Full Kee

Posted by Edmund in Chinese, Fast Food, Restaurants, Washington, DC | 0 comments

Cuisine: Authentic Chinese.
Location: 509 H Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20001-2619.
Price: Dishes run from about $8-$16. Portions are extremely generous.

I ran into Full Kee almost by accident. I had heard reviews stating just how authentic, delicious, and cheap this Chinese restaurant was, but I wasn’t about to make my way out to Chinatown simply for a couple of authentic Chinese dishes.

However, when I was heading to Philadelphia for a run of the local cheesesteak scene (reviews forthcoming!), not only was my bus stop in Chinatown, but it happened to be located literally right in front of Full Kee. It was as if the meeting had been divinely ordained. At first, I hesitated. My bus was already late, and I didn’t want to take the chance of waiting 15 minutes for Chinese food only to have to leave before I could get it.

But there was something quaint/charming about Full Kee that kept on drawing me back. It may have just been the huge, dead ducks that were hanging in the front—an ever-present reminder that Full Kee offers no-frills dining with only the freshest ingredients. Or it may have been the crowds of people, including many of non-Chinese descent, who were gorging themselves, licking their lips after every bite. I knew I should resist: I was going to have a night full of cheesesteaks, and my stomach wasn’t going to thank me for the extra load of Chinese food. Something told me I just had to try it, though, and so I ordered a couple dishes to go.

Unfortunately, the food wasn’t quite as astounding as I had hoped, though it depends on the dish. I picked a noodle and a meat dish, both somewhat of a house specialty (though Full Kee adamantly refuses to offer any recommendations or say it has any “best” dishes).

The House Special Lo Mein was, surprisingly, extremely good. For something so cheap (about $10), this was one of the best Lo Meins I’ve had in a long time. Everything was served piping hot—as it should be—with all the juices running out and mixing with the water to make a delicious broth that drenched the whole thing and kept it warm. The noodles themselves were extremely flavorful, as they had a very heavy yolky taste, which balanced the savoriness of all the meat. It was in the meat that the dish really shined, though. The noodles had shrimp, chicken, and beef, but all of them were cooked excellently so that they were chewy, tender, and just gushing with their natural juices. Best of all, everything tasted fresh, which is something I normally don’t get in cheap, Chinese food. I wasn’t left with a heavy oiliness, but rather a nice savoriness. Score: 4.3/5.0

Considering how good the Lo Mein was, I thought the Chicken Peking Style would be amazing as well, especially since it’s made with the house special mushroom sauce. It was, however, very disappointing. It felt like I was eating a large dish of broccoli, baby corn, and chicken drenched in some flavorless soy sauce. I do admit that the vegetables were nice and tender from all the moisture, and the mushrooms especially stood out. Still, the sauce itself wasn’t notable in any way—it had only a hint of mushroom and some spice, and it felt tacked on. That wasn’t the big failure of the dish, though. It was, instead, the very thing that had made the last dish so great: the meat. The meat was, in a word, boring. It was fried way too much, making it somewhat hard but not crispy. Because of the hardness and the oiliness of the fried exterior, it was difficult to really appreciate the chicken’s flavor, which didn’t come through at all. Score: 1.0/5.0

As a side note, while I didn’t get the restaurant experience, I did have a chance to see the whole restaurant, and it was as bare as it sounds. All I saw were bland white walls and a small dining room. The only decorations were a few large gold-embossed Chinese characters on the back wall. I can also imagine the dead ducks being offsetting for less adventurous eaters, though I’m perfectly at home in that type of environment, especially since in this case the restaurant seemed rather clean.

Overall, I can’t give a full-hearted recommendation for Full Kee. To be fair, I only tried a couple of the dishes, and one of the dishes was indeed fantastic. However, I’m left feeling that, contrary to all the claims that this food is the most authentic and delicious in town, it depends on the dish, and many will be left with the same type of cloyingly greasy, fatty heaviness of typical Chinese food in America.

Scores

Ambience: 1.0/5.0
Service: N/A
Taste: 2.6/5.0
Value: 3.5/5.0
Overall: 2.5/5.0. 2.9 for fast food/takeout.