Reviewing Tasty Wok: Order family style and enjoy a true Chinese dining experience in Orlando.
When I moved back to Orlando after living in China for two years, I craved Chinese food the way some people long for coffee in the morning. Dumplings, noodles and stir-fry dishes were part of my daily routine. Thankfully, the Asian food scene in Orlando has a lot to offer, and I’m on a mission to try all the Chinese restaurants in the City Beautiful.
Chinese food is best enjoyed family style, which means ordering many dishes and sharing them with friends or family. I love eating this way; it’s like dining at your own personal buffet and you’re bound to find something you like. My friends are always happy to join me for Chinese food, since they think I’m somewhat of an expert. I put the call out to meet at Tasty Wok BBQ and Noodle House in the Mills 50 area, the heart of Orlando’s Asian and Pacific Islander food establishments.
Ten of us filled a round table at this Cantonese restaurant, including a few friends who had lived in China with me. This always makes ordering fun. We took turns rattling off items to the waitress until we were satisfied that we had a good mix of meat, vegetable and noodle dishes amounting to about one per person.
In general, I don’t come to Chinese restaurants for the ambiance. Tasty Wok is no exception. It’s perfectly sufficient: a simple, clean, brightly lit space with booths and round tables. My only complaint is I wish our table had a lazy Susan – you know those turntables where you can easily spin the dishes around the table? But we managed just fine, passing the hot dishes around so everyone could fill their plates. Maybe we were too ambitious in ordering, since we started to run out of space as new items arrived at our table.
Tasty Wok has a few signature dishes which I made sure to order. The first is the Beef Chow Fun, chewy rice noodles stir-fried with tender beef and green onions. I love the texture of the wide noodles and slightly smoky flavor from the wok.
The second is the barbecued meats. We ordered a selection of duck and pork prepared several ways. The Char-Siu, sweet, sliced pork with a red tint, was the table favorite. I’m also a fan of the fattier BBQ Pork with Crispy Skin. The meats were moist and tender, with just enough fat for flavor.
If there’s an eggplant dish on the menu, I’m going to order it. I fell in love with these purple beauties in China. I even learned to say it in Mandarin, being careful not to confuse “eggplant” with the similar but different word for “shoe.” Tasty Wok calls theirs Minced Pork with Eggplant, but it really should be the other way around. The eggplant stars in this dish; it’s smothered in a thick, garlicky sauce and accented with salty pork and green onions.
Tasty Wok reminded me why I like this dish so much.
My adventurous group of friends did a good job making our way through the Chicken Fried Rice with Salted Fish, tender Snow Pea tips (like spinach only better), and Beef with Bitter Melon, with only a few takeout containers following us home.
Tasty Wok is an easy entry to Orlando’s Chinese food scene. You can dip your toes in the water by sticking with familiar items like eggs rolls, fried rice and orange chicken, and wade in a little deeper by trying a few of my favorites mentioned above. I suggest going with a group so you can experience Chinese food the way it’s meant to be enjoyed, family style.