Royal Treatment at Mandarin

Everything about Margaret Kuos’s Mandarin restaurant in Malvern—save the location in a strip mall—is consistent with the translation of "Mandarin" as “the finest.”

Carved brown wooden screens and moderate lighting complemented the Asian art on the light green textured walls. Tables were set with white over pink tablecloths and pink cloth napkins.

We were seated in the main dining area and were immediately presented with warm, moist cloths to clean our hands. A server opened our wine and poured it, then recorked it set it on the nearby ledge. Small wooden plates of salted peanuts with skins and a cucumber ginger salad were placed in the center of the table, along with water glasses with lemon slices.

We decided to try one roll from the Japanese offerings, then return to China for the remainder of our meal. Our server took the paper menu of sushi bar items once we'd ordered from it, while we browsed the bound dinner menus.

Service was attentive but the food arrived at a relaxed pace.

Two small bowls of Hot and Sour Shiitake Soup ($8) were served tableside from a larger bowl. The quantity would be plenty for four people. Pieces of tofu, green pepper, green bean, bamboo shoots and chunks of shiitake were suspended in the egg-thickened broth that tasted more sour than sweet. We left the remainder in the large bowl that had been placed on our table.

A Cucumber Roll ($3.50) arrived on a rectangular white ceramic plate with pickled ginger and wasabi. Our server set out chopsticks and dishes for dipping soy sauce. The roll was a beautifully presented, light and refreshing starter.

Although the arrival of our Royal Peking Duck ($36) from the Signature Chinese Specialties was heralded with a gong and the announcement “duck,” we were a bit disappointed that it was not a whole duck but rather a generous platter of shredded meat.

Our served immediately wrapped the tender meat in “pancakes” he spread with Hoisin sauce and scallions and placed on our plates. We asked him to stop after the fourth one since we knew we had other dishes to sample. The blend of rich duck, spicy sweet sauce and fresh scallion in a slightly doughy white wrap was quite enjoyable. The rest of our meal arrived while we finished the duck.

A platter of Vegetable Fried Rice ($11) was a superior version of the standard dish. Small, uniformly sized pieces of vegetables—carrots, baby corn, green beans, pea pods, green onions—were mixed with rice that was not overly heavy with oil or soy sauce.

Our third entrée—also chosen from the Signature Chinese Specialties—was a Black Pepper Beef Tenderloin ($21) served with bowls of Jasmine rice. The amount of black pepper on the tender, seared beef strips with red and green pepper strips, onion and scallions in a slightly sweet sauce did not overwhelm the mild flavor of the beef.

The server packaged our leftovers in the traditional white boxes with metal handles that seem to make the food taste even better the second time.  Our bill was presented with orange slices and vanilla chocolate swirl fortune cookies.

We had been treated to a royal meal.

Margaret Kuo’s Mandarin

190 Lancaster Avenue, Malvern

Telephone: 610-647-5488

Website: margaretkuos.com/mandarin

Hours: Sun – Thurs, 11:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.; Fri, Sat, 11:30 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.

Cost: Soups and appetizers $2.50 to $13; sushi rolls $2 to $13; entrees $12 to $23

Credit cards: VISA, MasterCard, Discover, American Express

Alcohol: BYO

Special Features: Vegetarian options, sushi bar, lunch buffet