chef liu’s

It’s been far far too long since I’ve written about food on here. My time is getting ever more precious to me so it’s been difficult for me to take the time to write about food experiences over using that time to paint or do a quick outfit post. So here I am to remedy that, with my thoughts on Chef Liu’s.

People come to me frequently for restaurant suggestions, but really.. I don’t have as many as you think. Yes, I’m adventurous and yes I love to experience new things and explore Atlanta. But I, much like you, have only a handful of tried and true go-to spots. It’s partly due to financial constraints and partly due to the comfort of convenience.

Asian food is quite obviously essential to my weekly dining. I’m no expert on cooking Asian food myself (apart from random stir frying), so what ends up happening is I have a few key restaurants on rotation to get my fix. Though I’m more partial to Vietnamese food by nature (and childhood upbringing), every now and then I just neeeeed Chinese. Like… better than stupid takeout Chinese. So I’m always on the hunt for a good Chinese restaurant that can cook correctly and leave me feeling satiated without feeling like a grease face. Chef Liu’s is one such place.

As you can see by these photos, we were hungry and ordered way more than we could finish. But of course that gives us the upside of leftovers, which is almost required when eating family style Asian. From what I can remember, we ordered pork intestines, jellyfish salad, cold spicy noodles, dumplings, beef stew, and some sort of chicken chow fun deal. Whatever, you can use your eyes. 

I had absolutely no idea that the pork intestines was going to be my favorite dish. Color me crazy, but maybe I just love gooey chewy fibrous meat? Not maybe… definitely. It was salty and sweet and kind of addictive – exactly how I like my Chinese food. Everything else was hitting a different spot, each of us four all loving something different. And while Chef Liu’s is known for some damn good dumplings, they couldn’t knock out my personal #1, Beijing Kebabs. But I can’t deny that they were indeed pretty good.

To sum it up, put it on your list of to-dos! Chef Liu’s is not too far up Buford Highway and makes for a great, easy, cheap-ish family meal. If you have a big group with the collective yearning for rice, noodles, and good stuffs, this is the perfect place to be.

Do you know of any other Chinese (or any other kind of Asian) restaurants I should be trying? Help me expand my cultural landscape!