Mandarin House

I met a friend for lunch the other day at Mandarin House in Carmel. It’s so weird because I have never actually even noticed this place before. And I have been in and out of the City BBQ a couple doors down several times. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with the atmosphere of the place and the welcoming greeting I got.

It’s a pretty standard Chinese restaurant menu, and you can get a decent deal for lunch (most are around $7 and come with soup and two crab Rangoon). I got my usual first dish at any Chinese restaurant, garlic chicken ($6.95). It was curious that there was a garlic pork on the menu listed as hot and spicy, but garlic chicken was not. Anyway, I was impressed with the depth of flavor in this dish. It was a welcome surprise. The sauce was rich and salty and had a ton of garlic in it. The veggie mix had mostly water chestnuts and then a few mushrooms, which were my favorite part. They serve it with lightly seasoned rice and the crab Rangoon. I didn’t love the crab Rangoon, they were a little soft and doughy. I also chose the hot and sour soup. It was a decent version—certainly not the best or worst I had had. Good flavor and some nice pieces of tofu, my favorite part. They also give you those crunchy fried wontons with your soup, and let’s face it, those make any soup better.

My friend had the house beef ($7.25), which was listed as hot and spicy, but wasn’t particularly spicy in my mind. I don’t love beef in Chinese restaurants typically because the beef is always cut small, gets cooked well done, and I usually find it a little chewy. This one was no exception. It couldn’t compare to my chicken in my opinion. Seriously, I was pretty impressed with that garlic chicken sauce. I would certainly order it again.

Their dinner menu is much more extensive, I would be curious to hear what items people think are good. And while it was all pretty straightforward, I would be interested to try some of these other dishes. Let me know if you have favorites.

Mandarin House

1370 S. Rangeline Road

Carmel, IN 46032

317/846-6405

www.mandarinhousecarmel.com 

LongBranch

Hubby and I decided to hit up Longbranch the other night for an early dinner. We went on the early side because of all the positive write-ups lately, we were worried that we wouldn’t get in. However, this place is a bar and the night we were there (which was a Friday), we didn’t have to wait at all. It didn’t really start to get busy til we left. It’s also a big place, so not as much competition for seats.

They are known for their cocktails, so I felt like I should try one, even though I am typically a wine person. I ordered the “Sayonara” ($9), which had rum, sake and a nice citrus and ginger flavor. Hubby had their version of an Old Fashioned. Both of us enjoyed the drinks—I really liked the pickled ginger garnish in mine. 

We started with the Rangoon ($7) and the egg rolls ($8). Both of the dishes were excellent. I liked that the Rangoon had shrimp inside them instead of the tiny little flakes of crab that you usually see. The chunks of shrimp were larger and actually recognizable. The wonton part was super crispy and freshly fried. They were served with their housemade sweet and sour sauce, which is something I don’t typically eat—you know that bright pink sauce that is more sweet than sour…but this one was really good, much more depth to it and much more acidic kick. It was a great match. 

The egg rolls were really good as well—they put a nice hunk of monkfish inside theirs, and I really enjoyed this to give them more weight and more complexity than your typical veggie egg roll. It gave a nice silky texture as well. They give you a sampler of three different homemade sauces with the egg rolls and these were tasty too. There was a ginger scallion dashi, a duck sauce, and hot mustard. I liked the ginger scallion sauce the most, although the duck sauce was tasty too. I don’t really go in for hot mustard sauce typically just because it is so overwhelming. They do a very nice job with the sauces here, much more interesting than what you typically see in a Chinese restaurant.

For our main dishes, we got a couple of things to share. I ordered the tofu entrée ($10) and we really enjoyed it as well. It was chunks of tofu that were lightly breaded and fried and mixed with sautéed eggplant and a miso sauce. There was a nice amount of microgreens on top as well as some sesame seeds. I find that tofu dishes often have more flavor and seasoning than some other dishes in general, and this one was no exception. I like the soft texture of the eggplant and tofu and the richer flavor of the sauce on this one. My only complaint was that after it sat for a bit, the stuff on the bottom sort of became a bit greasy.

Hubby ordered the short rib with avocado rice and an egg ($16). This is short rib done in the more Korean style, sliced long-ways and not slow cooked in the way you typically see short rib on menus. I liked the way they made the rice extra creamy by mixing it with the soft avocado, and how it added a richness to the rice. Of course you know I love an egg on top, and the yolk added a nice sauce. I guess my only complaint here would be the pure richness without something to sort of balance it out a bit. We found mixing a little of the tofu into the beef dish made a nice little combo though.

We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves, which led to the decision to order dessert (this most often happens when we’re having a really good meal). There aren’t a lot of options, but we ordered a couple of the cookies offered—the peanut butter version with miso cream and the almond version with matcha cream. Man, that peanut butter one was so, so good. The cookie part was so flaky and buttery. And peanut buttery. The other one was good too, but seriously…that peanut butter version... I have thought about that cookie many many times since then.

All in all, Longbranch is a good addition to our food scene. I am not sure why Chinese food is so lacking downtown, particularly with drinks, but I am glad to see this place open. It’s an adult only place, so you may see that as a positive or negative, and it definitely has a bar vibe. I was impressed with the service and the knowledge of our server, and it was a nice relaxing and tasty meal. I would say give it a go, I am looking forward to tasting more of the dishes when we get a chance. There are a lot of good sounding things on there.

LongBranch

2205 N. Delaware Street

Indy  46205

317/602-6726

www.longbranchindy.com  

UPDATE: Ok, so I ended up going back before I even posted this first post, and I have to say, the second visit didn't wow me quite as much. We had a couple of the same things, the spring rolls, the shrimp rangoon and the tofu dish as well as some new things. The rangoon is great. I highly recommend. The spring rolls had less fish this time and weren't as memorable. I still liked the tofu. We also had the General Tso's sweetbreads ($15), and although they are marked as spicy, I thought they weren't very spicy, unless you ate one of the chilis on top. They were a little sticky too--the breading didn't seem crispy enough. The hanger steak (for 2)($26) felt like a bunch of disconnected parts. The meat was good, but there were just little piles of other things on the platter and it didn't come together as a cohesive dish. We loved the spare rib appetizers ($12) though--they had a lot of flavor--like Chinese 5 spice flavor and the meat was cooked just right. So if you average out my two visits, there are definitely things worth having, but there is a bit of a one-dimensionality of some of the dishes. I can't say it will be a regular for me, but it is certainly a good choice for a change of pace, and I am glad to see someone focusing on a cuisine that we don't have a lot of in downtown.

Naisa - Revisit

I met a friend for lunch at Naisa for the first time in ages and ages---they had been closed down for many months and honestly because of that, it had sort of left my mind as an option. But we remembered it and went back to see how they were doing.

The meals (all around $8) come with a soup and a crab Rangoon. We both chose the hot and sour soup. It had a nice flavor and a sufficient amount of heat, as well as nice chunks of tofu and mushrooms. But it had a lot of oil floating on top, which kind of stuck to your lips. It tasted good, but I just would have preferred something a bit lighter and would try one of the other options next time. I do love the little crunchy wontons they serve along with the soup. They are nice in the soup.

I also ordered some of the pork dumplings ($5.95) and asked for them pan fried (you can get them steamed as well). Ok, they were basically pot stickers and honestly, they weren’t my favorite. The dumpling filling just sort of fell out in a ball—they weren’t overly integrated and the skins a little chewy. 

The entrees were decent. I had the chicken with garden veggies because the veggie options with it sounded the best. It had broccoli, zucchini, baby corn, carrots and mushrooms. I am not a fan of bell peppers, so I skipped the dishes with them in it and went for this one. The chicken was tender and the sauce was nice—not spicy but had a decent depth of flavor. The veggies were nice and crisp tender—not just crisp. I hate it when Chinese dishes taste like they just threw the veggies in raw. I also liked the little crab Rangoon they serve with your entrée, just to give you a little treat. They never blow my mind anywhere, but this one was good and crunchy.

Overall, it’s good to see Naisa back and in business. They have a nice interior and the service was very good. It’s a good to have at least one option for Chinese food in Fountain Square—heck, it’s good to have an option for Chinese food downtown—there are so few. It’s solid, even if it’s not spectacular.

Naisa

1025 Virginia Avenue

Indy 46203

319/602-3708

www.facebook.com/naisacafe/ 

Egg Roll #1

Egg Roll #1 has been on my list For-EVER. So I finally got motivated to go. I was in the mood for pho, heard theirs was good and convinced the BFF to check it out with me. It’s a bit of a hike for me, but I am always willing to travel for a food adventure.

The first thing that sort of surprised me was how sort of new the place looked. It was much larger and more modern than the sort of dive spot I was imagining. When you walk in, there’s a large counter where you order. I appreciate the large pictures to the right of the register of most of the menu items as well in case you aren’t sure what they all are. They do a lot of different stuff—Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese food, but I was always told about the Vietnamese food being good, so that was the direction I was going.

I felt like in a place called “Egg Roll #1,” that it would be just wrong to go in there and not order an egg roll right? There was a Vietnamese option on the menu (item # 1) ($3.95 for 3) so I ordered those as well as a bowl of Pho. I got the Pho Tai to be exact ($7.25) which is the rare beef pho.

I thought the egg rolls were just okay, actually, which was kind of a bummer. They were filled with what seemed to be ground pork and some veggies as well. They were wrapped in rice paper and fried. They were on the smaller side and cooked very, very crisp. I don’t know—even with the seasoned fish sauce to dip them in. One of those items that aren’t worth the calories for me.

My pho was good—I mean, it was solid pho. It had all the required ingredients—beef broth, lots of noodles, onions, thin slices of beef and onions and hunks of scallions. You got the side plate with a lot of bean sprouts, a few pieces of jalapeno and some Thai basil (no cilantro, boo). There was a little bit of cilantro on top of the soup, but none on the side plate. There is a little area by the front register where you can get some extra onion/cilantro mix (and more limes! Yay!) so I did that.

Like I said, it was decent pho, but it certainly wasn’t the most flavorful broth I’ve had. It helped after I threw the peppers in, as well as some Sriracha and soy.  After it sat a bit and the flavors of the peppers and basil kind of melted into the broth, it got better for sure. It’s the kind of thing/place that if it were in my neighborhood, it might be a solid pho option. But being so far away, it’s probably not going to hit my radar again although I am interested to know if the Thai stuff is good. Some of the pictures on the wall were intriguing.

The BFF had a small bowl of hot and sour soup ($2.75) and another dish off the Vietnamese menu, the name of which I cannot recall (#15 perhaps?). It was egg noodles on the bottom with sautéed pork and shrimp on top. It was a decent dish too—even if the pork and shrimp were a touch on the tough side. I actually thought the hot and sour soup was egg drop soup when they first set it down. It was heavy on the egg and not a lot of other stuff in the soup. It was also heavy on the sour part of the flavor and not so heavy on the hot part. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t really hot and sour soup to me.

It was an enjoyable lunch, and I am always up for trying something new. Did anything blow me away? No. Can you find better pho around town? Yes. But it’s not a bad option if this is your side of town. The place did a decent business and while the staff was very business-like, they also came around to check on you and make sure you didn’t need drink refills.

So who else has been here? You know I want to hear what you think is good.

Egg Roll #1

4576 S. Emerson

Indy  46203

317/787-2225

www.eggroll1.com 

Szechwan Garden - Revisit

I met my friend @wibia for another birthday lunch. We both like Szechwan Garden, and I have been itching to get back there since the last time I went and had the salt and pepper squid. I said then that I really wanted to try the salt and pepper fish (#115 on the menu, $15.95) so this time I did.  We also had the shredded roast duck with pan-fried rice noodles off of the lunch menu (the one on the back of the dim sum menu) ($4.95). I also had a taste of his hot and sour soup.

So, I was pretty right about being excited to try the salt and pepper fried fish. I had enjoyed the very peppery (and salty) seasoning on the squid before, but the squid itself was too chewy for me. The fish was thin and tender and much more appealing (and I like squid when it’s tender). I love the little crumbles of toasty garlic on top of the fish. The pieces with those on top were the best—they gave it an added nutty flavor. The fish was a thin white fish—maybe tilapia? They give you a lot, particularly since there is no veggies or anything with it, so I would recommend sharing it with others and/or with a dish heavier on veggies. They do give you a side of rice to go along with it.

The noodle dish we also shared is one of @wibia’s favorite things at Szechwan Garden I think. I’ve seen him order it a couple of times. It’s a nice dish as well—the super thin rice noodles are sautéed with bits of the roasted duck, egg, scallions and a few pieces of red pepper. It’s a better accompaniment to the fish than rice I think, just because the noodles have more going on, and add a bit of moisture to an otherwise kind of of dry meal. I really liked the bit of egg of course, and the scallions added some flavor and texture to the dish. We did add some soy to it, which brought the flavors out even more.

The quick bite of the hot and sour soup was tasty too—had the right balance of spicy and sour and nice bits of tofu and mushrooms and egg. My favorite thing—the broth isn’t gelatinous like some can be.

The menu here is huge, so I am pretty sure there is something on there for just about everyone. It would be fun for someone to start a blog and eat their way through that menu. Now that would be a feat.

Szechwan Garden

3649 Lafayette Road

Indy 46222

317/328-2888

Taiwan Tea House - Revisit

It has been a long while since I had been to Taiwan Tea House. My BFF regularly frequents the place and was more than happy to go with me the other day. I still like the simple décor and the real plates and bowls they use—and they’re actually pretty dishes, unlike the standard Chinese restaurant ware. Our server is very friendly—one of the owners I am sure, as he has been there every time I have been. Sometimes the communication is a bit lacking due to the language difference, but we managed.

I ordered the fried tofu ($2.75) to start, based on someone’s recommendation on one of my last posts. And I do like some good fried tofu. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it when I first saw it, because you could tell it wasn’t going to be really crisp and it wasn’t really, but it had a great taste. I really liked the soy-based sauce that they drizzled on top. The crust on the tofu taste good too even if I would have preferred it a little crisper. I couldn’t stop eating just a little more.

For my lunch, I ordered the mapo chicken ($6.99). This is my BFF’s favorite dish, and her usual order, but she wanted to try the spicy wonton noodles instead, so I got it. To start with, they bring you a bowl of soup (really, really hot as in temperature). It’s a simple soup, but I nice was to start especially on a very cold day. There are some nice chunks of tofu and some egg as well as some tomatoes and black pepper.

The chicken dish was a little disappointing actually—the chicken was cooked a little too far making it not just a bit tough, but giving the edges an almost crunchy texture. Both the chicken and the veggies just seemed like they were cooked over too high a heat. I do like the flavor of the sauce though—had a nice balanced taste with soy and some garlic and ginger perhaps. A touch on the oily side, but still good. The entrées each come with two crab Rangoon as well. I like the version they do here because they are nice and crisp and not oily at all. My only complaint was that one of them wasn’t quite warm all the way through. Assume they make them and then just heat them quickly before serving.

My friend’s spicy wonton noodles were good—they are really quite spicy—lots of little bits of garlic and chili in there and some stuffed wontons mixed in. They can’t really make the dish less spicy because he said they make the sauce in advance, and it has a fair amount of heat. They can make it spicier if you want though which would be too much for me, but I am sure some of you guys would like it that way.

All in all, an ok experience. It’s not a bad place to have nearby, and they do use a lot of fresh ingredients. I think my dish was a little off on this day, but it wouldn’t stop me from trying again.

Taiwan Tea House

3746  E. 82^nd Street

Indy 46250

317/598-9733

JS Garden

One or two of you guys told me about JS Garden awhile back and I’ve had it on the list ever since. I love the sort of strange location (it’s in a little strip mall behind Rally’s off 54^th and Keystone). So I rounded up a couple of friends to give it a try. The restaurant bills itself as “teriyaki and Asian food” which seems to encompass a lot of things. I’d say the menu is heavy on Chinese items, with several other things mixed in from different regions of Asia (from curries to teriyaki).

I was surprised at how, well, nice the interior was. I mean it’s new, but I’ve sort of come to expect a stark interior at little places like this. They made an attempt to make this feel a bit nicer with darker colors and nicer tables and chairs. Also, the lady who greeted us and served us was very, very friendly and accommodating. If you go for lunch, take a moment to check out the specials board on your way in though. That’s the only place you can see them (otherwise you just get one of their carry out menus to look at). The lunch specials are around $5-6 and come with rice and a spring roll.

We started with an order of tempura veggies ($3.49—mainly because when I asked our server what veggies it included, she mentioned broccoli, which is my favorite tempura’ed veg. Unfortunately, while including many of my favorite other items as well (mushrooms and cauliflower), I didn’t really care for the crust—I think of tempura as a poofy batter and this was more of a grainy type breading. The veggies were the right tenderness, but the batter wasn’t good. They were also served with a sweet and sour type sauce rather than a tempura sauce, which is what I prefer.

We all had a bowl of hot and sour soup ($1.99 for me, $1.25 if you add it to a lunch special). It wasn’t bad. Pretty thick and dark—more of a sesame oil flavor to it than most—and kind of following with the theme of the rest of the food-not  a lot of “hot” in it as far as spiciness goes. It was pretty hearty with lots of the typical hot and sour ingredients—tofu, mushrooms and egg. They also give you a nice plate of crunchy wontons to put in, which I always appreciate.

I ordered from the regular menu and decided to try the chicken Pad Thai because I was just sort of in the mood and our server recommended it. It wasn’t one of the lunch specials but on all of their dishes, they offer small and large sizes. I like that because I often feel over served with Asian food. I got the small ($5.79) and it was still more than I could eat. It was only ok though. It mainly consisted of noodles and not a lot else—I was looking for more of the fresh stuff (bean sprouts and green onions) to give it a bit of that fresh crunch. I had a hard time finding the bean sprouts. I also had to search a bit to find the pieces of chicken. The “sweet and sour tamarind sauce” was pretty darn sweet. There wasn’t the balance of spicy, sweet and sour that I typically like with Pad Thai. (She had asked me how spicy I wanted and I told her medium.) There was a little sprinkling of crushed peanuts on top but that was about the only thing that varied the texture or flavor of the dish.

My friends both had the General Tso’s chicken lunch special. I had a bit and preferred it t mine because it was pretty large hunks of chicken that were not overly fried the way General Tso’s can be and it also wasn’t drenched in sweet sticky sauce the way it can be as well. There were veggies (mostly broccoli and carrots) and rice and a small spring roll.

I always enjoy trying to find a new little jewel around. Sadly, while I appreciated the reasonable prices, the friendly people working there, and the clean and modern interior, I didn’t eat anything that I loved. I would go back and see about trying something else. Anyone else been there?

JS Garden

5425 N. Keystone Ave # 500

Indianapolis, IN 46220

317/257-7676

Lucky Lou Seafood Restaurant

I met my friend @zigged the other day for some dim sum at Lucky Lou’s (I told you I’ve been having a dumpling issue lately). I hadn’t been since this place changed names from On Time—not sure what the deal is there, but they still have some carry out menus from there as well. 

Anyhow, they give you a big picture menu to order from (I am finding out the little carts pushed around the restaurant don’t seem to exist in the Midwest—even in Chicago’s Chinatown). We chose a bunch of stuff. The first couple of things they brought us were the fried bits (You know I like my mix of crunchy and steamed). There were fried shrimp balls ($3.50) and spring rolls ($2.60). I would say these two things were two of the highlights. The shrimp balls tasted just like they were ground shrimp formed into balls and lightly fried. They were quite dense and filling. The spring rolls were filled with more of a pureed filling of veggies with a little pork—you’re not going to look inside and instantly recognize the ingredients in there, but they tasted good and the wrappers were nice and thin and crisp. There’s no fancy homemade sweet and sour or mustard—you get little packets served alongside if you want either.

The next thing was the chive dumplings ($3.50). Normally, done well, these are one of my items in dim sum.  These were totally different. For one thing, this was the first time I have had them filled with pork instead of shrimp. They were also really big. I liked that they weren’t overly filled with the chives and scallions. But overall, I wasn’t a huge fan of these. Maybe because they weren’t what I expected (and wanted) but also because they were just so dense inside. They were just a little funky.

Last minute, we had thrown an order of rice in lotus leaf ($4.95). I enjoyed this one. The rice inside was nice and sticky (which I like) and was filled with bits of chicken in a sauce with some mushrooms and a bit of sausage. It was a nice dish to have along with the others—it was more of a composed things containing several ingredients. 

The final thing that we got (I chose this one) was the pan-fried shrimp roll ($2.95). I had had this before at On Time and really enjoyed it. This time, no, I did not like it. It was supposed to contain shrimp—didn’t really get much of that in there and there was just a strange flavor for me that tasted sort of like a lot of leftover stuff stuffed in there and not in a good way for me. I wouldn’t get it again.

As I write this, I realize there was probably more stuff that was decent than was bad, but when I left the place, I left feeling like it was some of the weakest dim sum I have had. It just didn’t have the lightness that I have enjoyed elsewhere. I always like that I can eat so many different things with dim sum and not feel like I’ve eaten heavy greasy stuff. Not so much the case here. I couldn’t finish much of what I ate (ok, some I just didn’t want to finish).

The people were very nice who waited on us, even though there was a bit of language difficulty. With the pictures on the menu, it wasn’t bad. And it’s pretty darn cheap. Anyone else been here lately? What do you think?

Lucky Lou’s

3623 Commercial Drive

Indy 46222

317/293-8888

Szechwan Garden - Revisit

I have a lot to talk about! This post combines a couple of meals—lunch with my friends Sacha and Scott and a business dinner. (Most prices listed here are dinner prices, lunch is always cheaper.) So I got to try a lot of things.

I am just going to sort of jump around with some of the stuff. Combined, I tried several appetizers/dim sum items (dim sum is only available at lunch). I really enjoyed the shrimp and chive dumplings—very chive-filled for sure (I am thinking maybe some scallions too). Nicely pan-seared giving a little crispy edge. Not a ton of shrimp, but just enough to give it a fuller consistency. At dinner we tried the scallion pancake ($3.50), crab Rangoon ($5.95), pot stickers ($5.95), and the just straight up dumplings ($4.50). Of these, I probably liked the dumplings and pot stickers the best. The pot stickers were nicely pan-fried as well, giving just a touch of crunch on the outside and the dumplings were softer, and sitting in a spicy chili/soy broth. But it was nice to have some of the fried items to go along with the dumplings—the crab Rangoon were more cream-cheesy than crabby, but were fried just right and were super hot and crunchy. The scallion pancakes is crispy, but with a softness as well. Lots of fresh green scallion flavor.

chive dumplings

potstickers and dumplings

crab rangoon and scallion pancake

Of the various entrées I had over the course of both meals, some of the highlights were the pan fried green beans with little crispy bits of pork belly ($8.95 for dinner portion, lunch is cheaper)—the beans still had a snap, but had a slightly blistered skin from the heat. I also really enjoyed the Chengdu braised fish in hot chili oil. This one probably had the most kick of all the dishes. The fish was tender and was lovely over the rice served alongside. A table favorite was the shredded pork with garlic sauce ($9.95). This dish was a bit spicy as well, and had a rich garlic sauce. There were lots of sliced onions and red and green peppers as well. I liked the way that the meat and the veggies were all sliced similarly to each other, giving just the right proportion of all the flavors in each bite.

Green beans

Chengdu Fish

Shredded pork

We also had the fried squid with salt and pepper ($14.95). I generally love salt and pepper items, and the crust on this had a good crunch and flavor, but the pieces of squid suffered the chewy fate that it so often does. Based on the flavor of it though, the fried fish fillet with salt and pepper is on my list for my next visit. I think with more tender fish, this dish will be super tasty. Salty and a fair dose of pepper as well. I can’t wait. We also had the shrimp and garlic sauce ($13.95). This one was good as well—tender plump shrimp plus more fresh veggies—bigger ones here if you’re looking for a more balanced meal between protein and veg. There was broccoli, red pepper chunks and peapods. I enjoyed it, although it was a bit blander than the other dishes. The beef chow fun was an interesting one as well, and also not spicy. The homemade thick noodles were sautéed with scallions, bean sprouts, and large pieces of sliced beef. This is more of a soy-based sauce, with maybe just a touch of sweetness. I liked the fresh noodles. That’s pretty much my story in any type of cuisine though.

squid

garlic shrimp

beef chow fun

For me, the biggest miss was my lunch order of sautéed eggplant with basil sauce (and I asked them to add some chicken). In the past when I have dined at Szechwan Garden, I have seen people eating big plates of eggplant and I always wanted to get it, even though I wasn’t exactly sure which dish it was (there are several eggplant dishes on the menu). This dish was really overly oily and had little flavor at all. I actually tried to order the garlic-based eggplant dish at dinner to see if it was better (and to see if my lunch may have just been a fluke), but somehow it got forgotten and by the time we realized it, we had all had WAY too much to eat to order more. So, someday maybe I will figure out the mysterious eggplant dish.

eggplant

Which brings me to my final thought, how can you ever really get a handle on this place? How do you even know what to begin to order when there are 374 menu items (plus the dim sum)? So do you order something new every time or stick with old favorites? I know I am trying the salt and pepper fish next time, but that’s about as far as I can get. How do you guys handle it and what are your favorite items?

Szechwan Garden

3649 Lafayette Road

Indy 46222

317/328-2888