You can find Northern China Eatery at 5141 Buford Hwy, Ste C, Doraville, GA 30340 - this is in the basement of Italy Optical and almost directly across from the Asian Supermarket shopping center (where you'll find several great restaurants including the popular Doraville location of Sweet Hut). There's some parking in the alley between Italy Optical and I Luv Pho or if it's in the evening I believe you can park at Italy Optical.
This is one of those classic Buford Highway hidden gems that's known for it's Sichuan cuisine and dumplings - when I first became aware of it my favorite local Little Szechuan was still open and down the street so I continued to go there instead of trying Northern China Eatery. I've since been a couple of times and the food here is quite good - most of what I've eaten has a lot of authenticity in the flavors, with perhaps just a nudge toward being milder on the heat side, to conform to most American tastes. Do yourself a favor and explore the menu with an eye towards the unusual - you'll be glad you did.
On this evening I met John F and Michelle T as part of our regular Buford Highway Clawr group. The place is fairly small with maybe a half-dozen tables. While we sat (this was around 8:00 PM mid-week so late for this restaurant and area) it never got more than half-full, but we witnessed quite a few take-out orders being processed - seems the locals have figured out that eating remotely will prevent disappointment at arriving and not being able to sit. Honestly I loved this place - it's pretty divey and you can tell it's been in business a long time. The menu has both Chinese and English and the prices are very reasonable with a red pepper to the side to indicate that the dish is spicy. As with most authentic Chinese food, don't expect much on the menu that is strictly vegan.
We started with hot black tea and a soup - as I recalled it was Hot-and-Sour - there was a fair amount of ingredients (dropped egg, shrooms and firm tofu) but it wasn't very "hot" as in spicy. It did have a fair amount of vinegar that helped.
We ordered the Xiao Long Bao - classic soup dumplings - these were some of the best I've had in Atlanta - most in this town are made using a very thick dumpling skin - these were thin and very delicate - make sure you slide then onto a spoon to keep them from breaking. I like to add a bit of chili oil to sauce (if provided or you can use soy), scoop some up in the spoon then slide the dumpling onto the spoon - as you pop them into your mouth take up the sauce too - lovely.
We ordered two entrees - the Chef Special Spicy Pork and the Chong Ching Spicy Chicken.
The Chef Special Spicy Pork is a very wet dish - more like a soup (but the thin gravy is a bit too much for drinking like a soup) - this is spicy but not so hot that people that can't handle heat couldn't enjoy it - just keep away from the dried red chilies. The pork is very delicate and it's this texture that I think the chef is trying to achieve - I enjoyed it but really like the chicken much better. I usually like to pour a bit of the sauce on the rice and eat it like that but this was a bit much and didn't seem to add any value.
The Chong Ching Spicy Chicken - I believe this is the same as chongqing la zi ji –重庆辣子鸡 on other menus - it's a dry woked chicken with fresh whole garlic, ginger, dried red chilis and Sichuan peppercorns - the best has a bit of flower pepper so you get the numbing, metallic effect that's quite engaging. This is an elusive dish for me (not that you can't find it, but I haven't found it anywhere done as well as Gu's and since they moved from BufHi to Krog St it's not very convenient for me to acquire it when I'm in the mood). This is a fairly competent rendition - very solid if not quite to the same level as Gu's - I do like that they provide more chicken than peppers - that's one of those complaints I have when ordering this dish as it tends to have more dried pepper than chicken - they're modest in their use at Northern China Eatery.
Service here is very competent - you can tell the owners have been in business a while and they are good with recommendations. We had a good time eating all the food and will be returning for sure. The food is very reasonably priced and you get huge portions. As such I'm elevating my review to 4/5 stars.
(also posted to Yelp)
This is one of those classic Buford Highway hidden gems that's known for it's Sichuan cuisine and dumplings - when I first became aware of it my favorite local Little Szechuan was still open and down the street so I continued to go there instead of trying Northern China Eatery. I've since been a couple of times and the food here is quite good - most of what I've eaten has a lot of authenticity in the flavors, with perhaps just a nudge toward being milder on the heat side, to conform to most American tastes. Do yourself a favor and explore the menu with an eye towards the unusual - you'll be glad you did.
On this evening I met John F and Michelle T as part of our regular Buford Highway Clawr group. The place is fairly small with maybe a half-dozen tables. While we sat (this was around 8:00 PM mid-week so late for this restaurant and area) it never got more than half-full, but we witnessed quite a few take-out orders being processed - seems the locals have figured out that eating remotely will prevent disappointment at arriving and not being able to sit. Honestly I loved this place - it's pretty divey and you can tell it's been in business a long time. The menu has both Chinese and English and the prices are very reasonable with a red pepper to the side to indicate that the dish is spicy. As with most authentic Chinese food, don't expect much on the menu that is strictly vegan.
We started with hot black tea and a soup - as I recalled it was Hot-and-Sour - there was a fair amount of ingredients (dropped egg, shrooms and firm tofu) but it wasn't very "hot" as in spicy. It did have a fair amount of vinegar that helped.
We ordered the Xiao Long Bao - classic soup dumplings - these were some of the best I've had in Atlanta - most in this town are made using a very thick dumpling skin - these were thin and very delicate - make sure you slide then onto a spoon to keep them from breaking. I like to add a bit of chili oil to sauce (if provided or you can use soy), scoop some up in the spoon then slide the dumpling onto the spoon - as you pop them into your mouth take up the sauce too - lovely.
We ordered two entrees - the Chef Special Spicy Pork and the Chong Ching Spicy Chicken.
The Chef Special Spicy Pork is a very wet dish - more like a soup (but the thin gravy is a bit too much for drinking like a soup) - this is spicy but not so hot that people that can't handle heat couldn't enjoy it - just keep away from the dried red chilies. The pork is very delicate and it's this texture that I think the chef is trying to achieve - I enjoyed it but really like the chicken much better. I usually like to pour a bit of the sauce on the rice and eat it like that but this was a bit much and didn't seem to add any value.
The Chong Ching Spicy Chicken - I believe this is the same as chongqing la zi ji –重庆辣子鸡 on other menus - it's a dry woked chicken with fresh whole garlic, ginger, dried red chilis and Sichuan peppercorns - the best has a bit of flower pepper so you get the numbing, metallic effect that's quite engaging. This is an elusive dish for me (not that you can't find it, but I haven't found it anywhere done as well as Gu's and since they moved from BufHi to Krog St it's not very convenient for me to acquire it when I'm in the mood). This is a fairly competent rendition - very solid if not quite to the same level as Gu's - I do like that they provide more chicken than peppers - that's one of those complaints I have when ordering this dish as it tends to have more dried pepper than chicken - they're modest in their use at Northern China Eatery.
Service here is very competent - you can tell the owners have been in business a while and they are good with recommendations. We had a good time eating all the food and will be returning for sure. The food is very reasonably priced and you get huge portions. As such I'm elevating my review to 4/5 stars.
(also posted to Yelp)
