By: Serita Stevens
It’s not always easy to find good Chinese food. It’s even harder to find good kosher glatt* Chinese food, but Shanghai Diamond Garden Restaurant at 9401 W Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles (310 553 0998) is one that I can highly recommend. The sushi was also fresh and tasty.
Despite it being late on a Sunday night when we arrived, the restaurant was packed with families and even, it seemed, some business clients.
We delighted in the California roll as an appetizer and gorged ourselves on the Wor Wonton Soup – which serves two people; the Sesame Chicken – much like orange chicken, but with Sesame seeds; the Hunan Beef – nice and spicy, but not outrageously so; Beef LoMein – lots of chunks of meat; and Chicken and China Peas – nice sliced chicken breast. On some of the chicken dishes you have to request white meat for an extra dollar more, if you want that.
For dessert we had a sumptuous Tiramisu cake.
The chef’s suggestions include spicy Aromatic Fish and Sizzling Fish Filet – both are lightly battered with either a sweet pungent sauce or a garlic sauce as well as Mandarin chicken, Lemon Chicken, Sesame Beef as well as Crispy Shredded Chicken or Beef – deep fried to crisp with green onions, carrot and cilantro and served with garlic and brown sauce – or Three Vegetable Delight – light and crispy stir fry Chinese pea pods with water chestnuts and asparagus topped with mushrooms.
Should you want to go vegan, there are plenty of vegetarian dishes available.
The average dinner is $14.50 to $16.50 with appetizers ranging from $6.25 to $14.95. The later is the Flaming Pupu Platter – egg roll, paper wrapped chicken, fried won ton, and chicken and beef satay. Soups, range from Hot and Sour Soup to Vegetable to Chicken Tomato Soup. These dishes serve two, and run $7.95-$8.95 or you can buy the soup by the cup for $3.95
Serving the community for nearly ten years now, the Shanghai has Chinese cooks and waiters and has kept up it’s A+ rating the full time it’s been in existence.
The lunch menu (they open at 11 am and serve til 3 pm) is about half the price of the dinner menu but serves almost the exact same menu. All lunch specials are served with the soup of the day and steamed rice. Being kosher, they are open only for lunch on Friday and closed Friday evening, opening again for Saturday nights after sunset.
They do deliver in the area and do take out, as well as providing catering for events as Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and weddings.
*Glatt means that it is watched over carefully so that only the finest beef and chicken are served and that all the kosher laws are kept i.e. no milk products are served at the restaurant.
