Mango Garden - San Jose

Lunch deal - free entree for a group of 6

Apparently this restaurant has been opened for a year. And to celebrate their 1 year anniversary they have a deal right now. For a group of 6 people, they would take the price of 1 entree off (the lowest price entree). Look at the picture of the flyer for more details.

Anyhow hubby loves Hainamese chicken rice and when I yelped it I found out that this restaurant serves chicken rice as well. So off we went on a Saturday afternoon. It was a late afternoon lunch - after 2 pm. So I was surprised to see that the place was actually very busy. Almost all the tables by the walls and windows were taken. So we got a table in the middle of the room. The layout of the tables weren't very good. It's good for parties of many people because they could accommodate on their long row of tables joined together. But the tables were quite close to each other so less privacy for a party of two like  us.



Hubby got his Hainamese chicken rice and I ordered chow kwe tiau which is stir fry rice noodle. Our ice water were brought to us as soon as we sat down along with a small jug of ice water with lemon. That was actually a nice touch instead of the waiters have to keep on coming back to fill up your water.

Roti canai on the house - the curry was da bomb

While waiting for our order we were brought a platter of roti canai with a small bowl of curry on the side. I was puzzled because we didn't order but the waiter told us that it was on the house. Oh...I wonder whether because it was their anniversary. But it was a nice gesture. I didn't try the roti canai because I was on my (*sigh*) glutten-free diet. I tried the curry though and it was awesome. It had enough spiciness and very fragrant. I wish they would share their recipe.

chow kwe tiau made with rice noodle, prawn, squid, bean sprout and chives

The chow kwe tiau that came out later looked and smelled right. One of a good indication of stir fry noodle is the slight smoky flavor. This chow kwe tiau passed on that. It had a decent size prawn and squid. It also has crunchiness of the bean sprout and fragrant of the chives. The only thing missing at that point was chili sauce. I asked the waiter for chili sauce and was surprised that instead of the standard sambal sauce we were brought a belachan chili sauce. Belachan chili sauce is made of roasted fermented prawn with ground chili and onion. With the belachan chili sauce, my chow kwe tiau had reached the highest level of chow kwe tiau ...EVER.

I wonder if we could ask for it to be fried together with the kwe tiau next time.

Hainam chicken rice - tons of chicken

Hubby's chicken rice came in a nice platter. A huge amount of chicken considering the price. The rice - a yellowish color rice - came in a small bowl along with it. He was glad that the chicken was boneless though the skin was still on. I guess some people like their chicken with skin. I tried the chicken with the rice and it was pretty decent. Though the chicken was a bit chewy. The rice wasn't fragrant enough and a bit dry. But all in all was a good combination with the chicken. The ginger sauce was good but the chili sauce was something straight out of a bottle.

It was a good meal and we will be back with a bigger party next time so we could try out more dishes. So I hope that this restaurant last till next time.

Mango Garden
6154 Bollinger Rd, San Jose, CA 95129
(408) 446-4440
mangogardenonline.com