Cheng Du

Many are under $4.00. It’s unbelievably cheap. With that as the starting point, if you get better than Chung King out of the can and dirty silverware, you’re already way ahead.

Notwithstanding the low prices, you get quite a bit of food. Lunches come with an egg roll, fried rice, and your choice of won ton, hot and sour, or egg drop soup.

The soup arrived swiftly. How much can one expect from the free soup that comes with one’s $4.00 meal? To start, it was hot and fly-free. The bland won ton soup featured the standard clear broth, scallions, and two flaccid won tons. The egg drop soup was eggy and thick, but bland. The hot and sour soup stood up to its name, featuring a bowl full of tofu, scallions, pork, and dried mushrooms. It had a good balance of flavors and a pleasantly fungal flavor.

Entrees were sizable (I’m told you get even more with dinner) and featured fried rice and an egg roll. Steamed rice can be substituted if you ask. The Kung Pao Chicken was gingery, slow-burn spicy, and chock full of nuts and celery. The General Tso’s chicken featured tender breaded large chunks of chicken and vegetables in a spicy brown sauce. The Mongolian Beef was very tender, had a sauce that was smooth, rich, and satisfying: it was reminiscent of a pot roast gravy. And my meal, the Hunan Vegetable Deluxe, offered aggressively large pieces of broccoli that looked fresh, not frozen, button mushrooms, snow peas, Chinese cabbage, and carrots in a brown sauce that was just a little on the salty side. The egg rolls served on the side were the only disappointment, with a fried wrapper that had gone gummy and insides filled mainly with wan, tepid cabbage. If you dump enough acid-orange duck sauce on it, though, it’s pretty tasty (although that duck sauce could make foam packing peanuts taste good).

I’d love to come back here for dinner because Cheng Du offers specialty drinks that are right out of Trader Vic’s. My friend ordered the Zombie, which comes in a ceramic Tiki-doll cup with a "Brady Bunch goes to Hawaii" vibe: it would make anything taste better. In this case, the Zombie was tart and alcoholic. Another friend and I had two variations of the Hawaiian Punch, a non-alcoholic frozen concoction that is great for kids or adults who still get slushies at the movies. The pineapple version comes in a ceramic pineapple and the coconut version arrives (natch) in a ceramic coconut. Sophisticated? No way. But you can’t beat drinks that come in containers shaped like fruit and tiki-dolls, now can you? I’m sure the menu offers beverages that are less wacky, but frankly I didn’t even bother to look.

The meal was topped off by the standard Chicago-milled individually wrapped fortune cookies, and of course the check, which totaled all of $26 for the four of us, fancy drinks included.

Service from the hostess and server was efficient, though not exactly intimate. Food arrived promptly but not hurriedly, water glasses were filled with regularity and the check arrived when it should have. We were not asked if we wanted separate checks, but the server did break down the totals by diner (although you would have to read the native language to know whose was whose). There were no problems with us paying separately.

The décor is pleasant, with a small bar in the front, and a windowless-but-not-claustrophobic dining room in the back. The dining room is relievedly free of your standard cartoonish red Chinese Restaurant décor. The toned down creams and low lighting make for a pleasant dining environment.

Overall, the entrees didn’t have the novel combinations and fresh ingredients of Five Spice Café or the bright flavors of P.F. Changs, but we’re not talking haute cuisine or chain-restaurant consistency here. It’s cheap. It’s satisfying. And it’s better than not-half-bad.

Location

Cheng Du
2402 Lake Circle Drive
86th and Township Line Road in the Willow Lake East strip mall.
(317) 879-9988
Lunch, 11:45, Thursday, October 7.

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