SEATTLE’S NEW and ambitious architectural curiosities have a cultural competitor to contend with, that, physically speaking, is little more than a big wall of cinder blocks. It’s called the Great Wall Mall, and like its namesake in China, the wall may not be pretty, but it’s what’s inside that counts–and the Great Wall Mall is home to some of the best Chinese food around.
Chinese ranks with French as one of the most highly developed cuisines, but you would never know it at most of the Chinese places in town. The last decade has seen Los Angeles’ San Gabriel Valley become a mecca for Chinese immigrants, bringing with them some of the best Chinese food outside of Asia. Seattle seems to be getting the overflow, with a rapidly expanding Asian population of 150,000 within a 15-mile radius of the Great Wall. Actually, you’ll have to travel out of Seattle proper to experience the wonders of the Great Wall: It’s in a warehouse-filled corner of Kent, around the block from IKEA.
The literal cornerstone of this culinary monolith is the Imperial Garden Seafood restaurant, where the elegant simplicity of the interior reflects the food served in it. The Cantonese food here is the delicate, essential, and relatively light food of the southern coast, where a meal is likely to consist of a fish pulled out of the tank and gently steamed, roasted meats, delicacies like braised shark’s fin soup, and sophisticated vegetables like sautéed snow peas and lily bulbs with scallops. Peking Duck, though not strictly Cantonese, was a special recently: $9.98 for a course. The price seemed too good to be true, and in fact we were only served the “first course” of crispy skin. Don’t be disappointed if this happens to you. The skin is a savory delicacy full of flavor, texture, and richness, and it’s served with handmade pancakes to wrap it in. Ask for “two courses” if you want the meat too. If you’re there in the daytime, you’ll discover the best dim sum around: big, almost translucent dumplings filled with prawns or lobster, a pan-fried version with just vegetables, dense but slightly crispy radish cake, and dozens of other fantastic choices.
The other restaurants in the mall provide a culinary tour of Asia, with stops in Japan, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, and two or three regions of China. Taiwan is represented by the wonderful 1-6-8 Restaurant. After an initial bout of non-communication with the bewildered waitress, the English-speaking busboy was sent to take our order. He thankfully didn’t object when we picked “Fried Tofu of Strong Odor” ($4.75) to go with the green vegetable of the day. The innocuous-looking cubes of fried tofu drizzled with a mushroomy brown sauce had a familiar but confusingly unidentifiable scent of stale urine and locker-room funk mixed with a pungently fragrant perfume. It was strange and we loved it.
I define a great city by its great food, but if your definition encompasses being able to buy international gadgets and gewgaws, the Great Wall Mall has plenty of stores to keep you satisfied. Auto Freak looks like a sex shop, but the brightly colored toys are all car accessories from Japan. The Bowie Gift Shop had, alas, no Ziggy Stardust wigs, but plenty of Pokémon desk accessories. There’s also a great rock shop with Chinese scholar’s stones and crystal balls. If you just want to bring food home, the centerpiece of the mall is the chaotic (on the weekends) 99 Ranch Supermarket, where you can pick out a live fish and have it gutted, scaled, and even deep-fried while shopping for the rest of your own Asian meal.
Exhausted after the surfeit of food and the cacophony of shopping, we took tea at the exquisitely peaceful Imperial Tea Court. For only $5 per person we sat for hours listening to Chinese classical music, sipping a brew that sells for over $200 a pound. It’s a little embarrassing that a mall that’s not even in the city has the best Chinese food in Seattle, but fabulous food in the unlikeliest setting can put a place on the map.
Great Wall Mall
18230 E Valley Highway, Kent. Mall open 9 am-9 pm; some restaurants open later.
Imperial Garden Seafood, 425-656-0999, 9 am-10 pm. $$
1-6-8 Restaurant, 425-251-1896, 11 am-midnight. $$
Imperial Tea Court, 425-251-8191, 10 am-8 pm.
$
Price Scale (per entrée)
$ = $10 and under; $$ = $10-$20; $$$ = $20 and up.