Golden China

My boyfriend lives in Ventura pretty close to the beach, which is about 50 miles from where I live; it’s far, but not too far and I don’t mind the drive at all. It’s a nice escape from the triple digit heat and it’s further away from full-on city life with the abundance of what seems like never-ending traffic, smoggy air and all the other things that come with living in the San Fernando Valley.  At Brandon’s exit, there’s this huge restaurant and I always look over and see bright blue screens with words streaming across them and imagine some pretty intense karaoke going on over there. The restaurant is named Golden China. Well, I’ve been passing this place for God knows how long and Brandon’s always said that the owner’s a pretty nice guy, he’s been there forever, and they have a pretty awesome Sunday brunch, but for some reason we never seem to go out to eat Chinese food.

So the other day, while we were continuing our hiatus from cooking, which occasionally happens when your boyfriend is a sous chef and works between 60- 80 hours a week in a double restaurant/ hotel (slave drivers I tell you), I asked him, “Why don’t we try that Chinese place by the freeway?” There was hardly a protest, so I ran out to the car, because I’m inevitably always cold by the beach since when I’m home I’m always in what feels like sweltering heat, and we drive to get some Chinese food. As we walk into the restaurant, there really isn’t anyone there. It’s about 9:30 p.m. so we figured that things could be closing down, but to our surprise, Golden China serves food till 1:30 a.m. every day. Holy cow, these guys are beasts! That’s a lot of work. So we look over the menu and I’m sure, like most people who eat Chinese food, you already have a good idea of what you like—I normally like something spicy, some type of vegetable dish, maybe some shrimp and a moderately greasy sauce chicken dish.

We ordered crispy chicken in orange peel sauce, broccoli in hot garlic sauce, shrimp with lobster sauce and Kung Pao Beef. The food was packed and ready relatively quickly and we decided to take it home and eat, because it’s always nice to eat in the comfort of your home and not have to worry about dishes. Our food came with two sides of white rice and was all piping hot and deliciously fresh. The orange peel chicken had a really interesting spicy sauce to it, the chicken itself was hardly succulent; they really did mean crispy. I liked the Kung Pao Beef; it was better with the broccoli because it made it more like a spicy beef and broccoli, which I like. The shrimp with lobster sauce was delicious and overall, everything was really good. I’d say for a late night meal, it’s a perfect choice and since there are hardly many places for a late night meal in Ventura, Chinese food (with leftovers for lunch the next day) was a great option.

cheers

-Unrivaledkitch