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Fortune Wheel Seafood Resturant
Our latest adventure has taken us to Fortune Wheel, located at 3601 Hempstead Turnpike in Levittown. This “Flushing” like restaurant is tucked discreetly between two big box retailers. The meal begins with a Freebie (always a good start). The pickled seaweed with carrots and cabbage was a delicious beginning to what would become a “Hit or Miss” meal.
The Mees instantly spotted the owner and requested to pick her brain for the right things to order. Our waiter, Francis, had other things in mind. He explained to us that the waiter is a like a soldier on the battlefield, thus earning him the real expertise required to guide us through this dinner. He instantly declared himself the King, and so it was that “Francis the King” was our guide. Long Live the King!! What a character!!
For starters we had Dim Sum (shrimp & pork), Minced Duck with Fresh Lettuce, and Minced Beef Won Ton Soup with Spinach. The Dim Sum was a nice treat, and reminded me of the good old days in Chinatown. The Minced Duck was a well prepared dish with good contrasts of cold lettuce and hot duck. The soup was a disaster. It was simply tasteless, and quite frankly a waste of perfectly good palate.
Entrees included Chicken Casserole in Black Bean Sauce, Scallops in Peppercorn Sauce, Roast Pork with Stringbeans in a Hoisin Sauce, and Shrimp in Lobster Sauce with Pan Fried Noodles. I could not wait to try the Shrimp dish, but was I ever dissapointed. What I imagined this dish to be could not have been further from reality. The sauce was a Cantonese style egg sauce which I did not care for. The noodles were like Ramen noodles that come in a microwavable bowl. It does get better from here. The Chicken Casserole was tasty, and the Roast Pork was reorderable. The stand out of the night was by far the Scallops. This was one very delicious seafood dish.
As always, I enjoyed the company, and the usual laughter that comes with it. Fortune Wheel is a good, authentic Chinese restaurant. I would like to go back and discover some more dishes. I have a sneaky suspicion that FW is one of those restaurants where the Chinese get one menu, and everyone else gets another. So, if you have Chinese friends, invite them. If not, make some. It will probably go a long way at Fortune Wheel.
Fondly,
Mee Tsu Yan
P.S. Our next restaurant is Lotus Garden in Farmingdale, a recommendation that came from some of our followers. Help us with Our Quest, keep the recommendations coming!
I am Carole's husband and I would like to add that for most of my 79 years, I have fit the bill of a Chinese food lover so I might add that Kwong Ming has the best shrimp with lobster sauce on LI and Flushing as well. The takeout versions of this dish are poorly made ie overcooked shrimp, lobster or egg sauce without bits of pork for flavoring. Kwong Ming has none of these failings. Large,fresh shrimp cooked just right that their freshness is evident to the taste.Go for lunch: it's cheaper, just as good if a bit smaller and a great value. Would you believe this old style Chinese restaurant has hung since the sixties has hung on with the last good review (to my knowledge) being given by Barbara rader, Newsday's food critic in the sixties and seventies.
You’re right brotha! It did seem like a Flushing or a Jackson Heights restaurant. Good eye!