Golden China Chinese Cuisine     

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First-Class Chinese Restaurant offers diners golden opportunity

by Allan Borgen, Correspondent, Southern California Restaurant Review

Where: 8851 #A Central Ave., Montclair, CA 91765 

Ratings: based on five stars

Food           

Service       

Ambiance   

Value         

Hours: Monday-Thursday 11:00am to 9:30 pm; Friday and Saturday 11:00am to 10:00pm; Sunday noon to 9:00pm.

Price range: $4.95 to $14.95; Phone: (909) 626-3180, (909) 626-3181

Notes: Kid friendly; disabled accessible; full bar.

Tucked away in the corner of a small-strip center lies the Golden China Restaurant, a delightful Chinese restaurant whose food is unlike any other that I have had.

The menu is full of Mandarin, Cantonese, Szechwan and original dishes that I found interesting.

My first dish, the Lettuce Wrap appetizer, $5.95, was a great choice. The simple yet delicious dish consisted of a nice pungent tasting mixture of finely diced chicken, cucumbers, pine nuts, water chestnuts, onions and carrots stir-fried in a hoisin ginger garlic sauce and served with lots of fresh crispy lettuce leaves. Put the mixture in the lettuce and there you have it, a wonderful and tasty creation.

Speaking of wonderful, the next dish, the Tangerine Fish, $11.95, was the best dish of the evening. This delightful dish featured a nice amount of small pieces of fish that were lightly breaded and fried and was served with a light sweet tangerine sauce. The sauce was not overpowering and its combination with the slightly crispy fish created a perfect harmony. The Golden Chicken, $8.75, was also a fine dish. This creative dish featured chunks of hot braised chicken that were sautéed in a spicy brownish garlic sauce and served on top of another steamed spinach.

Another favorite of mine was the Pork Chop Mandarin Style, $8.55. Imagine a nice portion of cut up pieces of bone-in pork chops with a terrific mildly sweetened brown garlic sauce and garnished with fresh steamed broccoli. Sure you had to eat around the bones but who cares, it was well-worth the mild inconvenience.

Other dishes that deserve your attention include the Tofu with Eggplant, $7.25, zucchini, bell peppers, strips of tofu and large chunks of Chinese eggplant in a gingery garlic sauce; Beef with Black Bean Sauce, $8.25, lots of tender slices of beef and onion with still another flavorful black bean sauce; the shrimp; beef and chicken laden Egg Foo Young, $7.55, and the magnificent Fisherman's Basket, $14.95, a crispy noodle basket filled with an ocean full of scallops, shrimp and fish fillets in a scrumptious white wine sauce.

There were really no dishes that my family and I did not like and I found all of the dishes I sampled to be flavorful and good. The menu also has many family dinners as well as lunch specials.

The restaurant is clean, the service is friendly and the portions are more than adequate.

It's restaurants like Golden China that make my job fun and fulfilling. I look forward to coming back and trying more of their first-class dishes.

Allan Borgen is the host and producer of "Let's Dine Out," a restaurant review and food show, which airs Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 5:30 p.m. and Tuesdays at 11 a.m. on Ch. 24, KVCR-PBS. He is also a member of the Southern California Restaurant Writers. You can reach him at (909) 341-9727 or visit his Web site at: www.letsdineoutshow.com.