No, that is NOT a summary of the weather, my attitude and my language. It is actually a phrase denoting approbation for Gran China at San José 1077 in Centro. Yes, there is actually a Chinese restaurant that offers something other than Cantonese bland and Urguayo Cantonese double bland…
You may recall that a few weeks ago Borko and I tried to lunch at Gran China but ended up being too late and doing burned meat and raw fish instead.
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Today we made it. I was actually able to get Borko up and out the door in time for us to arrive in Centro before 2PM.
Our repast was wonderful. We had hot and sour soup (for me), wonton soup (for Borko), 12 steamed pork dumplings (which were marvelous—even Borko admitted they “weren’t bad”—from Borko the only thing better than not bad is “authentic Serbian”), the house special friend rice, sweet and sour beef (for Borko) and spicy chicken (for me—it was very nearly Kung Pao). We topped it off with Cokes and water (yes, they had real Coke, not the sweetened mud).
The hot and sour soup was slightly spicy, but you could really notice it and the spicy chicken left a pleasant burn in your mouth—not a Thai pepper burn, or a 5 alarm chili burn, but a pleasant sensation that didn’t require instant amelioration.
The total tab was UY$905. Not cheap for most food in Uruguay, but not out of line for Chinese food here, and certainly worth it to have something approaching Szechuan.
Gran China is a small store front, two tables wide with a aisle between them. It is obviously a Mom and Pop place—not fancy, but really good. And the menu is also in English which is reasonably comprehensible—you just have to understand that Chinese ravioli means dumplings…and other things like that.
On a world wide scale, I give it 3 stars; but for Uruguay Chinese food it is 5+.
Gran China — San José 1077 entre Río Negro y Paraguay — Centro — Tel: 9082029
