Hong Kong II

Name: Hong Kong II
www.hongkong2restaurant.com
2525 S. Monroe St. #26
Tallahassee, FL 32301

Telephone : (850)877-9930

Price: $4.25

Rice: Yellow.

Style: Chinese.

Description: Pretty standard fare. You ever realize how interesting it is that despite the fact they are independently owned and operated, many Chinese take out places are almost cookie cutter. It's like they are franchises but they aren't. The menus are all printed by the same company, they look similar inside, the only difference is the quality of the food. When you eat at a chain, that familiarity of being a Pizza Hut gives you a signal about what you're going to eat. However, at Chinese fast food, they all are eerily familiar, yet the food can be vastly different in quality.
My pint of fried rice came with broccoli, carrots, peas, onion and mini corn. Nothing exciting, rather bland but not bad. Because I was short on cash, I brought my own drink from home and since I didn't want to be tacky I got my food to go. Speaking of being short on cash, as an unemployed food critic (looking for a day job as a programmer/lawyer/privacy activist), I have to ask: if you find this blog interesting, entertaining, informative or otherwise, please consider donating the cost of one meal.

Fortune: "The only way to have a friend is be one." I actually got two fortune cookies because they didn't give me one at first and when I asked he threw two in my bag. I haven't opened the second one yet.

Overall: 2 (originally written as a 3 but downgraded upon further reflection)

Zhengs
1350 East Tennessee Street Ste. C1b
Tallahassee, FL 32308

1 Fresh Stirfry
(850) 422-2111 1820 N Monroe St

1 Fresh Stirfry
(850) 580-2111 1176 Capital Cir SE

Asian Cafe
(850) 580-5400 444 Appleyard Dr

Bamboo House Chinese Rest
(850) 224-9099 112 E 6th Ave

Bamboo Wok
(850) 656-6686 101 N Blairstone Rd # 103

Canton Restaurant
(850) 574-6080 2624 W Tennessee St # D

China Delight
(850) 222-8898 220 W Tennessee St

China Dragon
(850) 219-8899 1717 Apalachee Pkwy

China First
(850) 656-2882 400 Capital Cir SE # 23

China King
(850) 514-3688 3840 N Monroe St

China Super Buffet
(850) 553-9292 2698 N Monroe St

Eastern Chinese Restaurant
(850) 942-3777 6615 Mahan Dr # 108

Emerald Garden
(850) 894-3229 2910 Kerry Forest Pkwy # A4

Empire Chinese Restaurant
(850) 222-5550 1700 N Monroe St # 12

Fareast Cuisine # 17
(850) 907-9400 3425 Thomasville Rd # 17

Golden Dragon
(850) 575-8868 1964 W Tennessee St # 19

Great Wall Chinese Restaurant
(850) 894-4136 1400 Village Square Blvd # 14

Great Wall Chinese Restaurant
(850) 576-4884 4220 W Tennessee St

Hong Kong
(850) 877-9930 2525 S Monroe St # 26

Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant
(850) 877-6652 1214 Capital Cir SE # C

Hong Kong Restaurant
(850) 562-2300 5810 N Monroe St # 208

King Buffet
(850) 216-2188 2814 Apalachee Pkwy

King House
(850) 893-6969 3491 Thomasville Rd # 12

Manchu Wok (Tallahassee Mall)
(850) 385-1417 2415 N Monroe St # Fc6

Mihao Chinese Restaurant
(850) 878-6668 6668 Thomasville Rd

Ming Tree Chinese Restaurant
(850) 878-1779 1435 E Lafayette St

New China Restaurant
(850) 385-5445 1000 W Tharpe St # 13

No 1 Chinese Restaurant
(850) 574-5008 1434 Capital Cir NW

North China Gourmet
(850) 561-8889 1415 Timberlane Rd # 405

Peking Garden
(850) 656-1963 3111 Mahan Dr # 89

T F's Wok
(850) 893-5336 4500 W Shannon Lakes Dr # 10

Tan's Asian Cafe
(850) 523-4282 2743 Capital Cir NE # 110

Edit: I'm striking through these as I go there.

Samurai Express

Name: Samurai Expres
www.samuraiexpress.com
3111 Mahan Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32308-5511

(850) 877-2904

Price: $6.13 with an ice tea.

Rice: white.

Style: Japanese.

Description: They don't have a "vegetable fried rice" option at Samurai, just a veggie bowl with fried rice, which is close enough for government work so I went with that. The bowl is full of great stir fried fresh veggies including cabbage, broccoli, mushrooms, onions and zucchini. The actually rice, additionally, contains peas and carrots. The vegetables are fresh and light, not overly cooked or greasy. They also include a side of YumYum sauce, which is a mayonnaise based sauce that is great for dipping the veggies in (or pouring over the whole concoction if you feel so inclined.)

Fortune: Samurai does not give fortune cookies with their meal.

Overall: I'm tempted to give it a 5 because it was so good, but I still need to compare that to Yum's so I'll stick with a 4 strictly on the quality of the rice.

Starting an adventure

For the last month or so I've been obsessed with fried rice. This was ever since I had the delicious experience of eating some fried rice at Yum's Chinese Restaurant in Lake City, FL. Until eating some of their plain fried rice I couldn't even remember how good fried rice could be. It was simply scrumptious.

Anyway, fast forward to today when I'm deciding to embark on a journey to sample every fried rice dish in Tallahassee (where I currently reside). While the ultimate goal is to find something comparable to Yum's, a side goal is simply to provide a worthwhile guide to fried rice in the Tallahassee area. In doing so, maybe I'll help others looking for a good food experience.

Embarking on this journey, I will use the following system:

1. I will order a pint of vegetable fried rice. I'm currently on a no meat kick and I think vegetable fried rice will give a nice simple way to compare all the various restaurants.
   
2. I will post a list of ingredients, mostly which vegetables I find in the rice along with whether it contained egg.
3. I will also try to describe the rice. Some restaurants use brown rice, some white and some yellow rice.
   
4. I will rate the fried rice on a scale of 1 to 5. 5 being comparable to Yum's, and 1 being comparable to what I would make at home. LOL. I will also do my best to write a decent description of the rice overall, whether it was greasy, etc.
   
5. A part of an inside joke with my friend Kelly, I'll also be posting my fortune, should I get one with the rice. It's up to individual readers to determine if the fortune affects the quality of the fried rice being served, I will just provide it with no comment.

My first goal should be probably to compile a list of restaurants in Tallahassee that serve fried rice. No easy task since not all restaurants have menus online. I also aim to try at least one serving a week in order to finish this in a reasonable time. I'm off right now to go to Samurai Express which has some decent food but I've never really paid enough attention to the rice to qualify it.

www.samuraiexpress.com

3111 Mahan Drive
Tallahassee, FL 32308-5511
(850) 877-2904

That's another thing. I should probably post addresses and phone number along with web addresses of the places I visit.

My review of Samurai will be forthcoming. Hold onto your hats, your breath and anything else.