Review of Golden House, Chinese Take-Out

This is the Roslindale location at 4403 Washington street. Golden House is another hole-in-the-wall takeout place, but I am on a mission to find good Chinese food in Boston. Take-out and sit-down, respectively.

Golden House is relatively clean and was relatively busy, with a few other people making orders or waiting for their orders. The color display pictures of menu items looked bright and new. The menu is traditional: red and black text, pu-pu platter, chow mein, fried rice, moo shu, chow fun, and dishes categorized by the kind of animal protein involved. Happily the vegetarian section has some Kung Pao Tofu in addition to the usual choices of Broccoli in Garlic Sauce, Home Style Bean Curd, and Mixed Vegetables. There is also a vegetable/tofu option under Chow Fun (wide rice noodles), which sounds appetizing. I asked about an off-the-cuff version of Sesame Chicken using only tofu, but was met with disapproval and incredulity.

So I panicked and ordeedr General Tso's Chicken, because I've been reading about it forever in The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee. So there.

1. Vegetable and Tofu Chow Fun: onions (too bad), bean sprouts, water chestnuts, broccoli, mushrooms, crispy-yet-tender golden tofu chunks, and toothsome pan-fried wide rice noodles. A solid menu option, tasty but not staggering.

2. Kung Pao Tofu: green pepper chunks, peanuts, chili peppers, and smoky crispy cubes of tofu. Excellent over rice, and very spicy, with a little of the smoky oily sweet sauce.

3. General Tso's Chicken: spicy, crunchy, gooey with sweet sauce. The chicken is supposed to sit on a bed of broccoli, but in this case there were two broccoli florets and a mountain of chicken in my "small" order. Bah! Over-fried, over-extended chicken hardly stood up under the crispy breading and gooey sauce. Interesting to sample, and very filling, but not something to order twice. Certainly it could be better at a different restaurant, but how often do you really need to eat deep-fried chicken thighs in a sweet oily sauce? Tasted a little too dead to me.

Verdict: YES to Chow Fun, YES to Kung Pao Tofu. NO to General Tso's Chicken. Overall, exciting due to spicy Kung Pao Tofu.