China Palace

6605 Airport Blvd.

Austin, TX 78752

(512) 451-0918

I went out for lunch on a Monday and found one chinese restaurant either closed forever, or just for the day.  Fortunately, China Palace was only about two miles away.  China Palace is a small place, and it certainly isn't fancy, but that isn't always needed.  Look at BBQ places, generally, the shabbier they look, the better the BBQ.

I ordered my usual, Sesame Chicken, and it wasn't long in coming.  As I always do, I got it to go, but I sampled everything while it was still hot.  Eating Sesame Chicken while driving is a bit difficult, but I didn't want to be late getting back, and I wanted to taste everything while hot.

First, the serving was very large.  Lots of big pieces of chicken, and lots of sauce.  A large amount of sauce can make eating in a moving car and adventure while you move the tray around trying to keep the sauce off the seats.  My wife won't be happy when she reads this.  I like the extra sauce though because then I can mix it with the rice.

A point to China Palace for not putting the egg roll in with the hot steamy food.  Nothing worse than opening up your to go meal and finding that the lovely crispy fried egg roll has been steamed into a soggy mess.  A point against China Palace for putting broccoli in with the Sesame Chicken.  It's not Sesame Chicken with Broccoli, and I have only once been served Sesame Chicken with Broccoli when sitting down in a Chinese Restaurant and yet they feel obliged to add it to the take out lunch.

But, back to the Egg Roll, which was quite good.  It was done with the light crispy wrapper, rather than the heavier crispy wrapper and the vegetables were still crisp.  I can recommend them.  The fried rice had virtually no vegetables, but it was tasty.  The Sesame Chicken was sweet and not very spicy.  I only mention this because I have had Sesame Chicken that is quite spicy, so I feel the need to mention it.

One bite of Hot and Sour soup and I said not hot enough, and it isn't hot, but it started to come on after several bites.  The soup was very thick, with that sheen that speaks of a little too much cornstarch to thicken it.  I make my own Sesame Chicken, and it is easy to do.  It did not really hurt the soup, which was tasty and turned out at the end to be just about hot enough for my taste.

The last bit of my meal was mixing the left over sauce with the rice, which was delicious.  It wasn't fancy, and it wasn't perfect, but it was definitely good enough to give it a second try.