I’m behind.
Pertinent items on my list include writing, finishing the never ending series on Disney World, and eating at new places.
Mr. Chen’s is one of those new places, and like free samples at the grocery store I’ve gotten a small taste but haven’t had a full meal.
The mochi I picked up at Epcot sparked an untamable craving and the only solution was to find more mochi. This objective lead us to the recently established Oriental Supermarket off of I-55, nestled between Cowboy Maloney’s and Big Lots. We popped in one afternoon to browse the store and couldn’t resist a late lunch at Mr. Chen’s.
Drifting through the store I was excited to see an entire row of soy sauce, Pocky, rice cakes, kimchi and a somewhat diverse mix of people. I bought two kinds of cookies, Sriracha, another chili sauce, and two boxes of ice cream mochi – chocolate and green tea (my favorite!).
Conveniently, the Oriental Supermarket and Mr. Chen’s restaurant share the same space, a short partition divides the store from the dining room. Asian grocery staples and delicious Chinese meals are only separated by a few paces.
Mr. Chen’s offers a daily lunch menu from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. which I ordered from because we sat down at 2:30 p.m. The lunch specials cost around $6.50 and you get a generous portion of an entree, an egg roll and steamed or fried rice.
I had Chicken and Mixed Vegetables which was full of mushrooms, broccoli, snow peas, onion and chicken in a clear sauce. It was hot, fresh and satisfying. Ben choose Beef Belly from the expansive regular menu and mistakenly overlooked the “belly” part. He was served fatty chunks of tender beef and turnip (a guess) in a spicy chili sauce.
It was a spontaneous visit at an odd time, so I look forward to eating dinner there another day. Subsequently reading accounts from two other Jackson food bloggers, Cynical Cook and Asian in a Strange Land (his first and second visit), I have a better idea of what I want to eat. Click on the links for their stories.
At least I got my mochi fix, for now.
Oriental Supermarket and Mr. Chen’s Restaurant
5465 I-55 N
Jackson, MS 39206
Phone 601-978-1865
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- Oriental Market and Mr. Chen’s
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- Restaurant on the left, store on the right
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- Produce boxes
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- An array of meats
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- Mochi!
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- Soy sauce isle
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- The eating area
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- View from our booth
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- Beef belly
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- Chicken and Mixed Vegetables
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- Mango slush
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- The haul
I almost made it to Mr. Chen’s last weekend, but we ended up at Babalu instead. Definitely going to try to hit up Mr. Chen’s this weekend.
Re: Babalu… It was my 4th visit. After the first 3 visits, the only thing I could say that I enjoyed was the black bean soup. On this 4th visit, everything was good! Even the guacamole, which was ridiculously bland last time, tasted great this time. Maybe they learned that they have to add salt?
Posted by Lisa Blair | February 23, 2011, 5:25 pmLast weekend we ended up at Ding How and were worried about it because of people flocking to Mr. Chen’s. It was good to see a full house on Friday night. Now I don’t feel quite as guilty heading to Mr. Chen’s for lunch on Friday.
The fourth times a charm?! We love the Taqueria de Guatalupe so much that’s it’s hard to try a new place when we get a taco craving. I’ve heard lukewarm comments towards Babalu which also makes me hesitant, but it’s always worth a shot. Now that it’s warmer a margarita on the patio sounds great.
Posted by Gidget Eats | February 23, 2011, 9:19 pmThanks for the link and writing about the lunch portions. I’ve been there a half dozen times already and I’ve never had the will power to limit myself to trying just one dish.
Posted by Cynical Cook | February 9, 2011, 12:19 pmIt was hard to stick to the lunch menu, but it was a random visit. I’m thankful you and AISL wrote so I could get a better visual idea of the dishes. Dinner will be next!
Posted by Gidget Eats | February 10, 2011, 10:04 pmMr. Chen’s is amazing! Go for dinner so you can eat family style. I loved dinner even more so than lunch there!
(Found your site through Foodbuzz. Love it!)
Posted by Sophie | February 8, 2011, 9:21 amHi Sophie, thanks for reading! Between the rave reviews, interesting menu and our lunch preview, I can’t wait to go back and eat a full meal at dinner time.
Posted by Gidget Eats | February 8, 2011, 2:04 pm