Chinese food at Man Chun Hong

“This is comfort food."

It seemed like an odd comment initially. I was sitting in a Chinese restaurant with a decidedly non-Asian looking man. I was there to interview Dave Jones, writer of the Atlanta area food blog Eat Buford Highway. I let Dave pick the restaurant, Man Chun Hong, located in the Seoul Plaza at 5953 Buford Highway, just outside the perimeter of Atlanta. To say that Man Chun Hong serves authentic Chinese food is an understatement. Not only were we the only non-Asians in the place, but the daily specials are written in characters that I couldn’t possibly read. Fortunately the menu has simple English translations. Items are divided by meat, fish or tofu, but there was also a “sea cucumber” section that you don’t usually find. I decided to let Dave order and he focused on the noodle dishes.

We started with Char Chang Mien, noodles with pork and julienned vegetables and served with a thick black bean sauce. It looked like tar as I spooned it over my noodles. Fortunately it tasted much better than it looked. Dave explained that this is both a Korean and Chinese dish. It is one I will order again.

The second dish was a thick and spicy seafood soup called Jambong. The seafood included shrimp, small clams, and octopus along with noodles. The red broth was very flavorful, but right at the upper edge of my heat tolerance, so I alternated bites with the Char Chang Mien.

On a lark we added pork belly, covered in oyster sauce and surrounded by a ring of steamed broccoli. Pork belly is just bacon that hasn’t been cured. It’s fatty, but simply delicious. If we’d had room, we would have added dumplings. As it was, this was much more food than we could possibly eat, but leftovers are a bonus.

This meal was everything you hope for in a dining experience: Good food, good conversation, and new eating discoveries. By the end of the dinner, I understood the “comfort food” line. Fresh ingredients, prepared well and simply. And what could be more comforting than noodles and fatty meat?

During dinner, I got Dave to recommend a few favorite Atlanta restaurants, which I plan to try soon.
Taiwanese: Café 101

Vietnamese: Pho Dai Loi #2

Korean: Cho Sun Ok

Peruvian: Pollo Del Ray

For more on my interview with Dave Jones, see Focus on local food blogger Eat Buford Highway and visit his blog, Eat Buford Highway.