vinh hoa

9600 bellaire blvd #126 @ corporate
dynasty plaza

i love making the trek out to chinatown to this place for lunch whenever possible. hands down one of the best lunch deals in houston. all items on the lunch menus are $4.25 each monday - saturday (until 2:30 or 3 pm). there are 2 lunch menus, 1 chinese (39 items), 1 vietnamese (16 items). i've only ordered from the chinese menu.

this is a pretty typical mom and pop type of place in chinatown. they specialize in fresh seafood so the dining room contains numerous fish tanks full of various live fish, lobsters, geoduck clams, frogs, etc. my mother says they own a seafood wholesale operation which is how they are able to offer their seafood at such low prices.

not to be missed:

• crisp fried whole rex sole fish (listed on the dinner menu for $16.95)
• salt toasted shrimp

other good items:

• shrimp, scallop, squid sauteed with tofu
• crisp, deep-fried "desert storm" chicken ($8.25 at dinner)
• stir-fried ong choy (vietnamese spinach)
• manila clams sauteed with black bean sauce
• sliced beef w/green onion

my friend and i usually (over)order 4 or 5 dishes and take the leftovers home b/c it is such a great bargain. the fish was so wonderful last time, we may order 1 fish each the next time and couple other dishes to share.

their regular menu has set menus for groups of 4 to 10 people. my friends and i had the seafood dinner for 6. it was a bargain at $98 w/o tax & tip and included:

• crab meat w/fish maw soup
• shrimp, scallop, squid sauteed w/tofu
• salty toasted shrimp
• manila clams sauteed w/black bean sauce
• dungeness crab sauteed with XO sauce
• lobster sauteed w/ginger & scallions
• steamed fresh tilapia fish
• stir-fried chinese broccoli
• fruit