Who doesn’t love cheap, greasy Chinese food? It’s filling until it hits midnight and you end up wanting more, the portions are immense and best of all, it tastes fantastic, hitting all the fat, sugar and salt buttons!
What we know as “Chinese food” has little to do with real Chinese cuisine. It’s an American staple, and everyone seems to love it.
Since coming to NVU, I have tried many of the restaurants in our area.
Pizza on Main serves an acceptable pie, but I don’t swoon over it. Thompson’s Flour Shop has the absolute best sandwiches. Siam Valley Thai is good, but not spectacular. And for Chinese food, I thought it was all kind of, well, meh.
Green Dragon is fine, I suppose, but their portions are pitiful. But, of the three Chinese eateries in Morrisville, New Fu Lins really grabbed me.
It’s not anything mind blowing, but you get a lot for your money: good greasy food and lots of it at a decent price.
Now, please understand that I don’t claim to be a gourmet. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever met one, and the closest I’ve come is admitting I am somewhat of a gourmand.
Whatever it is, give me lots of it and make it taste good. The reason I love Chinese food is for the quantity of food you get. I like to have enough for lunch the next day, and New Fu Lins certainly delivers in that department.
My order is always the same: Number 20 – a combination appetizer platter with extra duck sauce. This includes spare ribs, chicken fingers, an egg roll and a side of pork fried rice, all of which is $7.25.
My girlfriend gets the General Tso’s Tofu, which comes with a side of white rice, costing $6.50. We also get an order of scallion pancakes, which is an additional $2.95.
The total cost of our order including tax is always $19.25, which, for the amount of food we receive, I say is a bargain.
The chicken fingers and egg roll have this beautiful crunch when I bite into them, and paired with the duck sauce (a favorite of mine), they bring about an incredible dance of sweet and savory flavors on the tongue. The spare ribs have a delicious red sauce that adds just the right amount of sweet to the ribs’ fatty and salty meat.
And then there are the scallion pancakes. My god these things are amazing! They have a flakey crunch like a thin croissant that’s been deep fried. But the dipping sauce that accompanies them is the star of the show. I’m not entirely sure what it is; it looks like soy sauce, but rather than being essentially liquid salt, it’s got this strong garlic flavor that pairs perfectly with the scallion in the pancake.
This order is consistently good, and as someone who does not handle change well, I find it comforting.
Other items on the menu that I have enjoyed are the beef lo mein and miso soup. I’ve always been a fan of lo mein. For me, noodles are always good, and when you mix those with fried veggies and some beef strips, you have a fine thing.
The miso soup is much the same. It’s standard miso soup, but that’s what’s great about it. The broth is elegantly rich. The seaweed adds some needed texture and a slightly bitter flavor to contrast the broth. The tofu soaks up all that delicious broth and seaweed flavor, providing the perfect balance between the broth and the seaweed.
New Fu Lins is a reliable Chinese restaurant, providing inexpensive and delicious food whenever I want it. I have enjoyed my order so much that I have gone at least once every week since the semester began.
New Fu Lins is located at 30 Fairgrounds Plaza in Morrisville. They open at 11 a.m. and close at 9:30 p.m. except for Fridays and Saturdays, when they close at 10. The restaurant is closed Mondays. For takeout, call 802 888 1818. For a complete menu go to newfulins.com.