Green Garden Chinese Restaurant
569 Burnside Ave. (Burnside Plaza)
Inwood
(516) 371-2888 or 371-2551
Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant
288 Burnside Ave. (Office Max Plaza)
Lawrence
(516) 371-1480 or (516) 371-1485
Andy Chen and his family are the keepers of two bastions of Chinese cuisine filled to the brim with delicious, traditional platters. The Green Garden, mainly a takeout haven, has been at its Inwood location for 13 years. Hong Kong is new enough to merit fighting your way through shrink-wrap to get inside. Once you're in, you find yourself in a comfortable dining environment.
The Green Garden serves "Hong Kong, Cantonese, Szechuan and Hunan cuisine," Chen says. "We have open kitchen, so you can see the cooking, and everything is healthy. We don't use MSG." Chen is so determined for diners to know that, that his takeout menus have "MSG" written inside a circle with a slash across it.
"The Green Garden has quick delivery, in 10 to 15 minutes," Chen says. Monday through Saturday, delivery is free from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. You do need a minimum $8 order to get your Chinese delivered to your door, however. And, if you're planning to visit the Garden, "It's a convenient location," Chen says, "and there's a big parking lot."
The Garden has a lunch special from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. that is served with either white or pork fried rice. There's a long selection from which to choose, and whatever you order, it comes with a choice of two crab rangoons, if you're hungry, or a soda, for the thirsty.
There are various other platters, such as the famous Pu Pu, a plate exploding with spare ribs, egg rolls and assorted other goodies either chopped, sliced or fried. There's also Kung Pao chicken, with its explosive moniker, and Amazing Chicken, which doesn't do gymnastics but will satisfy your hunger and taste buds.
There also are the requisite American dishes of chicken wings, french fries and others for those too timid to venture into the Far East.
The Hong Kong Restaurant shares the same menu with the Green Garden. The Hong Kong has a wide dining area and an all-you-can-eat buffet for lunch. It has a pool table, cable-TV, and it's air-conditioned to keep you cool while you wrestle with your crispy dry saut
