Chang's Hot Wok

Hot Wok Part Deux!  Yes, its true folks.  Hot Wok has come back from the ashes to rise again.  Ok, not literally, and definitely no pun intended.  I guess the story is that one of the two chef brothers that used to run Hot Wok in Schaumburg died.  2 years passed and so the other brother has now decided to avenge the family name by opening this new location and catering to Muslims yet again.  The bitter-sweet news is that only the chicken is zabihah according to inside sources.

The gauge I used to see if the quality was similar or the same was the Szechwan Chicken.  Red? Check. Mildly thick? Check. Sweet and Spicy? Check.  It passes.  Is it exactly the way it used to be at the previous location, no, but is it close enough to still be worth of ordering.  My new favorite now however, is no longer the Szechwan Chicken.  Its the Manchurian Chicken dry.  At the previous location and at other locations, I've found they put way too much Manchurian in it.  Ok, thats not exactly an ingredient, but thats the best way to describe it.  I think its too much cilantro.  But yes, it was amazing.  The ingredients were perfectly proportioned to the meat, it wasn't dry or burnt, very succulent and downright delicious.

We went out to eat in a party of 8, so everyone ordered a different dish.  This proves to be extremely useful to owning a blog.  One of the dishes worthy of noting was the mango chicken.  In my opinion, worthy of trying, but not reordering.  Its not mango, its the stage before mango (kari for the desi readers, raw mango for the non-desi).  

Overall, the place is clean and pretty well decorated, not sure why they were playing music from the early 90s.  Nice to see they stuck with the fish tank in the wall with the bulbous-headed koi/goldfish.  The young-in was amused thoroughly.  

Spice Card

Atmosphere: A

Staff/Waiter: A-

Food: A