Restaurant Review: Hope Kee
By Gbolahan Olanubi, November 09
Contemporary Culture Editor
Photo by Gbolahan Olanubi |
| Mandarin Beef is only one of the Hong Kong style dished offered at Hope Kee. |
On my never ending quest to find the best Korean barbecue in Arizona, I stumbled upon Hope Kee, an authentic Hong Kong style restaurant. Hope Kee is located in Peoria at 7575 W. Cactus Road within Lee Lee’s Market. Since I have never been to Hong Kong, I can’t vouch for its level of authenticity, but I can tell you Hope Kee has some of the best Chinese food I have eaten.
Once you enter Lee Lee’s Market, look to your left, and you will find Hope Kee nestled between the north wall of the market and Our House Food. Oddly enough, if you are not aware of Hope Kee’s entrance, you could easily walk past it. The small entrance expands into a medium-sized restaurant.
After a short wait at the entrance, the hostess ushers you to your seat. There are several booths and a few large tables, but Hope Kee is predominantly filled with small four person tables.
Once seated, you are given a green menu and a few minutes to order. Items range from about $10 to $15, but the portions are large enough to split with a friend. If you are feeling particularly ravenous, the portions can easily appease your hunger. All of the items are listed in the restaurant’s native language, Cantonese; fortunately, they also have English translations and brief descriptions. The menu is a few pages long and includes appetizers, soup, noodle, seafood, pork, beef and poultry items.
Hope Kee has a surprisingly mundane array of beverages. The standard Coca-Cola drinks are offered along with green and hot tea.
To get your hunger rolling, Hope Kee offers four appetizers: two Vegetarian Rolls $1.50, eight Crab Puffs $4.25, six Pork Pot Stickers and four Chicken Lettuce Wraps for $6.95. If you bring a group of friends, try the Crab Puffs. The breaded outside is deep-fried with a creamy center. They come with some sweet and sour sauce, which adds to the taste immensely.
If you are having a difficult time deciding what to order, ask your waitress or the manager. They will gladly guide you to a dish you’ll enjoy. I personally recommend my usual order of Mandarin Beef $9.99.
After you order, you get your first pot of the never-ending white rice. The main dish follows in about seven to 10 minutes.
The entrée comes out on a large rectangular plate full of food. The first bite of their Mandarin Beef is simply ambrosia, and after that, it only gets better. The beef is tender and cooked well-done. The onions and leeks are sautéed to visible grill marks, but you don’t taste the grill. It is all covered, not drenched, in a gloriously spicy sauce that is too strong to eat alone, but couples perfectly with the beef and vegetables. The sauce also makes a notable addition to white rice. In the Mandarin Beef and all of the dishes, there are more vegetables than meat, but they don’t skimp on the meat.
The Lemon Chicken $7.75 is also a good dish. The chicken is pan fried in batter till it is crispy, and the lemon sauce gives it an intense lemon flavor. The chicken itself tastes wonderful; however, the lemon sauce can be a bit strong at times. The lemon sauce also conflicts with the rice, similar to how dogs in costumes conflict. It can be cute, but somehow it just seems wrong.
There are no signature dishes marked on the menu, but on the back, Hope Kee offers a Chef Special. It’s not a dish; instead, customers can ask for any Hong Kong dish, and the chef will make it to your liking. There was no listed price for the cost of this service, but the bill will be based on ingredients.
During your dining experience, your waitress will periodically check in to offer you refills and ask if you need more rice. If you have an urgent question, they are responsive to their names and will come to your aid shortly.
Hope Kee offers great food with formal, yet friendly service. If you are in the mood for Chinese food and want to forego Panda Express for something new, try Hope Kee. It is a bit out of the way, but it is well worth the trip.
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