I woke up an hour early, at 5:22AM, and KNEW I was eating China Cottage for dinner. China Cottage is hands down the BEST Chinese restaurant in Houston…#letsargue 😂. Their food is amazing, and they’re prompt, friendly, and professional. Having found them online 6 years ago while randomly searching for Chinese food near my job, it was love at 1st bite! After trying nearly every item on the menu, I finally found my favorite; General Tso’s chicken, extra spicy, no soup, and a pork eggroll instead of the complementary vegetable eggroll. In no time, I was walking around the office of 200+ people, calling in 20-40 separate orders DAILY…OUT OF CONTROL!🤣 Fortunately for us, the Director at the time, Carie, loved China Cottage as well and didn’t fuss too much as I was multitasking as a waiter lol!
These days, I’m far too busy to even place an order for myself, let alone a group so on my way home, I placed an order for cheese puffs, pork eggrolls, and General Tso’s SAUCE…that’s right, I said sauce! I already had 2 chicken breasts thawing in the fridge and figured alternatively, I could just DIY my favorite Chinese dish instead.
I arrived at China Cottage and am immediately greeted with hugs from the owner and her husband. Since I typically order online, it’s usually a celebration whenever I stop in, usually 2 or 3 times a year. We catch up and discuss how well business has been going since we began patronizing them years ago. We hug once more and then I leave with my small order with the hopes of recreating my Chinese favorite.
I arrive home 40 minutes later and as usual, set my bags on the island and begin preparing the meal for my greedy yet grateful family.
Keeping weeknight meals simple is crucial. Often arriving home at 7pm, I prefer dinner to be served in 30-45 minutes making this an ideal meal! I already had some frozen vegetable fried rice which I sauteed in a bit of oil, added scrambled egg, some green and white onion, and a few broccoli florets…done.
I chopped the chicken and dredged in flour seasoned with only salt and pepper not wanting to compromise the flavor of my General Tso’s sauce. I deep fried the chicken in 2 batches and drained on paper towels.
Overall, the food was good but definitely not China Cottage. Although I enjoyed my culinary experience, I’ll just leave the General Tso’s to the experts and stick to my personal expertise…MEXICAN!
Angila Style! 