don't judge book by its cover

so last night i went out to dinner with a friend and we were trying to figure out what to eat for dinner.. we decided on chinese and my friend insisted we go to this place called china pavilion.. i have driven by this place and even eaten at restaurants in the same plaza as this place for the past 13 or so years... and never once have i stepped foot in or ordered take-out from this place.  It just looked like a typical chinese take-out restaurant from the outside.  china pavilion.. sounds so generic right?  I guess it's not called golden dragon or anything like that. but you get my gist. So i was a little hesitant because a place like that would probably have bad "real" chinese food and unhealthy non-appetizing "american" chinese food. but my friend insisted saying this place is the best chinese food restaurant he knows. we go in and sit. (service was really slow btw) but the interior was actually surprisingly impressive and ornate.  definitely larger than i had expected, with three separate rooms, one with a full bar.  on a wednesday night, i would have thought this place would have had maybe 1-2 other tables occupied.. but hit me over the head again, an entire room was full with bustling people and the other rooms speckled with families.  WOW. and mind you.. this is a restaurant that is literally attached to an "all you can eat" hibachi/sushi buffet for $7 dinner. so you gotta know this place has good food.  I knew then that i was in for a treat because when i looked at the menu, each entree was $18-25! If people come and pay that much for chinese food when they can get the same thing, all you can eat, right next door for $7, they're doing something right.

So when we finally ordered, i decided to try the Dragon & Phoenix. It was half General Tso's Chicken (i know so american..) and half shrimp and vegetables in white garlic sauce.  and my friend got just an entire place of General Tso's Chicken (partly why i wanted to try it).  O.M.G.  I never knew general tso's chicken could be considered an amazing dish! The chicken was pure white, tender, and the sauce... oh man.  There was a little bit of sauce on the chicken but the flavor was actually cooked into the breading of the chicken so that it was crispy. crispy is the key word.  no matter where you get general tso's chicken, it's always soggy, mushy, whatever other adjective you would use to describe baby food. but this place, there's this crunch.. makes you feel like you're not eating a jar full of saucy sweet msg.  so enough about the chicken. (definitely getting take-out from this place more often.. i'm going to get fat.)

The 'prawns' as they called it, nice plump pieces of shrimp sauteed with snap peas, water chestnuts, broccoli, bell peppers, baby corn, garlic, and some white sauce that i can't place. so good! and that's a high compliment after being next to the general tso's chicken.  they used orange slices to create a barricade so the sauces didn't mix. very smart because i'm allergic to oranges and those oranges would probably taste nasty if you tried to eat them anyways.  and portions.. the picture below was taken after i had had my fill of food (with white rice not photographed) i'm so excited for dinner today! i'm having leftovers :)

in conclusion, never judge a book by its cover, or a restaurant by it's store front.  i will be recommending this place to any friends that visit the little town of orange and make them get general tso's chicken even though it's considered the most american of "chinese foods" next to chicken and broccoli.

Just to tag something to the end of this, after this dinner we needed a sweet fix but didn't want to beat our bodies to death with all the unhealthy foods so we decided to go to a little froyo place called Nuvita.  i had gone once when they first opened and it was just a small bump in the middle of the parking lot of yet another plaza and it was just soso.  since they, they had spruced it up and added coffees teas and other hot beverages.  smart.  but i was in a froyo mood.  so many flavors to choose from, but as a creature of habit, i always get original :) just a dollop with fresh fruit and mochi.  tried something new and threw some toasted coconut on top. it was a great end to the day chilling and eating froyo in a starbucks-like environment with wifi and couches sprawled everywhere. playing scramble and words with friends and just catching up with a friend.