New Lee Garden: Quick, Convenient and Even Healthy Chinese Food

I once went to a Chinese restaurant in the Lower East Side of New York City with one of my girlfriends. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, she was a great meal companion when venturing to less mainstream Chinese restaurants because I could always count on her to ask the staff for items that I wanted but were not on the printed menu.

We had the most amazing crab and pork soup dumplings (they are regular dumplings that produce a hot soup in the wrapper when they are steamed). Completely full but still having space for dessert (it’s a different part of my stomach), I asked my friend to ask for sweet taro soup for dessert. She signaled to the server and a rapid fire conversation broke out in Chinese, then there was anger and strong hand gestures and then the server stormed off.

“What happened?” I had asked my friend.

“Uh, the sweet taro soup is Cantonese and this restaurant is Shanghainese. She was pretty offended that I asked for something from a completely different part of China," she replied.

I felt so awful and culturally insensitive and learned to make sure to learn what particular region of China was represented in the cuisine of any Chinese restaurant I was dining at.

in the Lawrence Park Shopping Center specializes in Cantonese, Szechuan and Hunan cuisines which is what most Americans are used to.

The appetizer section is filled with familiar items including egg rolls ($1.25), BBQ spare ribs ($6.95/small or $11.95/large) and fried wontons ($3). The classic pu pu platter (for two) comes with spring rolls, crabmeat cheese wonton, shrimp tempura, grilled Thai chicken, ribs and beef teriyaki ($11.95)–many of these items are not Chinese at all but the staff here is much more lax when it comes to authenticity than that place in the Lower East Side.

Soups available include the Chinese restaurant trio: wonton, egg drop (both $1.50/small and $2.85/large) and hot and sour (slightly pricier at $2.50/small and $4.50/large). There is a house special wonton soup for $5.50/large only.

The noodles (chow mein or lo mein) and fried rice come in house special, chicken, roast pork, vegetable, lobster and seafood varieties. Pricing is similar ($3.75-$6.50 /pint; $6-$12/quart). The kitchen does a decent job with these items with the only caveat being that the lo mein can sometimes be greasy.

The sweet and sour chicken is bright red and made almost exclusively with white meat ($4.95/pint, $7.95/quart; can also be made with pork for the same price). It’ll do in a sweet and sour pinch and is one of the more affordable versions around.

The shredded pork with garlic sauce ($8.25) is spicy and delicious. It’s one of my father’s go-to dishes when out at a Chinese restaurant and I can understand why. Not only is it delicious, it’s very hard to mess up. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad experience with it.

Beef with broccoli ($5.50/pint, $8.95/quart) is also a great stand-by. The beef they use here is fattier than some more health conscious people would want.

If you are one of those healthier people, I would suggest skipping straight to the “diet health food section” of the menu. I know, I was surprised too. After a week of eating out way too much, I decided to order sensibly instead of my usual General Tso’s chicken ($8.95; they do a good job with the fried, sweet and spicy dish that I love but, again, this dish is pretty hard to destroy).

I ordered the steamed chicken with mixed vegetables ($8.25) and opted for brown rice instead of white rice (you have to do everything 100 percent, right?). The chicken was soft and tender, the vegetables bountiful (carrots, cabbage, green beans, broccoli, baby corn, mushrooms and more) and there was a full pint of perfectly steamed brown rice.

The brown sauce on the side was mild and soy-based. I bumped out some more flavor with hoisin sauce (I have it at home) and a dash of Tabasco hot sauce. I was actually pretty impressed with how much food they gave you. I ate it over two days–that’s less than 5 bucks a day.

I have ordered from this place many times (my cousins’ house is five minutes away) but I was the most impressed with the healthy section. The service is polite and efficient. The décor is typical of old fashioned Chinese restaurants (lots of red, gold and merely functional chairs).

I wouldn’t say this place had much ambiance and I wouldn’t recommend it for a date but I would recommend it to anyone looking for an inexpensive standard Chinese place or someone searching for a cheap way to eat right. If only they would get some sweet taro soup on the menu (they do specialize in Cantonese cuisine after all).