Craving sea cucumber? Delicious, and sometimes exotic, Chinese cuisine at Chiang's Gourmet

July 15, 1:28 PMSeattle Ethnic Restaurants ExaminerRachel Belle

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Sea Cucumber with black mushrooms and snow peas at Chiang's Gourmet

“I had such an amazing dinner the other night,” I gushed to my friend. “I went to Chiang's with a dozen people and it was great because we got to order a dozen dishes! Normally you can only order two or three!”

He starts to laugh.

“What's so funny?”

“Well, I thought you were gonna say it was great to have dinner with all of those people, but you're just excited because all those people meant extra dishes!”

Um. So?! Welcome to the mind of a food obsessed gal.

I don't think I could have had a better introduction to Chiang's Gourmet, a restaurant perched near an
I-5 off-ramp on Lake City Way. At Chiang's there are two menus: the Chinese menu with dishes like “Pig Intestine, Bloodcake, Sour Vegetable, Odor Tofu with Hot Sauce In Hot Pot” and an American menu with old food court standbys like Sweet and Sour Pork. My adventurous group took full advantage of the Chinese menu, and pretty soon the Lazy Susan was crowded with all kinds of steaming exotic delights.

We skipped the blood and guts, and ordered up a dish of Sea Cucumber in Brown Sauce. The slightly jiggly chunks of sea cucumber were tender and delicious, similar to the texture of the shitake mushrooms they shared the plate with. Grass-green snow peas added color and crunch.

Chewy scallion pancakes, cut into triangles, barely survived the trip around the Lazy Susan, and were even tastier with a smear of chili sauce.

Chiang's homemade noodles are now amongst my favorite in the city. We ordered the thick, toothsome ropes Shanghai style, and again with Ground Pork & Diced Drybean Curd with Bean Paste Sauce. While other dishes were eventually scooped into to-go containers, these noodles were quickly slurped up.

Texture played a large role in most of the dishes, and was the reason I adored the Shredded Pork & Squid with Dried Bean Curd & Yellow Leeks. The bean curd and squid were julianned identically, both cut into long matchsticks; at first bite I thought I was eating noodles.

After tucking pink hunks of tea smoked duck into cushy steamed buns, and gnawing on short ribs, it was time for a vegetable. A card-carrying enoki mushroom fan, I was excited to see them paired with some hearty black mushrooms, and then wrapped up in a little packet of wrinkly bean curd sheet. They were served over stalks of Chinese broccoli and covered in a savory brown sauce.

The only thing better than the food was the sweet, honest owner, who steered us away from a particular shrimp dish and surprised us with an unlisted plate of cold, sweet fish to replace the cattle tendon they had run out of. We only ordered one serving of leek dumplings, but she made sure to bring enough for everyone at the table.

I have been searching for a reliable Chinese restaurant since I moved to Seattle four years ago, and I think I've finally found it. Oh, and I discovered what a treat leftover sea cucumber can be for breakfast.