Kat's 9 Lives

A rare day indeed. For Mother's Day, I took my Mom and Dad out for dinner. Those of you who know me, know how rare and scary this is. As always, they wanted to head on over to Rowland Heights for some Chinese Food. First we did some massive shopping at the newly opened Hong Kong Market at a new location, then we moseyed on over to VIP Chinese Restaurant. It's an Islamic Chinese Restaurant. They are located at the corner plaza, near the Yoshinoya side. The interior is your typical simple Asian design with booths and tables. I think they have changed ownership. It is now owned by Koreans I believe. Makes you question the authenticity of the food... but honestly we know the kitchen barely has any Asian cooks in these kind of places.
They start off by bringing you little snacks to snack on. Sometimes you have to be careful in places like these because they tend to charge you for the side dishes they bring you. I know it might not make sense, but it happens! So always be a little wary if you are not into the side dishes. I don't think we were charged this time, but the previous owners did.
So in Islamic cuisine they do not serve pork and they are known for their big Sesame & Green Onions Pancake. My parents like the thin type because it is suppose to be crispy on the outside, yet maintain a chewy texture on the inside. You use this instead of rice with the meal to tone down the strong flavors of the dish. My Dad did not like the pancake here anymore. It didn't have the same texture and "oomph" as it used to. I thought it was a bit bland and only had hints of salt flavor and nothing else.
My family is a huge fan of lamb so I chose Mongolian Lamb for the first dish. This was the best dish of the night. There was a lot of green onion flavor nicely infused into the dish. The sauce was a good combo of salty with a slight sweet essence from the onions. I wish we ordered 2 of this dish rather than the other ones. The portions were not too big but at least there was a good meat to veggie ratio. My Dad decided to get a spicy lamb dish, Hunan Lamb. It was not what we thought it would be. I rarely see slices of tofu skin in a Hunan Lamb. Not a big fan of leek so I avoided them. O=) The flavor was only so-so, but once I finished off the lamb on the other dish... I resorted to picking off of this dish.
I made the mistake of ordering the Hand Made Noodles with Lamb since I really liked them the first time I went to Fatima up in San Jose. The one here was not that good. I felt that the noodles were a bit flat in texture. They must have over cooked the noodles because they were very flimsy. The sauce was a bit too salty. I didn't enjoy the egg since it was over salted as well. My bad for wanting this dish. Maybe I should just stick to the meat dishes and avoid all carbs! O=P
The reason why I agreed to come to this place was for their dessert, as well as to please my parents. Even though it is under different ownership, I still had to have the Red Bean Pancake. if you know me, you know that I abhor red bean. So if I willingly order any dish with red bean, you know it must be good! I love the thin crispy texture of the pancake. The sweet flavor of ground red bean meshes well with the toasty outer texture. It was still good here. Maybe not as good as it used to be, but I got my fix. ^_^
All in all my parents weren't too pleased and they won't be back. At least I didn't drop too much for dinner but it would be nice if they actually enjoyed the meal... oh well... my parents are always like that. At least we made it through the meal without killing each other! ^_^ It's kind of funny, but they were more critical about the food than I was this time. =P

VIP Chinese Restaurant
18331 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 810-2499

I have been wanting to try Lotus Chinese Eatery in Huntington Beach because people online raved about this place. It's suppose to be Islamic Chinese cuisine. As a family we decided to come here so that we can try something new and we were too lazy to drive to Rowland Heights. It didn't take long for us to get here. We were sat down immediately. There were only a few tables when we got there but then it started to get busier.
We debated for a long time on what to order. Since they have lunch specials every day, we all decided to get lunch specials. They bring you a cup of soup. It was Corn Soup, which is Egg Flower just with Corn added in. The taste was fine, but I make a killer Chicken Corn Soup or a Seafood one. ^_^ We were all fine with the soup.
Next they brought an Egg Roll for each of us. It's interesting that they are Curry Spring Rolls. The flavor was not too bad. I enjoyed the skin, but the curry flavor threw me off a little. It was easily masked or overlooked when I dipped it in the Sweet & Sour Sauce. I will give them some extra points that it's something different, but we can make it better too. =9
We were not planning to get the Big Sesame Thin Bread with Green Onion because we were not really getting dishes that are suited for the bread. Despite 3 of us not wanting to order this, my Mom insisted on it so we just got an order. My family enjoyed the amount of green onion used, but I thought it was a little too salty for my taste. They did complain about it not being thin at all because it still had some thickness to it. We all agreed that the place in Rowland Heights is much better tasting.
I always like ordering Honey Walnut Shrimp so when I saw it on the lunch menu I had to get it. AVOID it at this place. The dish came out looking over fried and raggedy. Everything looked shriveled up and the sauce was one-dimensional. It was just sweet and nothing else. This dish was definitely a mistake. My Dad who eats almost anything wouldn't even eat this dish. I had to sadly finish most of it since it was my mistake to order it. **Okay I admit I took a good picture and edited it well, but don't be deceived by my photo!**
The other dish I really wanted was the Hand-Cut Lamb Noodles. Ever since Ms. Lin took me to Fatima, I have been a huge fan of home-made noodles. The flavor here was not too bad and the noodles were fine although cut weirdly. This was probably my favorite dish of the day. We all agreed that the lamb meat was SKETCHY. It's just tiny shaved morsels that don't even form a solid piece. This dish was mainly Eggs and Vegetables stir-fried with little Lamb. The taste was fine, but I question certain things... hmmmm.
My Dad automatically ordered the Hunan Spicy Lamb lunch because he loves spicy. This dish barely had any lamb at all. It was full of filler vegetables. Again the meat was tiny slivers/morsels of meat. How come there isn't one solid piece of meat? I feel like there must be something wrong with the meat. The flavor was so-so and not spicy at all. It was a big disappointment.
Usually I decide for my Mom what dish to order. For her order we got Lamb with Satay Sauce. When the dish came out it almost looked like over-shredded pork. It's an illusion as well because there was barely any meat and tons of vegetables on the bottom. The satay flavor was light. Okay, even my Dad can make better satay dishes. They really missed the mark on the lamb dishes. We were greatly disappointed with everything. Everyone pointed the blame on me since I did the research. I must say the internet has failed me! BOO!
All in all this place wasn't good. Even I who hates driving would rather go to Rowland Heights next time. As a funny tid bit, I must say it's survival of the fittest when eating with my family! I am an extremely slow eater because I like to take in the flavors and savor the taste. Even though I liked the noodles, my Mom scarfed 2 bowls down before I even ate 3 chopsticks full. Let's just say I went home hungry, but that is okay because the food blew! I told Ms. Lin we should have ordered their Spicy Tendon and Beef dish, but our parents objected. Maybe that would have been better, but judging by the other stuff we had... I wouldn't bet on it! BLECH!

Lotus Chinese Eatery

For dinner Ms. Lin wanted to go to Fatima in SJ near Marina Foods. It's Islamic Chinese cuisine. They have their own parking lot behind the restaurant. Their interior decor was like most Chinese restaurants and they immediately spoke Mandarin to us as we walked in. The service was friendly and my water glass never hit the bottom. It's one of my pet peeves on how long it takes for them to refill the glass water. Surprisingly, they were really on top of it.
We opted out of getting the traditional Sesame Bread with Green Onion. Instead we ordered more items. For the appetizer we ordered the Chicken and Ground Green Beans Sheets. The flavor was intense and Ms. Lin didn't do a great job of mixing. Some pieces had a ton of mustard so it was spicier than most. The dish was garlicky and flavorful, but quite messy. While mixing the dish, our whole table was covered with splatter.
Ms. Lin also ordered her favorite Lamb with Pickled Cabbage Soup. It was a very light and flavorful soup. I personally don't like sourness of the pickled vegetables and the soup that absorbed the flavor. If you like pickled vegetable then you would love this dish. I just ate the lamb on top that was very tender. There are glass noodles inside the soup that adds to the texture. The soup was like a meal in itself.
For our main course we got the Beef with Green Onions. Usually this dish goes great the sesame bread because it brings out the flavor. The beef was tender but the pieces were cut a little too small. It was tasty, but nothing out of the ordinary. For the carb dish we ordered the Lamb Dough Slice Chow Mein. They were different from your typical noodles, they were homemade soft noodles. At first I was not a big fan of these homemade noodles but as we keep ordering it at different restaurants I've grown to like it more. The noodles were soft yet chewy and the texture varies from piece to piece. One thing I didn't like the eggs in the dish, but the flavor was still good.All in all the food was flavorful and very Chinese. The prices were not too bad, the whole meal was about $32 with tax. Ms. Lin sure had a lot of yummy left overs for the next few days! No fair! >_<# I am fasting today and now I am so hungry after talking about all that food. I would definitely go back to this place one day if I am craving Chinese food. If Ms. Lin still lived in SJ then I would probably go back more often. It's definitely one of the better Chinese food I have had down there with reasonable prices. =P