Kirin Asian Cafe, Chinese in South Riding

[Bob Wells]

Kirin Cafe in South Riding is for the most part just a good example of a suburban Chinese eatery: Huge portions, quality ingredients, reasonable prices. It's our go-to take-out Chinese joint. (Much better than the other Chinese joint in South Riding, Wong Kok.)

But on our last visit (last Saturday) we discovered a menu item that was quite unusual and outstanding: Golden Coins Eggplant With Spicy Salt. What this is, is thin slices of Chinese eggplant (the thin, neon purple ones) sliced on the bias, fried in a crackly-crisp batter that is similar to what we have seen on squid. Basically irresistable and definitely a cut above what you normally find in such places. I told our server how much we liked it and she said she would convey our compliments to the chef. I told her to tell him to keep it on the menu.

Now that we know this chef's repertoire stretches beyond the predictable, we are going to explore the menu for other items that look out of place.