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It's been some time since I last visited P.F.Chang's, but those of you who have been reading my reviews from the beginning know that City Centre Beirut's restaurant is a favorite of mine. I've had several lunches and dinners with a perfect experience every time. Smoky waiters, welcoming managers, generous portions, flavorful food, a soothing ambiance and a good experience is always guaranteed.
Dinner started with taking our order, distributing the drinks before the waiter approached to prepare the special P.F.Chang's sauce. (White vinegar, soy sauce, chili oil, chili paste, pot stickers sauce, and hot mustard)
It's a coincidence and I love it, P.F.Chang's launched their new menu. A fresh menu with photos, some items have been removed and others added. Things are clearer and you can order by looking at the photos. We were also told that another update with even more photos was coming soon.
To my ultimate surprise:
- Special plates started landing on the table. Special because P.F.Chang's has the opportunity to prepare food differently, in clean woks for people with allergies. Plates that look different, prepared in special areas back in the kitchen. If you have an allergy, make sure to let your waiter know.
Good to know:
- Almost everything contains garlic, but you can ask for yours to be cooked without it.
- Chinese or sushi, you can choose your meal from two distinct menus.
The Beirut City Centre branch Signature in few lines:
- You feel the modern creativity all by maintaining the authentic Chinese ambiance.
- Terracotta Chinese warriors decorate the four corners of the restaurant.
- Two big horses protect the entrance.
- The painted mural is a unique design found in each of P.F Chang's locations around the world: This one is the story of a dragon that attacked the city than turned into a man... Ask one of the waiters to give it to you in details.
- 70 members of staff move around in a synchronized way: They are wearing three different shirts. Blue are the trainers, black are the waiters and red are the runners.
- The place has a total of 328 seats Search for the famous lucky cat hidden around the bottles in the middle of the bar.
The menu sections: Starters, Soup & Salads, Sides, Chicken, Duck, Beef & lamb, Seafood, Noodles & Rice Drinks
Dinner was memorable:
- Dynamite Shrimp LBP23,000: A cup of flavorful battered shrimp with an explosive spicy sauce. A true favorite. One of the best dishes Chinese restaurants have to offer, a martini glass filled with shrimp everyone has tried to copy. Shrimp covered with a unique sauce, tender and moist shrimp in a thin, battered envelope, a light faded sweetness and an explosive, but tolerable, spiciness that travels with you for a long time. That's a kicker!
- Salt and pepper calamari LBP21,000: Delicious, soft calamari strips battered and tossed in the wok with scallions and a salt and pepper mix. Served with special chili bean sauce. Small pieces of shrimp look like battered rounded fingers, with their light white color and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Chip-like, chewy and enjoyable, a taste of calamari, salt and freshness... A great start.
- Pepper steak LBP30,000: Thin pieces of wok-cooked beef with green and red bell peppers, onions, garlic and black pepper. Thin, very thin and tender, slices of meat marinated to perfection in their sauce and mixed with green and red pepper squares. Prepared without garlic, the sauce is just perfect. Peppery, spicy and amazingly flavorful.
- Kung Pao Shrimp LBP35,000: The classic Chinese fish from the Sichuan and Hunan regions with a twist. A savory shrimp with peanuts and chili pods. A mountain of fried juicy and tender shrimp mixed with peanuts, celeries and chili red pepper. Lightly salty sauce with some fine textures, the crunch of the peanuts, the extreme spiciness of the chili and smoothness of those majestic shrimp. I loved it.
- Ginger chicken with Broccoli LBP27,000: Thin slices of chicken cooked in a vegetable stock and enriched with ginger and scallions. Served with steamed broccoli. Boiled chicken, not fried or battered, mixed in vegetable stock, served in a round plate surrounded by cooked broccoli. The ginger is not felt much and the chicken is juicy and feels light. The tasty sauce, fresh and crunchy broccoli and the chicken are all great.
- DanDan Noodles LBP21,000: Noodles with fresh egg noodles topped with a portion of spicy ground chicken and a dark sauce, finished with bean sprouts and cold cucumber slices to cool the palate. It looks nice and seems interesting as you start mixing it all together but the noodles are over tender and sticky while the sauce feels too heavy. Not my favorite.
Dinner ended with a complementary dessert. Banana Spring Rolls 19,000L.L: (Six pieces of banana rolled in cinnamon and sugar then wrapped in a wonton and fried. They come out crisp and warm enough to complement the heaping scoops of vanilla ice cream placed in the middle) Vanilla ice cream, crunchy spring rolls with banana inside.
The pluses: The service is excellent. The plates are beautiful. The food is exquisite. The place is beautiful.
All is good at P.F.Chang’s. The service is good, the staff is welcoming, and the food is flavorful. It’s a personal favorite.
