A Gooey Sunday Post: Tan Ky Mi Gia (Mira Mesa) and the "New" Mandarin Canton

This past week, for some reason, the Missus was craving something "gooey over fried noodles".... something that happens every couple of years. I'm not quite sure brings it on.... but it does happen. We were in the Mira Mesa area so we stopped by:

Tan Ky Mi Gia:

Which I've posted on quite a few times. The Missus went with the Pan Fried Egg Noodles with Seafood.

 
Something that I'd never had here before. The noodles not covered in the gooey "sauce" were very crumbly, and dare I say.... dusty. The light complexioned sauce was very tasty, perhaps edging on the salty side. That's about all I know since the Missus scarfed just about everything except the squid (not bad) and the fish balls (meh).

I noticed something interesting about the flavor of that sauce. It tasted a lot like the pork based "soup" that comes with many of the noodle dishes. I'm thinking they use this broth along with corn starch to create that stir-fry sauce. On this night, the broth was pretty salty as well..... but I wasn't complaining since I felt a cold coming on, and something with a good dose of salt (and MSG?) was welcome.

Needing a good dose of flavor, I went with the Beef Sate Noodle - Dry.

 

Not as spicy as other versions, the beef was pretty tender, the sauce a good flavor, so this hit the spot as well.

Tan Ky Mi Gia
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd #A
San Diego, CA 92126

For some reason, that dose of gooey-ness didn't cure the Missus. While driving South on the 805, I asked the Missus if we should drop by Mandarin Canton. I hadn't been back since before the unfortunate, and I still think unsolved murder of the restaurant owner in 2009. That's why Mandarin Canton never made it into our Salt and Pepper Wing challenge. The Missus had returned after the restaurant reopened, and thought the food had serious short-comings, which She blamed on "replaced oil syndrome" - where the well seasoned frying oil had actually been replaced, and all the flavoring is gone; and just never bothered to go back. We have nothing against ABCDE ('Ab-cee-dee' = American Born Chinese Dining Establishment) food, but it has to be done well. I found this to be a pretty hard thing to find here in San Diego. Anyway, as we walked to the restaurant off Telegraph Canyon Road, I noticed the sign now said:

The New Mandarin Canton Restaurant:

Perhaps trying to shake off the ghosts of the heinous crime. The menu looks new; but the same old dishes still occupy their place on the menu. In serious need of "gooey over fried noodles" the Missus ordered the Upside Down Pan Fried Noodles ($8.25), a well represented South Bay - Chinoy type dish that is well represented by places like Royal Mandarin and Golden Chopsticks.

 

This didn't deliver. The noodles were okay for this type of dish, but the sauce just had no flavor whatsoever. I did notice that the chicken in this dish was better than before. I'd always recommend that other than the wings, folks should stay away from anything with stir-fried chicken in it.

To digress, there's that ultimate sign of an ABCDE joint, stuff which I've gone over before. You get the fried won ton wrappers with the neon sweet-sour sauce. Also, no chopsticks; you have to ask for them.

Of course I had to have the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings ($8.75):

 
I thought these were much better than before. The batter had been lightened up, and the wings were nicely crisp. The ever present crystals of MSG were of course present..... this had that nice "crack-like" addictiveness to it. You'll need to eat these when hot; due to the light batter, they don't keep real well.

The Missus favorite here, and probably the most expensive item on the menu is the Salt and Pepper Shrimp without shell at $12.75:

 

Like the chicken wings, these have been lightened up a bit as well. Compare this with how the dish used to look. The batter is more light and crisp, fairly close to lacquer-like. The shrimp had a nice flavor as well. The Missus thinks this dish is much better than before.

In the end, this was a nice guilty-pleasure meal. I find most of the items on the menu borderline terrible, but you can't go wrong with the fried stuff, and they do a decent job with shrimp. Also, if you are one of those people who believe they are allergic to MSG, be careful, this place will put you on life support.  After paying the bill, after the Missus had already headed out to the car; the really nice lady serving us told me "Xièxiè", to which I replied one of the only words I know in Mandarin "bukeqi"... she laughed and started talking to me in Mandarin! Whoa..... I told her that my wife is Chinese, I'm Japanese..... she laughed and said, "oh, I thought you were Chinese, and you're wife is Filipino!" Happens all the time!

New Mandarin Canton Chinese Restaurant
543 Telegraph Canyon Road
Chula Vista, CA 91910

Comments

[Hao]

I just went to Tan Ky Mi Gia for the first time, today, based on all your previous posts. (and of course, I had to try the Beef Sate w/Egg Noodle - dry.) ;)

Was less impressed with the fried rice cakes appetizer though - the rice cakes were a little overdone, and the eggs a little underdone. It also seemed a bit bland, even with the sauce. (but perhaps the beef sate blew out my taste buds)

[kat]

these look good, but I still miss cake noodle.

[Lynnea]

that batter really does look light and crispy on the shrimp. Hard to not order something so tasty looking as that.

[Kirk]

Hi Hao - Yeah, you need to pick and choose when it comes to many of these Mi places. Not everything is good.

Hi Kat - There's nothing like cake noodle here on the mainland. I've given up looking.

Hi Lynnea - It sure is hard for the Missus to resist.

[Carol]

I'll have to stop by the New Mandarin Canton Chinese Restaurant next time I'm down there (which is rare these days). But I certainly would make a trip just for those wings! I chuckled at the you look Chinese and the Missus looks Filipino!

[Kirk]

Hi Carol - Those wings were better than before IMO. Hopefully you'll have the same experience.

[RightCowLeftCoast]

I gotta ask, is there a good "crack wing" recipe out there? I have started cooking more, including homemade lechon kawali and have thought about doing some frying. Any suggestions would be appretiated

[Kirk]

Hey RCLC - I hope you find a good recipe....one of these days, i'll try to tackle it myself.....the problem being, I don't keep MSG at home! ;o)