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

  ---

Dinner in a bowl

Image via Wikipedia

The bowl of Seafoood Soup Noodles at Lotus Cafe in Hackensack is enough to share, but why would you? Perfectly cooked shrimp, scallop, squid and sliced fish cake; water spinach and soft, mouth-filling noodles swim in a tasty broth -- good enough to lift the bowl to your lips for the last drop.


That was my dinner at the Chinese BYO on Saturday night, where I sipped tea and  my own Korean soju during the meal. I started with a vegetable roll in tofu skin ($2.10), which is served with a fork and steak knife, dipping the pieces in spicy mustard or hot-pepper sauce.


To find Seafood Soup Noodles ($11.95), go to the Lotus Noodle Kitchen section of the menu. There are a lot of other winners here, including Zar Jiang Mein ($7.95), an unusual noodle dish with meat sauce that is a Chinese version of spaghetti Bolognese.

The X.O. Seafood E-Mein ($14.95) sounds promising -- braised, Hong Kong-style noodles with seafood in a sauce made of anchovy, shrimp roe, dried scallop and herbs.


The menu compares the Seafood Soup Noodles to linguine, but in truth, they are thicker and, on Saturday night, they were cooked just a little past al dente -- soft and comforting. They are made in-house.


Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack 
(Home Depot Shopping Center); 
201-488-7070. Open seven days



 

Looking for a big bowl of noodle soup

Image via Wikipedia

As dinner time drew near Monday evening, I felt like driving over to Wondee's in Hackensack and ordering its biggest bowl of noodle soup. Of course, when we got there, we remembered our favorite Thai restaurant is closed on Mondays.

So we just turned toward the shopping center near Route 4 and the best Chinese restaurant in North Jersey -- Lotus Cafe, which is open seven days a week.

And there it was on the menu: seafood soup noodles ($11.95). In truth, the bowl isn't that big, but there is enough broth, homemade noodles, shrimp, scallop, squid, fish cake and spinach for two to three people as an appetizer.

The fat, toothsome noodles appear in other dishes, notably zar jiang mein, the Chinese version of spaghetti Bolognese, with a hearty meat sauce that will have you coming back for more.

Following the soup, we really enjoyed the house special, pan-fried tofu ($9.95) with white rice. The soft, eggy tofu is dipped in a light batter before stir frying with meaty black mushrooms and vegetables. Another nice dinner.


Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack; 201-488-7070.
Open seven days, BYO, free delivery within 3 miles ($12 minimum).

Two terrific spots for Chinese food

I can't tell you how many people feel lukewarm about Lotus Cafe, the Chinese BYO tucked into a corner of the Home Depot-Pathmark Shopping Center in Hackensack. In a way, that's good, because I won't have too much trouble getting a table there again to enjoy its unusual food.

The noodles and soup noodles are terrific, so don't bother schlepping into Chinatown. One of my favorites is zar jiang mein, fat, homemade noodles topped with a robust meat sauce ($6.95). Today, for lunch, I polished off a platter of noodles in abalone sauce ($8.95), with spinach and mushrooms, enough food for two.

But Lotus Cafe has a huge menu, including such intriguing dishes as X.O. beef casserole, squid & pork rendezvous; and chicken, shrimp or vegetarian soong, which is eaten wrapped in lettuce leaves. If you have a special occasion to celebrate or just want to splurge, ask for the extraordinary banquet menu, which lists multi-course meals for four to 10 people.

We once tried the eight-course dinner for six ($95) and were dazzled by the seafood and tofu chowder, three-cup chicken casserole, crispy duck, South Pacific prawns, beef with chili pepper, fillet of sole, Chinese broccoli and Eight Treasure rice pudding (the restaurant granted my request for it, even though ice cream or fruit is the usual ending to that dinner.)

For take-out, we have relied for the past three years or so on Zen & Kitchen in Teaneck.

What other Chinese take-out place can deliver a whole fish, fried or steamed? This is another big menu, with Thai food, soup noodles, sushi and bento boxes. We usually stick to the Chinese items, including vegetables prepared with fresh garlic instead of the gloppy garlic sauce and terrific ribs. Zen's delivery area includes Hackensack, Paramus, Cresskill and Ridgefield Park.

Lotus Cafe, 450 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack; 201-488-7070.

Zen & Kitchen, 1443 Queen Anne Road, Teaneck; 201-837-7322.