Ahh, to be back on campus in West Philly. How I’ve missed my “food cart meal plan”. Around 8:00 on Tuesday night, lazy and hungry. Decided that some Chinese food from Yue Kee would hit the spot for me. So I pulled out one of the menus that I have lying around my room and decided on Pork and Eggplant in Black Bean Sauce (and dish I have found to be very reliably delicious) and a pint of Hot and Sour Soup.
Since I have been to Yue Kee many times before, I know to order via phone ahead of time and however long she says it will be ready (this time 15 minutes) add 5-10 minutes… otherwise you will be waiting outside for a while. So I went over and picked up my order. I walked up to the window and told her what I ordered and it was in fact ready when I got there.
Again, since I am a regular visitor of the cart, I do not expect a hello/a smile/a friendly gesture at all. The little lady is all business with a gruff attitude. No problem with me, I’ll put up with it since I enjoy the food quite a lot. One other thing regarding the attitude. I cannot be sure, but I think that the woman at Yue Kee favors Asians when serving. If you place your order in Chinese instead of English, your order will be prepared faster and if you don’t call ahead (and are not Asian, [I'm not]) your order will get pushed to the end of the line. Again, this is just my speculation from my many visits.
Onto the food! The main dish comes served in a large Styrofoam container, left half full of white rice and right half full of your meal. The portion is great (especially for the price) and the size and quality of the roast pork was even better than I remembered. There is ample amounts of both the pork strips and the eggplant chucks sitting it a dark brown-black, garlicky, thickened sauce with a bit of smashed black beans and some red chili pepper. I like to mix all of the white rice throughout the dish (like I do with Thai and Indian curries).
The soup is also pretty good (again, especially for the price). Its consistency is pretty thick with lots of bamboo slices, water chestnuts, some eggy bits, and red chili bits.
Together these make a very large, filling dinner. Oh yeah, they always give a fortune cookie with your meal.
Cost: $5.75
http://www.yelp.com/biz/yue-kee-mobile-kitchen-philadelphia
Tags: Black Bean, Chili, Chinese, Eggplant, Garlic, Hot and Sauce, Pork, Rice, Soup