After working as a server in Philadelphia for many years, Guo ‘Sunni’ Tang was done. “As a server, you work 12 hours a day and don’t make much money,” she explained. “I want to make more money to improve life for my parents.”

Driven by a goal of supporting her aging parents and the desire to provide a wider selection of food for the University of the Sciences student population and the area surrounding it, Tang decided to open a dumpling and bubble tea spot. Curry Bird, a new Cantonese and Thai takeout restaurant, is at 4604 Woodland Ave. (where New China Gourmet used to be), adjacent to Noah’s Pizza.

The shop had its soft opening on Saturday, where chicken curry and veggie dumplings samples were given away to neighbors at no charge. News spread via word of mouth.

The interior has been completely redesigned with wooden panels and wooden floors. Another thing you’ll notice is that there are no servers, but just a takeout restaurant with minimal seating.  Continue Reading

The intersection of 40th and Chestnut Streets has seen some restaurant changes as of late, with Dim Sum House and Ekta opening a couple of months ago. Now, a brightly colored Xi’an Sizzling Woks BYOB has found a sprightly colored yellow, blue and red home on the southwest corner of the intersection where Saigon Cuisine used to be.

Craig LaBan described the flagship location in an Inquirer review back in 2013 as “this isn’t your dad’s old Cantonese chow mein joint. It isn’t his Hong Kong duck house, either. Or even your cool-kid friend’s latest Sichuan obsession.”

With adventurous menu items such as Chinese hamburger with minced pork, pita bread soaked in beef and lamb soup in addition to lamb kabob skewers, the restaurant puts on a fresh spin on Chinese cuisine. The menu also offers some interesting specials such as Smoked Tea Duck and a house noodle casserole.  Continue Reading

Photos from Dim Sum House’s Facebook page.

Maybe you’ve been there: you want dim sum but you don’t feel like getting on the trolley or the El all the way to Chinatown to go to Dim Sum Garden. Not to worry, Dim Sum House has arrived in University City with a heavy Cantonese lean thanks to restaurateurs Jane Guo and Jackson Fu.

According to captain server Khoa Nguyen, Guo is related to the owners of Dim Sum Garden but she has no shared business interests. “The owner of Dim Sum house is the wife of the owner of this place. We didn’t take any of their servers or chefs or anything like that,” said Nguyen.

Guo also owns Szechuan-style Chinese restaurant Jane G’s in the Rittenhouse Square area.

When you walk into Dim Sum House, the decor is a little upscale and the bar is set up to look trendy. I know what you’re thinking, this must be pricey. Well, it’s not. The cheapest thing on the menu was in the neighborhood of $5 while the most expensive entree was $15, save for a few chef’s specialty items like Peking Duck, which go for as much as $25. The offerings also go beyond just dim sum, including more common entrees like Szechuan Beef.  Continue Reading

Almost a year after Chili Szechuan closed its Baltimore Avenue location and left a hole in mid-priced-Chinese-food-loving hearts in Cedar Park, Okawa has heard your cries and has come to the rescue. The new restaurant opened last month at 4626 Baltimore Ave.

With prices closer to Lucky’s price range, Okawa offers American Chinese restaurant staples like the Philly cheesesteak egg roll, dumpling, spare ribs and sesame chicken. But the concept is Asian fusion, so the menu will include Japanese, Thai and Korean items as well. Shrimp shumai, pad thai, hibachi and tempura also make appearances on the menu.  Continue Reading

Chili Szechuan closed its Baltimore Avenue location after a little more than 2.5 years of operation. (Archived photo/West Philly Local)

We received some requests from readers asking what’s happening with Chili Szechuan’s Baltimore Avenue location as it seems to have closed. As you may know, the popular Chinese eatery opened a new location on the 4200 block of Chestnut Street in the summer, and the owner, Kangzhi Ma, said she might close the Baltimore Ave. location, which opened in early 2013, at the end of the year. So we can confirm that Chili Szechuan at 4626 Baltimore Avenue has already closed, so that the owners can focus solely on the Chestnut Street location. As as one of Chili Szechuan workers we spoke to back in May said, “it is a bigger place and close to campuses.”

So it will be interesting to see what business will occupy the now empty storefront at 4626 Baltimore Avenue, a very lucrative piece of commercial property.

Chili Szechuan is opening a new location at 4205 Chestnut St. (Photo West Philly Local)

The owners of popular Baltimore Avenue restaurant Chili Szechuan have announced that they will be opening a new location on the 4200 block of Chestnut Street within the next week or so.

We stopped at the restaurant for dinner over the weekend and got a chance to chat with the staff. “We found a bigger place and it’s close to campuses… the current location is doing well business-wise,” one of the restaurant workers said.

The new location is opening at 4205 Chestnut St, at the former Dana Mandi International Foods and Spices space. (Dana Mandi moved next door, to 4211 Chestnut St, last spring). This location is also next door to Kabobeesh restaurant. The new restaurant will have the same menu items as the current location but will feature some new items as well, according to Chili Szechuan owner Kangzhi Ma. Both locations will be open until the end of the calendar year, after which, the owners will make a decision whether to keep the Baltimore Ave location open or not.

Chili Szechuan’s original location at 4626 Baltimore Ave. (Archived photo)

The original Chili Szechuan location opened at 4626 Baltimore Ave in early 2013. We did a food review about the restaurant then and would like to report that it is still as delicious as we remember it to be.

By the way, during our latest visit to Chili Szechuan we stayed off the “Americanized menu” because we felt like there was something snarky about the title, so we went for the authentic stuff. The Dan Dan noodles were very flavorful and the flavor was robust. Next was the deep flash fried chili chicken, with a biting spice. (Be sure to keep the water and napkins coming). Another highlight was the Szechuan style chicken, simmered in sauce and cabbage. The portions were huge, so there were many leftovers.

– Rana Fayez