bd's Mongolian Barbeque - dj

300 S. State Road 434
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714
www.gomongo.com

I didn’t feel like cooking tonight so we decided go to a new restaurant around the corner. bd’s is in the old Tony’s Roma next to Sports Authority. The restaurant opened about a month ago, while construction was being done on 434 right out front.

We walked in the front door to be greeted with a “Welcome to db’s!” this is shades for Moe’s or Captain D’s a practice that I hate.

We were seated in a nicely remodeled booth. The waiter arrived shortly to explain the menu. Basically go to the bar pick out the meats and vegetable that you want. Then go to the next station and choose one or a combination of sauces that are available they range from fajita, buffalo, to teriyaki sauce. There are 18 to choose from. After you have created your recipe you go to the Mongolian grill and have it cooked up.

While the dish I created was good, I could have easily created it for all three of us for maybe $5.00. Next time I want to spend $50.00 for a stirfry I think I’ll order King Kooker's Cajun Portable Propane Outdoor WOK. Then I can have a really good stir fry right at home.

When our waiter arrived with the check he also presented us with an electronic survey form, and asks if we would be returning. I think not. I’ll just cook a stir fry at home next time.

Rating: **
Service: ***
Price for 3 with tip $48.00

Jade Bistro - DT

Jade Bistro is a stylish setting staffed by decades of experience serving select Asian favorites. We joined a group of ten co-workers for lunch in the College Park dining corridor just north of Princeton on Edgewater Drive. We walked in and were greeted immediately by an older gentleman who I assumed was the owner. The wait staff, while just as friendly and prompt served us with a diligence and efficiency usually reserved for the big city restaurants. Our group ordered Chinese staples such as Singapore Noodle and Mongolian Chicken. One member of our party even ordered Sweet and Sour Chicken. We asked if he could get the crayons and coloring sheet with that but after tasting the food you will realize this is no trifle effort. I chose the General Tso Chicken and fried rice with a house salad. A fine white ginger dressing over a simple chilled salad preceded the entrée. Other options included Miso or egg drop soup or a spring roll. The better parts of the chicken were fried in a firm batter but not overdone then glazed sweet and spicy with a significant garlic influence. Usually treated as unimportant, even the fried rice stood on its own merit. Before you leave, you must try the Tempura Cheesecake lightly striped with chocolate. I am looking forward to my next visit where I plan to indulge in the Japanese maki rolls. On my way out, I introduced myself to the older gentleman who indeed is the owner. His name is Joseph Duen. You will know him by his smile and his background includes 20+ years at the famous Four Seasons in Rockefeller Center New York. Somehow Mr. Duen has made the decision to give us all the class and elegance he is known for in our quaint little part of Orlando and at a amazingly affordable price.

Service - Impeccable
Quantity – Just right
Price – Lunch and water $7.50

Revisited Restaurants - dj

Winnies Oriental Garden: We went with a big birthday crowd again, the service was good for a group of 10 people. I was going to get something different from last time but ended up with the same dish Chicken & Cashews. I had the same impression as last time as well BLAND. Even with the addition of salt it still did not have much taste.

Rating: **
Service : ***


Siam Garden The restaurant looks the same as last year. The menus have been updated with photos of the food. They look quite nice. I had the Stir Fried Ginger with Chicken again. It was just as good as I remembered.

Rating: ****
Service ***

Winnie’s Oriental Garden - DJ

1346 Orange Avenue
Winter Park, FL 32789
407.629.2111
http://www.winniesmenu.com

The slogan at Winnie’s is “The finest in Chinese cuisine”. The atmosphere is very nice one of the nicest Chinese restaurants I’ve been to lately. There were fresh cut flowers at each table and fried Chinese noodles to eat when we arrived. The Soup Nazi attitude of the owner Winnie kind of grows on you after a while. We were a big group that arrived at 12:15PM they had no trouble seating us on this particular day. They pushed 4 tables together. When Winnie discovered that we had a birthday boy with us she cheerfully delivered a red Chinese envelop with a crisp five dollar bill enclosed.

The dish I had was Chicken & Cashews $7.00 at lunch. It looked very attractive when it arrived, but was rather bland, I thought. Even with the addition of soy sauce and a little pepper chili, I still thought it was rather bland. The chicken had a strange texture and taste.


The black table cloths had been washed or dried with the white napkins and had white balls of lint all over them. Even with these problems the experience was a nice one. The check arrived with a Hershey's kiss, and fortune cookies were available on a tray on the way out.

I still long for the days when this was El Niagara a restaurant known for authentic Mexican food, back in the early 80's.

Strangely enough if you do a google search on "El Niagara Winter Park" it still come up with a listing for the El Niagara restaurant.

Rating: **
Service: ***
Price meal/water/tip: $9.00

Tasty Wok - DJ

1246 E Colonial Dr
Orlando, FL 32803
407.896.8988

Tasty Wok BBQ & Noodle House is a small Cantonese diner on the corner of East Colonial and North Shine Ave in Viet-town. It is just east of Mills Ave. It is best described as dinner style with Ducks hanging in the corner. The menu has 58 items with the addition of about 12 more Americanized items. i.e. General Tao Chicken and Sesame Chicken among others. We had come on the recommendation of our Chinese friend. He said to stay away from the noodle soups and go for the Pan Fried dishes.



The dish I ordered was # 40 Ha Moon Chow Mei Fun (Rice Noodle). The dish looked very similar to Pad Thai with out the red coloring. The dish came with chicken and rice vermicelli noodles. There were onions and bean sprouts also mixed in. The killer for me was the eggs mixed in with the noodles just as in Pad Thai. I cannot eat eggs so my dining partner graciously offered to switch. He had ordered # 41 Beef with Pan-fried Noodle. The dish had egg noodles that had been pan fried until crispy topped with slices of beef and Kai-lan or Chinese broccoli, this was in a dark sauce. Both dishes were good and we had plenty left over.


Service: Excellent 5
Quantity: Enough for two.
Price: Meal/Water under $9.00

Ming's Bistro - RB

The Steamed Pork Buns were very good. It would be worth going back just for that. I also had Duck Noodle Soup with thin rice noodles, it was very hard to get the waitress to understand which noodles I wanted in my soup. The duck was tasty but the broth was very bland. Next time I'll try something other then the Duck Noodle Soup.

Service: Good (4 out of 5)
Quantity: Plenty (3 small buns to an order)
Appitiser/Meal/Water: Under $11.00

Ming's Bistro - DT

Definitely not you average General Tao Chicken place located just off Mills and Colonial. I'm not an expert but compared to the Chinese food at every other stripmall, I would call it authentic. Being the only non-Asians in the place reinforced that impression. I ordered the Singapore Rice Noodles and asked for it to be spicy mild. It was just right. We all agreed the meals were prepared a little on the bland side but I can add my own salt. (You can't take it out). It was half full on a Wednesday. The waitress was very nice and even tried to help me pronounce "thin rice noodle" in chinese. I think it was "Mi Phen". I definitely enjoyed the roasted poultry (mostly poultry) proudly displayed hanging in the heating booth then cut up on a tree stump by the nice lady with the cleaver. Bonus! DMJ and RB ordered the noodle soup with roast duck. Not sure they cared so much for the more exotic parts of the duck. I would eat here again for sure. Colorful description aside, I found the place clean and relaxing and my new favorite place for Singapore noodle.

Service: Good (4 out of 5)
Quantity: Plenty (I told RB not to let me eat the whole thing)
Meal/Water: Under $8

Ming's Bistro - DJ

Ming's Bistro
1212 Woodward St
Orlando, FL 32803, US

I had the Roast Duck Noodle soup. With a bit of difficulty, I was able to order my soup with some surprisingly large rice noodles. The soup was rather bland looking with the duck accompanied by bok choy and those wide rice noodles. Ming's Bistro seems to be a more authentic style of Chinese restaurant, than we usually encounter. The dishes looked like something that would have come directly from China rather than the Americanized versions.

I'm not sure I was ready for that experience. Next time I'll walk around the corner to Viet Garden.

Service: Good (4 out of 5)
Quantity: More than I wanted
Meal/Water: $6.50