North Garden - Manchester, NH

North Garden Restaurant and Lounge
715 Mast Rd
Manchester, NH 03102
(603) 668-1668

North Garden is diamond in the rough, or perhaps a diamond that's been roughened up.  It serves a menu that consists of Americanized Chinese food, some more traditional Cantonese / Chinese dishes, and a limited order based Dim Sum lunch menu.  There is a bar on one side of the restaurant, and butted next to the restaurant is the lounge.

The chef, Raymond Zeng, is extremely personable, and often eats with his family in the dining area with his patrons.  To my amusement, however, he often whips up foods not on the menu, and that he will not serve to anyone else either as he says with a friendly smirk, so to leave us with mouth watering eye candy, but nothing more.

That's ok, there is plenty of the menu that appeals to my tastes, especially those dishes that haven't quite been Americanized yet.  The Americanized dishes are quite good for Americanized dishes, not quite as bland, and soaked in oils and grease as one would expect from American Chinese.  The rest of the dishes that still scream culture is why I come to North Garden.

The rice in all applications, whether steamed white or fried, is light and rightly textured.  The vegetables are fresh and almost flash fried - no wilted, overcooked look or taste.  The meats are tender, fall apart in your mouth, and full of flavor.  The spices are just right, and bring out the natural flavors of each of the dishes without overpowering it.

The Dim Sum is top class, but reflects Boston prices, rather than Manchester.  A limited order based lunch menu ensures that each tidbit is fresh and hot, and ever so tasty.  And yes, they do have fantastic tripe and chicken feet!  All the classic basics are there, enough to keep my Dim Sum cravings at bay, and only ten minutes from my home!

The bar and lounge are some of the plain as day indications that money is king.  Everyone knows in order to make bank in the restaurant industry, booze has to be involved.  It has a high mark up, it's sales are limited to locations that have liquor licenses, it doesn't require much talent to serve (but a lifetime of practice to serve with class and gusto, as shown by some career bartenders I've known and known of), has an easy to store and very forgivable shelf life, and practically everyone drinks it to excess (ahem!).

I don't care much what North Garden has to do in order to make profit in order for the dishes to remain as traditionally Cantonese as possible.  In fact, I've been known to make a donation to the lounge every once in a while - the mixed drinks are cheap and strong, and get you where you need to go (or not need to go, for that matter) in short order.

All in all, North Garden gets a thumbs up from me.  Perhaps they'll get one more visit from me before I attempt another new year's resolution.