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Looking for an interesting Chinese restaurant in Flushing, NY, to dine with my new friend, Mee Rey Nah, I discovered JUQI, which is located in the Tangram Mall. Pro Tip: It’s in the mall. They don’t mention that on their website.
The Tangram Mall is located at 133-36 37th Avenue, Queens, NY 11354. There are some interesting stores in the mall you might want to check out while you are there. Reasonably priced parking is available from the College Point Boulevard entrance. However, I must warn you, checking out of the mall is quite a process, involving QR codes and scanning the receipt. There isn’t an attendee at the exit gate.
JUQI is located on the lower level. You’ll notice it when you see the ornate entrance:
They’re very welcoming!
The interior is even more striking! They divide the seating area into smaller nooks and crannies. They even have lots of private dining rooms for larger parties. It’s really stunning.
Would our dinner be equally as stunning? If the speed at which the food was served was any indication, it was shocking! Almost as soon as we ordered our food, it was brought to our table. Perhaps a little too quickly!
As for the menu, you’re given a large tablet that serves as the menu and your ordering system. Each “page” only had a few items. Great pics! But what I found disconcerting is that, since so few items were presented on each screen and they have a very extensive menu, it’s hard to decide what to order. It was a little overwhelming. The Juqi menu features authentic Beijing-style cuisine, with vegan and vegetarian options.
Almost immediately, we were served:
Suzhou Soy Sauce Chicken – This dish was ornately presented. The chicken was served cold. Fair warning, there are a lot of small bones in each piece. I found the flavor to be underwhelming. The chicken itself was delicious.
Creamy Saute – Scored squid, Flounder, Chicken thigh, Shrimp, Pork tenderloin, Scallops, Milk egg. This was a delightful dish.
Rice Rice Baby!
A usual accompaniment of white rice did not come with the two dishes because you have to order a separate stand-alone order of rice. We chose to order one of the “fancy” rice dishes. After some careful contemplation and collaboration, we ordered the XO Sauce Seafood Fried Rice. And, we were so glad that we chose so wisely. This dish stole the meal. Yup! Rice. This was so flavorful. It easily could have been the whole meal. YUM!
The images above aren’t a fair representation of the size of this dish. They’re HUGE!
Fully sated, we were ready to call it a night. The bill was less than I expected, and off we went into the night with some leftovers.
Humbly submitted for your consumption,
—Mee Magnum (“Chop! Chop!”)
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