Meal 18

Shrimp w. Chinese Vegetable

Rating: 4.5(Passable-Bearable)

Fortune of the day- Your hidden creative talents will soon be revealed.

Shrimp with Chinese Vegetables bore close resemblance to Meal 2, the Shrimp Chow Mein.  Like the Shrimp Chow Mein, this dish had an extremely gooey texture. The vegetables were too crisp to be boiled so I would say the sauce obtained its drippy caliber from some other means. Vegetables reigned over this meal once again with water chestnuts, celery, peas, carrots, cabbage, and bamboo shoots making up 95% of the grub. The shrimp was decadent but being covered in placenta made it slightly less attractive. It had a taste but the impact was not sufficient enough to be remembered therefore earning a 4.5 on the Jaxon Scale. 

Meal 16

Chicken w. Cashew Nuts

Rating: 4.5(Passable-Bearable)

Fortune of the day- Need some adventure and enjoyment? Take a vacation.

If you have read the previous post, then the contents of this one is pretty self explanatory. The chicken with Cashew Nuts was oddly similar to the Shrimp with Cashew Nuts. It beats all I’ve ever saw! Now if you have not been able read the earlier post or are just too lazy this dish contains a heaping amount of diced water chestnuts and celery. There is also baby corn and I think some cashews. The dish went as according to plan. The oodles of celery and water chestnuts made the dish more difficult to dispose of in a digestive sense. I am not a shrimp guy, but for this meal I believe it tasted better than the chicken. The chicken appeared to have been fried then set in the dish to soak up the juices making it extremely soggy. Not really appetizing for my taste buds. If you are a water chestnut, celery licking, soggy chicken kind of a person, this dish was meant for you. If not, I would steer clear of this 4.5, possibly going for a Chicken Lo Mein or Sweet and Sour Pork.

Meal 15

Shrimp w. Cashew Nuts

Rating: 5(Bearable)

Fortune of the day- A vacation to sunny shores is soon in store for you.

Where do I begin with this dish? Should I try to explain why there were more water chestnuts and celery than cashews or should I expand on the deceitful behavior of the texture. In the words of LeBron James, “What should I do?” In this case, it is rather simple, I’ll go with both. The dish’s name is Shrimp with Cashew Nuts so obviously those two items will be involved. It is also safe to assume that other ingredients will be sprinkled throughout the meal. In this case, those other ingredients (celery, water chestnuts, and baby corn) drowned out any chance the cashews had of any significant flavor. The dish should have been called Shrimp with Diced Water Chestnuts and Celery with a Hint of Cashew Nuts. If you haven’t noticed, water chestnuts appear quite frequently in these dishes and it got me wondering why they are so popular. I did a little research and stumbled upon some interesting facts. First of all, the water chestnut is not a nut but an aquatic vegetable. It’s widely popular because of its abundance and its submissive flavor. Also, did you know that some believe that water chestnuts can sweeten your breath? Tic Tac, there’s a new dog in town! The texture startled me as well. I know cashews are not the softest nuts to be chewing on but in this case they were abnormally tough. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just means you will have to work a little harder consuming your food. The shrimp was cooked fine and the assorted elements made for an interesting taste but not one I will order again.  As I have said before, these are my opinions and according to my fancy, this dish did not tickle it achieving only a Bearable.

Meal 12

Roast Pork w. Mixed Vegetable

Rating: 5.5(Bearable-Mediocre)

Fortune of the day- A distant friendship could begin to look more promising.

Once again, why was this meal not listed closer to Chicken with Mixed Vegetable? I think Heaven’s Kitchen was just trying to throw us a screwball. It’s possible that the restaurant intended us to believe that it was a totally different meal since it was not listed adjacent to the chicken. I am here to uphold the justice of consumer chow-down. These two meals were duplicates only varying in their meat products. The roast pork was more preferable but the sauce and vegetables overwhelmed any chance of originality. It too was cooked with all the vegetables known to China. Again, why not remove some foliage and allow the meal to flourish with its intentional flavor? This dish would work better as Roast Pork with Broccoli but until that time, it will be given a 5.5.

Meal 5

Chicken w. Mixed Vegetable

Rating:  5.5(Bearable-Mediocre)

Fortune of the day- Life is a series of choices. Today yours are good ones.

Chicken with Mixed Vegetables, the traditional Chinese cuisine, at least the American interpretation that is. This plate had a harvest of vegetables. The carrots, broccoli, and onions would have sufficed in their attempts to overload a vegetable lover’s enthusiasm. Instead, they decided to turn a vegan straight by throwing in baby corn, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and red and green bell peppers. Some people might enjoy the plethora of foliage in a meal, but when it hinders the flavor of what people love the most (protein), then it becomes a little cumbersome. What little chicken existed tasted quite alright. It was stir fried along with the veggies making it slightly crispier than previous meals. The sauce had a quirky vibe to it; being salty and sweet at the same time. This could work if one component was sweet while another was salty but since it was mixed together, it threw my taste buds into a stupor, not knowing what to think. As it was stated, the only beef with that chicken, besides the abundance of vegetables, was that it was too sweet to be that salty giving it a total rating of Bearable to Mediocre.

Meal 4

Moo Goo Gai Pan

Rating: 5(Bearable)

Fortune of the day- You find beauty in ordinary things. Do not lose this ability.

Moo Goo Gai Pan was definitely a mystery dish. The only indication its name provided was the texture. As my friend Ethan pointed out, it was very Mooey and Gooey. The meal, like the Chow Meins from the previous explorations, consisted of boiled chicken along with water chestnuts, peas, celery, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and carrots. One major difference in the Moo Goo Gai Pan that separated it from the other boiled beast from the east was the garlic flavor. That oomph of garlic gave the food a more distinguished taste and for that we thank Dragon City. I am personally not a fan of celery and water chestnuts. If these two items would have been omitted, the Moo Goo Gai Pan would have earned a higher rating but since they were not, we had to give it a Bearable 5.