Divine Chinese under neon
Inside, we found simple decor, friendly service and excellent food. We munched the fried chow mein noodles our waitress brought us as we deliberated over the extensive menu,.
Happy All offers an array of exotic Vietnamese dishes and Chinese house specialties: beef, vegetable, seafood, chicken, pork, rice and noodle dishes for about $6 each. For those who still can't decide, there's an extensive menu of dinner combination plates that include an entree, soup, above-average fried rice, egg roll and iced tea.
After we ordered, our soup appeared almost instantly. One friend pronounced the hot soup "more hot than sour, but okay." He liked the unique addition of seaweed. The egg drop soup was fairly average, but water chestnuts perked it up.
Our Crab Ragoon appetizers were wontons with a creamy crab filling. They were quite tasty and not too greasy. The accompanying plum sauce was sweet and tangy, and the very hot mustard cleared the sinuses.
I opted for the Vietnamese side of the menu and ordered the Lau Dau Hu Bun Tau clay pot ("special vermicelli with tofu and vegetables in a hot clay pot") My only disappointment was that the pot was metal, not clay, for its contents were wonderful. Fresh vegetables, tofu and noodles floated in a subtly spiced broth. Another dish held light and fluffy steamed rice.
The cleverly-named Spicy White Meat Chicken with Orange Flavor earned praise. Although neither terribly orange nor spicy, the chicken, cooked and served with orange peel and those inedibly hot peppers, was quite good. A friend who claims not to like Chinese food even cleaned his plate.
A self-proclaimed connoissieur of Kun Pao Chicken pronounced his meal very spicy and some of the better Kun Pao he has encountered. After bestowing the complementary "five-minute Kun Pao" title (the peppers obliterated taste sensations for a full five minutes), he also deemed it the best allergy remedy he has tried this season.
The Sweet and Sour Shrimp won the least enthusiastic reviews. The large fried shrimp were passable, but not great. Ditto for the cup of sweet and sour sauce (that awful sweet and sour pink that does not exist in nature) that came with them.
Along with the traditional fortune cookies, our dinner concluded with fresh orange wedges -- a great way to cool the fire of our food.
Service was extremely quick and friendly without being overly solicitous. Waitresses filled our water glasses before we emptied them (even he of the Kun Pao Chicken). The iced tea for the combination plates never materialized, but everything else came quickly.
Happy All gives a 20 percent discount to Rice students with a Silver Saver Card. The deal applies to meals either there, to go or delivered. With such divine food and already low prices, this should make us all happy.
This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the March 18, 1994 issue.
Copyright © 1996 The Rice Thresher. All Rights
Reserved.
This document may be distributed
electronically, provided that it is distributed in its
entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted
without the express written permission of:
The Rice Thresher, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005-1892, USA.
The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@listserv.rice.edu