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Review Sun Feb 17 2008
Asian Excursion
Saturday evening, on their way home from their weekly Thai grocery shopping excursion to Lawrence and Broadway, our married friends Steve and Pat popped by for a visit. It didn't take long before our conversation turned to food, and before we knew it - despite that Pat was still finishing her bubble tea - we were all piling into their car for an impromptu excursion to Super H Mart in Naperville.
Super H Mart was a blast - a kimchi bar! pea shoots! mangosteen! five-dollar-per-pound beef tenderloin! However, the authentic Chinese dinner we ate at Tong's Village (1239 E. Ogden Ave., in Naperville, in the very same strip mall as Super H Mart), made battling the traffic on I-290 well worth it.
Here's the tip for a great meal at Tong's, according to our friends who have been regulars for several years: ask for the Chinese menu. We ordered the Family Dinner for Four, and for a rock bottom $65, tip included, we shared a feast of tofu-seafood soup, whole lobster stir fried with ginger and scallions, sauteed dover sole, beef chow fun with Chinese broccoli, and delicious sauteed greens called on-choi. Steamed rice, tea and dessert were included, and we took home a big sack of leftovers.
Best of all, nothing was deep fried; the sauces were delicate, not gluey from corn starch; and I had zero desire to cover anything with soy sauce. In other words, Tong's is not the typical Americanized Chinese food you find at strip malls - at least not when you order off the Chinese menu.
