Thursday, November 20, 2008

FOR YOU "FOODIES" WHO DON'T MIND TRAVELING

“And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:” (Luke 15:23)

I am 99% sure I posted a piece about the Dragon Palace Chinese restaurant in Troy, New Hampshire on the blog a couple of years ago, but I’m just too lazy to check the archives. (If someone is ambitious and WANTS to check the archives, go right ahead!). I know I have a lot of friends, acquaintances and other readers who are not born-again Christians and have little interest in Scripture or prayer. I truly feel sorry for you, but I certainly AM aware that’s the case. The NEXT posting is of more interest to spiritually minded folks, but THIS one is of interest to ANY “foodies” in New England of any religious or spiritual persuasion (or not) who like to travel. I know it seems weird that there would be a GREAT Chinese restaurant in the middle of nowhere in rural southwestern New Hampshire, but THERE IS!

I found the Dragon Palace on my way home from Pilgrim Pines Conference Center (just south of Keene, NH) a couple of years ago. I stopped in for lunch again today on my way home from the “Vision New England Pastors’ Prayer Summit”. What a great lunch!

The Dragon Palace is just a few feet off Route 12 in Troy, New Hampshire. If you’re heading North, it’s on your right. It’s probably about 15 miles north of the state line at Winchendon, Massachusetts and it’s probably about 80 miles one way from Framingham. The restaurant is in a strip mall. The Troy, NH post office is in the same strip mall. If you’re picturing some run down take-out joint that sits 7 people around beat-up tables, you’re mental picture is ALL WRONG. The Dragon Palace is at the far left end of the strip mall. There’s a very attractive dining room that seats over 60 people. Looking out the dining room windows is a great view of Mount Monadinock. There is NO buffet. However, the portions are pretty generous and the food is GREAT. I’m quite the Chinese food person. I have not had any Chinese food in the Framingham area that compares with the Dragon Palace. From the luncheon specials menu, I ordered General Gau’s chicken, boneless spareribs, and pork fried rice. The General Gau’s chicken was very, very good; possibly the best General Gau’s I’ve had anywhere. The fried rice was high quality and quite tasty. The boneless spareribs were a bit dry, but also very tasty. The tea was HOT and very good. The service was a little slow. There was only one waiter for a weekday lunch, but he was polite and attentive. The waiter served me very tasty noodles to munch on while I was waiting for my meal, and a fortune cookie came with the check. (Some Chinese restaurants are actually cutting back and no longer offer fortune cookies with lunch.)

I used the restroom and it was pretty clean. I wish we had a restaurant like this MUCH closer to Framingham. Anytime you’re going to or from the Keene, NH/Mount Monadinock area, I recommend that you stop in at the Dragon Palace. You will not be disappointed!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

yes, but was the rice full of sprouts and other useless things?

Bob Baril said...

Rachel ("oingrbg") there were 2 broccoli sprouts (or whatever you call them) as "garnish" on the plate. While the rice was NOT like the Sampan or Kihei rice that you like, it would be far more to your liking than (say) the rice from Cherry Blossom. (I suppose those who are not from our family have no idea what I am writing about!)