Chinese Iron Wok Of Ri

Great food, and a staff that really cares. First, you should try the House Special Dumplings (I think they're maybe called "Szechuan Dumplings" on the menu). They're tiny bits of pork/green onion/other stuff in a half-moon shaped, very thin, wrapper, served with house-made soy sauce and some chopped garlicky stuff on top. Each of the 10 or 12 "dumpling" you get is probably 3/4 teaspoon of food, but it's about 100 watts of flavor. None of that gummy, thick wrapper around a lumpy meatball, swimming in a sheen of pork fat and hot water that you get when you order pot-stickers at many chinese restaurants -- these are subtle and delicate and wonderful things. And if you try them and you don't like them, tell Tom (the owner), and he'll ask you what you think will make them better. [In fact, if there's ANYthing you're unhappy with, talk with Tom -- he's incredibly dedicated to making his clients happy!]

If there's a vegetable special -- say "chinese water cabbage in special sauce" -- try that.

Our kids love the pepper-salt shrimp, which look almost like pieces of popcorn, and are served with long green beans that have a chopped herb on them that I can't identify, but I also can't get enough of.

There's also a cucumber-in-hot-oil dish that I love, and a mung-bean-noodle dish that's great, although not for everyone: the noodles are about 1/2" wide, about 1/16" thick, look sort of like long strips of thick plastic, and have almost a "crunch" when you bite into them. I love 'em (and the contrast of their mild flavor with the piquant sauce); you might not.

On a good day, the Ma Po Tofu rivals -- no, exceeds! -- anything I used to get in Berkeley, CA, and that's saying a lot.

And the spicy eggplant...sweet, and made with the lovely pale purple chinese eggplants... my mouth is watering, and I just FINISHED dinner.

While The Wok was in Seekonk, Tom also ran the Chinese Food Truck, which parked on Thayer Street near Brown. Any time between 11:30 AM and 1 PM you'd see a line of people waiting to get lunch from him. Probably half of the clientele ordered in Chinese, which was clearly their native language. That should tell you something.

By the way, almost all the dishes I've mentioned are vegetarian, but the meat dishes are just as good; as others have mentioned, the twice-cooked pork is great.

Be warned -- some of the dishes are prepared according to the a more Chinese style than you'd get in most american chinese restaurants. When a dish says it's got beef tendon in it, it really DOES have beef tendon. When it says that it's made with fatty pork, it'll have a LOT of fat compared with what you might expect. So perhaps you'd be well advised to order conservatively your first time, and experiment with a new dish each time you visit. If your taste buds are working, I think you'll be pretty darned happy.

One final note: even in summer, you might want to bring a sweater or light jacket; the restaurant is kept a little cooler than most places. Then again, maybe that's a good excuse to have some delicious chicken-and-rice soup, or the hot-pepper-chicken lunch special!…

Best Chinese Food in Providence. I do not dine out often. But when I do, I often go to Chinese Iron Wok. It was moved from Seekonk to East Side around the beginning of this year, with the same great food, and definitely better decor. Its Chinese history glass wall is fantastic.

The best thing, of course, is its food. Soup Dumpling, its new dish, is a great appetizer. If you like spicy food, Beef Shin in Red Chili Source (cannot remember the name exactly) is surely a worth-trying appetizer.

I enjoy lots of flavors, so when dining out with friends and family, I like to order a balanced meal - in terms of both flavors and type of foods. For example, double-cooked pork (spicy, mostly pork, with some vegetable), mango shrimp (sweet and sour, juicy), sauteed water spinach (vegan), Mapo Tofu (it can be served with meat or without meat).

I would recommend Chinese Iron Wok to every one who enjoys Chinese food.…