The Best Chinese Food In Philadelphia, And It Comes From A Truck

I know the topic is fluffy, and the story local, but let's speak some truth: the best Chinese food in Philly comes from Kim's Dragon.  Kim's Dragon is a truck.  And one of the great perks of teaching at Drexel and Penn (the two schools are continguous) is the proximity of this fine food.  I have long had a particular taste for spicy cuisine chinoise.   When I was fresh out of college, a paralegal at Heller, Ehrman (RIP), we would hustle over to Hunan Restaurant (now known as Henry's Hunan) at lunch.  The food was transcendent – and smokin' hot.  Later I discovered the food at the unprepossessing Hunan on Haight, which served an awesome black bean chicken.  That was a long time ago – 1984-87 – but I remain on a perpetual hunt for excellent spicy Chinese food. 

Cut to Kim's Dragon, which parks on Ludlow Street,  an alley behind Bossone Research Enterprise Center – also know known as Drexel's I.M. Pei building.  The alley is truly a restaurant row, in a vehicular vein; there are probably ten different trucks vending foods of various sorts.  Kim's features a particularly delicious black bean sauce, but their Singapore noodles are excellent as well.  And in a turn that will please vegetarians, they offer a vegetarian hot and sour soup.  On this last point I think they fall short; it turns out that a good hot and sour requires the use of a little pig meat.  But hey: I thought Alabama was a gourmet eating state!

I can't vouch for the rest of the menu – and this Drexel Triangle review stands in stark oppostion to my impressions.  (For reviews of Penn food trucks, look here.) And I can't speak to the cleanliness of this food – the city restaurant inspector has been less than enthused by the truck's compliance with code.  But I reassure myself that trucks always carry a bit of extra health risk – how else can they serve such fine food at bargain basement prices? 

11 Comments

  1. Matt

    I'll have to look in to it then next time I'm in town. For truck Chinese I always went to, and greatly enjoyed, one of the "Lee Ahn" trucks. (I never remember if it's the "original" or the "real" that I like, but it's the one run by a couple and on North side of spruce street while the one I don't like is on the South side.) Cheap and yummy. If Kim's Dragon can beat it, it must be good.

  2. DB

    According to the Drexel Triangle Review: "I chose sweet and sour chicken, which also included fried rice, chicken lo mein, an egg roll." This reaks "I know nothing about Chinese food, so I ordered the most American-seeming things on the menu."

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    Hey when you get the opportunity, you should also visit the other singapore tourist attractions . What you have visited might have been good, but there are still a couple more attractions you can visit. The zoo, birdpark etc..

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    I can't vouch for the rest of the menu – and this Drexel Triangle review stands in stark oppostion to my impressions. (For reviews of Penn food trucks, look here.) And I can't speak to the cleanliness of this food – the city restaurant inspector has been less than enthused by the truck's compliance with code. But I reassure myself that trucks always carry a bit of extra health risk – how else can they serve such fine food at bargain basement prices?

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    Kim's appearance a decidedly adorable atramentous bean sauce, but their Singapore noodles are accomplished as well.

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    Very good day everyone! My name is Richard, I have a question for all, is there anything more delicious than a lunch with the family together?, I think not, and much more delicious if a dish like this. I commend the creators of this article, I would love to receive more information like this.

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