Enjoying a great meal in a familiar setting

Steamed Whole Fish with chili pepper at Wondee's in  Hackensack.

Fresh Green Papaya Salad.

"Where do you want to eat tonight? Jamaican? Cuban ...?"

My teenage son surprised me by picking not Jamaican, his favorite, but Wondee's Fine Thai Food & Noodles in Hackensack.

OK. It was no surprise. We've loved Wondee's for years, and often, we go there when we can't reach a consensus on our weekly meal out.

I grabbed a bottle of Dos Equis Mexican dark beer from home and drove to Wondee's on Main Street, parking in a rear lot and entering through the back door.

Wonton Soup with roast pork.

Often, we see Chef Wandee Suwangbutra eating her dinner at a table between the register and kitchen doors, but we arrived about an hour later than usual on Saturday night.

I ordered salad and a whole fish to share with my son, and for him, soup and dessert.

I almost always have Som Thum, the Fresh Green Papaya Salad, which to me is the essence of Thai cuisine -- sweet, sour and spicy with an emphasis on vegetables ($8.50).

I asked Wandee about the dressing, and she listed lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar from the coconut tree.

The salad is crunchy with strands of green papaya,  green beans and ground peanuts, and it's so good, it elevates the iceberg lettuce leaves that embrace it on the plate.

My son had Geuw Nam, Wonton Soup with roast pork and vegetables ($3.50), but I skipped my usual spicy shrimp-and-mushroom soup, Thome Yum Koong.

My son drank coconut juice ($3).

Whole red snapper

We ordered and shared a second favorite dish, Pla Ma Now or Steamed Whole Fish with chili pepper, garlic and lemon juice ($18).

We chose red snapper -- one of three kinds of fish available -- and found it perfectly cooked with firm pieces that easily separated from the bones.

The fish, swimming in a spicy broth, is served in a metal, fish-shaped dish heated from below.

I spooned the wonderful broth over brown rice, but when the bill came, I was surprised to see a charge of $2.50. A bowl of white rice is free.

Still, Wandee recognizes that her food is meant to be shared, and provides serving spoons and, with the whole fish, a serrated knife.

It's maddening how few restaurants do likewise. 

Fried Bananas with Vanilla Ice Cream ($6).

Go for the great food, not the dated interior.

At home, watching a movie on TV, I had a full, satisfied feeling from our meal at Wondee's until I went to sleep.

Wondee's Fine Thai Food & Noodles, 296 Main St., Hackensack; 201-883-1700.

BYO. Parking in rear. Closed Mondays. No delivery.

Related articles

• One town's hit-and-miss food scene
• For Chinese food, why go anywhere else?

For Chinese food, why go anywhere else?

Steamed whole striped bass with ginger and scallion at Lotus Cafe.

 

Lotus Cafe -- a small, unassuming Chinese restaurant tucked away in a shopping center in Hackensack -- is approaching its 20th anniversary and still delivering simply prepared food that is both fresh and delicious.

A simple spinach and tofu soup with spicy chili oil.

On Saturday night, we ordered soup, seafood and vegetables from the a la carte menu, but we could have chosen the Dinner for Four from Lotus Cafe's Special Price-Fixed Dinner and Banquet Menu.

A six-course meal for four is $66, plus tip and tax. Other multi-course dinners are for six or eight people, and there are two 12-course banquets for 10 ($238 and $288, plus tip and tax).

Popular BYO

Lotus Cafe is a BYO, and the opening of a chain Chinese restaurant, P.F. Chang's, in the upscale Shops at Riverside a few hundred yards away, hasn't made any difference: 

You still have to reserve a table in the small, tastefully decorated dining room on weekends. With large plate-glass windows in the front, lighting is subdued.

We started with soup, and three of us shared simple spinach and tofu in a clear broth ($4.95). My son had wonton soup ($2.80).

Great seafood

Our entrees were Prawns with Mixed Vegetables (actually large shrimp) for $15.95, and Steamed Wild Bass with Ginger and Scallion for $28.95.

Lotus Cafe serves a 2-pound fish for the price of what some North Jersey restaurants charge for a smaller whole fish or fillets. 

These large, great-tasting shrimp came with mixed vegetables.

The presentation of the steamed wild bass made the fish appear to be swimming in the sauce (top photo). It tasted as good as it looked, and the light soy-based sauce was wonderful over rice.

Our vegetables were fresh spinach ($8.95) and leafy Chinese broccoli ($9.95), both sauteed with fresh garlic. 

Water spinach with garlic.

We asked for the Chinese broccoli well-done to soften the stalks.

Shrimp and vegetables in a bowl of brown rice.

Leaving the teapot cover open signals you want a refill.

We received a complimentary warm rice pudding for dessert.

One of the messages in the chocolate-flavored fortune cookies.

Don't expect a typical Chinese menu or one that is all Szechaun or Cantonese and so forth.

The owner, Philip Su, is from Taiwan, and the menu draws inspiration from that island, as well as Hong Kong and mainland Chinese provinces.

The restaurant offers more complex dishes, such as a beef casserole with an X.O. sauce of shrimp roe, dried shrimp and herbs.

We've tried some of the great noodle soups, including Seafood Soup Noodles, which is filled with fresh, tender shrimp, scallop, squid and other items.

And you won't be able to top Zar Jiang Mien -- thick noodles topped with "Zanadu meat sauce -- Marco Polo's favorite."

Our waiter has been working at Lotus Cafe for many years, and he treated us like family, even asking whether we wanted to take home a little leftover brown rice.

We did, and I had it this morning with a gooey cheese omelet.

We also took home half the fish and most of our rice-pudding dessert. 

Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave. (in the Home Depot Shopping Center), Hackensack; 201-488-7070.

BYO is open 7 days. Lunch specials from $6.95 to $8.95 with rice and soup. All dishes are prepared with 100% vegetable oil and without MSG.

Related articles

• Two seafood meals are miles apart

  ---

• The highs and lows of takeout food

  ---

Yummy faux chicken doesn't cluck

I was looking over the menu from our favorite Chinese take-out place last night and was surprised to find soy beef and soy chicken among six dishes listed under "vegetarian cuisine."

I called Zen Kitchen in Teaneck, but was told it only had the soy chicken. So I ordered tangerine soy chicken ($11.75) to be delivered with our usual chicken wings, dumplings, pineapple fried rice and mixed vegetables with fresh garlic. The soy chicken would replace our normal order of  pork spare ribs.

Me and my wife  loved the juicy, chewy textured soy product, which appeared to be battered before it was stir-fried with broccoli in a light sauce, complete with delicious tangerine peel. We will definitely order it again and now we're eager to try soy beef.

The take-out restaurant also prepares Thai and Japanese food, including sushi, and can deliver a whole fish, steamed or fried, to your door.

Zen Kitchen,1443 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck; 
201-837-7322; open seven days