who doesn’t enjoy dumplings? In the review they also harped on the duck and the beef dishes. Since I don’t eat meat, I had to focus on the duck. I started out with the shrimp, chicken and edamame dumplings. Our waitress recommended trying the edamame dumplings with chocolate! My mother was actually brave enough to try this, and gave it a thumbs down. But the all the dumplings were great without that! In fact, they brought out a little sauce tray with 5 or 6 sauces. They had some spicy, hoisin, soy based dim sum, and a couple of others. I also had the duck hot and sour soup. Everything was excellent so far. I almost forgot to mention that my cousin had the mushroom soup, which he said was good but didn’t eat much of. Onto the main courses! I went with the half roast duck. This could be the only Chinese place in the country without brown rice, which sort of pissed me off (I always get the brown rice!) but I rolled with it and went with the noodles. The duck was excellent, very tender and moist. The problem was there was not much of it and there was a lot of bones and fat. While it was very tasty, it was too much work and I will not get it the next time. They had some pretty solid choices of wine by the glass, although not many options. There were even less options for desert (2 and both fried – sesame balls and banana egg roll), but in truth I don’t think I have ever gotten desert at a Chinese restaurant so that didn’t matter. Towards the end of the meal Kenny himself came over and introduced himself and made sure we enjoyed the food. This is both very professional and personable and I never cease to be impressed by this kind of thing. I told him I really enjoyed it and looked forward to returning. I only wish it was a little closer but it is doable. If you are looking for a quality Chinese restaurant out West give it a try. I am sure you will be happy you did! As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions. Thanks for reading and have a great day.
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