Ming Court in Orlando, FL

Ming Court is a Chinese restaurant on International Drive in Orlando. They have been there as long as I can remember and I finally gave them a try. Walking into the huge restaurant kind of reminded me of the China Pavilion at Epcot. There was a courtyard with koi ponds. They had giant dragons hanging from the ceiling inside. There were musicians playing traditional Chinese instruments. The whole setup made a great environment for a Chinese restaurant.

I started the meal with some Scallion Pancakes. When I saw these on the menu, I had to order them since scallion pancakes are a rare find in Central Florida. Up north, just about every Chinese restaurant has the pancakes on the menu but nobody seems to serve them here in Orlando. Tasty Wok BBQ on Colonial Drive is the only other restaurant I know of that serves scallion pancakes. These were thinner than other scallion pancakes that I've had, but otherwise were good.

For my main course, I had the Chinese Eggplant Stuffed with Shrimp. I didn't know what exactly to expect with this dish and I was initially surprised when the food was served. The presentation was very unique, with fried shrimp sandwiched between slices of eggplant. The arrangement almost made the shrimp/eggplant sandwiches look like mussels. The orchid on the plate was a nice touch as well.

The eggplant's skin was a bit tough in spots, but otherwise my Chinese Eggplant Stuffed with Shrimp was really good!

I also tried some of the Mu Shu Pork. It had lots of pork, cabbage, and mushrooms with several pancakes. I personally preferred my eggplant.

I really liked the food and atmosphere of Ming Court, but unfortunately the service was really bad. After a bit of a wait, our waitress took our order and was never seen again for the rest of our meal. Another nearby table ordered the Mu Shu Pork as well. When their food was brought out, the server assembled everyone's pancake with hoisin and pork. At our table, the food was plopped down and that was it. After we were done, we waited far too long to get the check. Another diner at a nearby table with a similar problem eventually was able to pay by standing up with money in her hand. Eventually, we did pay and were able to leave. The service wouldn't stop me from returning to Ming Court (hopefully I caught them on a bad night), but there's definitely room for improvement in that department. As far as the rest of the dining experience, I have no complaints!

May Sum in Orlando, FL

I ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant called May Sum in Orlando near the airport.

May Sum had a lunch buffet going on for $5.95, so that's what I decided to get.

They were running low on several items on the buffet, so the employees were nice enough to ask if we wanted anything else. They then went and made fresh food for the buffet, pretty much based on our requests.

I had no complaints, it was all okay for a Chinese buffet. Nothing to write home about, but not bad either.

Club Cool at Epcot

The words Disney and free generally don't mix, but at Epcot they do. At Club Cool in Future World, this Coca-Cola sponsored exhibit/gift ship gives free samples of Coke products from around the world.

They had soda from seven different countries on the day I visited. Some of it tasted better than any of the soda that is available here in the United States, while others I could do without.

My two favorites were the watermelon soda from China and Kinley from Israel.

Kinley tasted sort of like Sprite, only a lot more lemony and much less sweet.

I normally don't drink soda. At all. I'm perfectly happy with water, and my teeth and digestive system probably appreciate it. On my multiple trips through Club Cool during my day at Epcot to get the free beverages, I probably drank more soda than I've had in the past six months. I got my money's worth of free soda...

Lotus Blossom Cafe at Epcot

During a visit to Epcot, I had lunch at the Lotus Blossom Cafe in the park's China pavilion.

It was a fast food restaurant serving mostly Americanized versions of Chinese dishes such as sesame and orange chicken.

I ordered the one thing on the menu that I don't see in every Chinese restaurant I visit, that being Beef Noodle Soup. The menu described it as shredded beef, onion, and fresh vegetables over noodles in broth. I'm picky when it comes to beef, I don't like the taste of burgers and find steak disgusting, but beef in Chinese restaurants I normally don't mind. This soup was no exception and was really tasty. There was plenty of beef and noodles and lots of a leafy green vegetable (possibly malabar spinach?). The portion was huge and was reminiscent of Vietnamese pho or Japanese Udon soup. I don't know if this soup was more of an authentic Chinese dish than Orange Chicken, but it was really tasty regardless.

As I ate, I had a nice view of pavilion's recreation of the Temple of Heaven.

Just as I was finishing my meal, a Chinese Acrobatic troupe was starting their show...



(This post is part of the Disney Blog Carnival)

Asian Buffet in Orlando, FL

I tried a restaurant creatively named Asian Buffet on Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando, FL. It was your standard Chinese buffet, although they did have some unusual foods that I haven't seen on other similar buffets.

I started out by trying some of the Chinese standards. Lo mein, chicken with broccoli, shrimp, bok choy, and and egg roll. None of it was exceptional, but none of it tasted horrible either. It was middle of the road Chinese buffet food.
Next up at Asian Buffet, I tried some of the assorted dim sum style dumplings that I cannot properly name. There were pork dumplings (I liked them the best). The ball that resembles a hard boiled egg was filled with a sweet bean paste. The other two sugar coated dumplings were also quite sweet, but I didn't like their spongy consistency.

Finally, I tried some of Asian Buffet's sushi items. I find eating raw fish from buffets to be a scary thought, so I stuck with only items that were cooked here. I had some ebi Nigiri, inari filled with seaweed salad, and a delicious purple seaweed salad. I find this purple seaweed to be delicious, but it seems really rare that a restaurant will be serving it. From Google, it looks like this was either kombu or hijiki.

P.F. Chang's in Westbury, NY

I ate at the P.F. Chang's in The Source Mall in Westbury, NY. I ordered the Singapore Street Noodles. It consisted of chicken and shrimp with assorted vegetables, all served over noodles. I liked it! Interestingly, this dish was not marked as spicy on the menu, but it ended up having a nice kick to it. Someone else at the table ordered something that was supposed to be spicy, and it had a really sweet sauce. I could see people sending their food back over an issue like that, but I liked my noodles the way they were!

This stone warrior was looking over our table. I decided he was worthy of having his photo taken...

Pine Garden Chinese

I was doing some shopping for a birthday present in the Waterford Lakes Town Center outdoor mall and started getting hungry. After wandering from store to store in search of a giant Pez dispenser in the horribly designed mall, I stopped by the Pine Garden Chinese Restaurant. I ordered the Kung Pao Chicken lunch combo, which included wonton soup, rice, and the chicken. I wasn't too happy with the food. Everything was pretty much tasteless. The soup tasted like oily water with wontons floating in it. Kung Pao chicken is normally somewhat spicy, but Pine Garden's chicken was very bland. The price was good, but I don't think I would return to Pine Garden any time soon.

Golden China Buffet in Lake Mary

I ate at the Golden China Buffet in Lake Mary, FL. The food tasted okay for the most part. I thought their dim sum pork rolls were really tasty (especially from a Chinese buffet), and those deep fried sesame balls are strangely delicious. This place always used to be packed, but on this visit we were one of the few occupied tables in the restaurant. If a buffet doesn't have enough customers, that means they probably don't have a very good turnover on the food. I try to avoid empty buffets...

Apopka's King Buffet

I ventured into the scary world of Chinese Buffets and ate at King Buffet in Apopka, FL. As far as Chinese buffets go, this place was average. Lots of food, most of it a bit overcooked with the same overall taste.

Here's a plate of chicken & broccoli, lo mein, shrimp, and beans...

Shrimp with Chinese Vegetables from China Wok III

I ate Shrimp with Chinese Vegetables and wonton soup from China Wok III in Sanford, FL. I'm not sure what differentiates between Chinese Vegetables and Vegetables (both were on the menu), but my shrimp were good! Bok chow, snow peas, carrots, water chess nuts, and mushrooms were all served with many huge shrimp, all topped with a white sauce. Steamed rice came on the side.


China Wok III is definitely one of the best take out Chinese Restaurants in the area!

Chicken & Eggplant from Imperial Dynasty

I ate at Imperial Dynasty in Longwood, FL for lunch. I ordered the Chicken & Eggplant with Garlic Sauce lunch special. It came with the chicken, rice, and a choice of a side.

Fried noodles were served first.

They were followed by the side. I went with some Wonton soup. In the past, I've always been happy with the soup from Imperial Dynasty, but on this visit I found it to be way too salty.

The soup was followed with the main dish. The Chicken & Eggplant was pretty much what the menu described it to be. There was lots of chicken and lots of Chinese eggplant, and not much else. There was a side of brown rice, but I felt the meal needed more variety. There was way too much of the same thing, and it would have been better if there was some other types of vegetables in with the chicken and eggplant. Just something to mix up the monotony of the meal a bit.

It did taste good though, so I guess that's all that matters for the most part.


Like Sanford's China Wok, Imperial Dynasty also had posters hanging up to be one of the Top 100 Chinese Restaurants. The 2008 contest is over, it looks like Imperial Dynasty made it into the top 100 on the winners list. I don't see China Wok...