Restaurant Review: Same Name, Different Flavors at New Hop Sheng

My plate from the newly-reopened Hop Sheng Chinese Restaurant with Sweet & Sour Pork, General Tao's Chicken,
 Beef with Broccoli and Fried Rice. 

WORDS & PHOTOS BY LUKE PHILLIPS

Sweet and Sour Pork

   After hearing from a handful of people that the food at the newly-reopened Hop Sheng restaurant was “no good”, and hearing a rumor that the new owners where snowbirds from Nebraska who didn’t know how to cook Chinese food, I was a little bit weary of giving it a try, but I’m happy to report that neither of those rumors are true and the food is quite good.

   The new owners are actually from Los Angeles as we learned from the friendly young man behind the counter and they seemed perfectly qualified to be cooking Chinese food. The menu featured a good variety of different dishes and the pricing has been simplified over the previous menu. Most of the entrees available cost $5.50 for a lunch-sized portion (before 3 p.m.) or $7.50 for a dinner-sized portion with the exception of a few seafood dishes that are about a dollar more. All in all, the prices are very affordable and the portions are fairly generous.

Beef with Broccoli

   We ordered the Beef with Broccoli, the General Tao’s Chicken and the Sweet and Sour Pork and they were all quite delicious. There were many dishes I enjoyed at the old Hop Sheng, but for some reason I never did like their Sweet and Sour Pork which just happens to be one of my favorite Chinese dishes. The sauce was never quite right, leaning heavy on the ‘sour’ side of things, and it never failed to give me heartburn. So I was very happy to find the new Sweet and Sour Pork to be very agreeable. Not too much sour, not too much sweet. It had the perfect balance and none of the acid bite. So, thank you New Hop Sheng for bringing one of my favorite dishes back into my diet.

General Tao's Chicken

   The Beef with Broccoli was likewise very good, with a nice, rich sauce, tender meat and fresh, crisp broccoli, but the stand-out was definitely the General Tao’s Chicken. For those unfamiliar with it, the dish consists of coated, fried pieces of chicken with a sweet and tangy glaze and covered with red pepper flakes that gave it a spicy kick. The flavors were almost delicate and complimented one another well.

   The only disappointment in the whole meal was the fried rice that came with our entrees. It looked like a batch of regular steamed rice with some soy sauce in it, along with one piece of scrambled egg. There were no vegetables or anything else. It was very plain and a little dry, but the steamed rice was good.

   Overall though, I would definitely recommend giving the new Hop Sheng a try. It’s not the same as the old Hop Sheng, no doubt, but it’s very good in a different way. I can understand how some people might not like it, after all Chinese food is a very subjective thing, but I liked it and you might too.