Took my birthday honey to Mon Jin Lau in Troy for his birthday. We wanted a nice outdoor patio but the weather was so hot. This summer was unusually hot!! We were both feeling like Asian food so we headed to Mon Jin Lau. This post is entitled “One Night in Bangkok” because that was the name of the two dangerous martini’s I had that night. Just two, but boy was my head pounding the next day.
We started going to Mon Jin Lau recently. It had been years since I had been there. We found the food a step up from the carryout places around us. My go to chinese take out, Ho Wah is just ok. I wish we had more options near to us. The manager at Ho Wah can be, well lets say, abrasive. Funny thing about Mon Jin Lau, no matter what day, what time we go, when they ask if we have a reservation, and we say no, the answer is ALWAYS the same, “ok, we have table, but only if you can be out by 7” or 8 or 9, depends on what time we get there. They seem to always give us an hour, hour and a half.
For dinner, we split a few dishes. Egg rolls, chicken fried rice, Marco Polo lo mein and Mongolian beef, spicy. The egg rolls were hot and crispy, with just the right amount of filling. The chicken fried rice flavorful. The Marco Polo lo mein is a bit of a disappointment. With lobster, Chicken, Bean Sprouts, Snow Peas, Mushrooms, Bamboo Shoots, Water Chestnuts, Pan Fried Noodles you would think it would be bursting with flavor but it was underwhelming. The Mongolian beef was tasty, but did not come with rice, presumably due to the crispy noodles in it. I was happy to have the chicken fried rice.
As it was Omar’s birthday, Mon Jin Lau celebrates by making you wear a super creepy, probably cootie filled mask, and gives you a free sundae. No singing, just the odd “out this mask on and we will take your picture” as you can see by our creepy mask pictures.
Wednesday night they also have this club called “Shanghai Wednesdays”. They have some techno dj come in and the most unusual people start arriving. Girls in tiny dresses and spiked heels and guys in open collared shirts, unbuttoned for their hair and chains to show. I have not experienced this portion of the evening, but looking at the crowd, I don’t have the wardrobe for it.
We will go back, and we recommend you try it. The food is decent. Price not too outrageous. We give it 6 spoons up out of 10.
