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ABC Chinese Restaurant

8720 Menaul Blvd. N.E.
Albuquerque, NM
(505) 292-8788

ABC Chinese Restaurant is one of the two places in Albuquerque reputed to serve authentic Chinese food (I have not yet tried the other one, Ming Dynasty). My initial visit to ABC with Gil Garduño, one of Albuquerque's premier dining critics and author of Gil's Thrilling (And Filling) Blog, persuaded me that this restaurant is deserving of its reputation.

We began the meal by ordering Ginger and Scallion Juke, a rice porridge flavored with ginger that is commonly served with dim sum (but almost never served in the "Americanized" Chinese restaurants). ABC has an "Americanized" menu with items such as chop suey and the po po platter. Although there are some interesting looking items on the menu, some of the more exciting Chinese dishes can be found on the blue menu, from which the juke was ordered.

The blue menu has the authentic Chinese dishes

For a main dish Gil and I opted for different versions of hot pots, also from the blue menu. My House Special Tofu Pot contained a brown sauce made with liberal amounts of garlic and ginger. The tofu was lightly fried and the medley of vegetables, including bok choy, had a flavor and texture of steamed vegetables. I was well satisfied with the quality of the hot pot dish, and Gil's B-B-Q Pork with Oyster Pot was quite delicious as well.

The hot Oolong Tea was high quality as well. It is actually a mixture of oolong, jasmine, and green tea that does not taste as sharp as regular oolong tea.

The specialty of the restaurant is Cantonese cuisine, which includes the hot pots and various seafood dishes. Other types of dishes are served, including a Korean menu. Judging from my meal, I suspect everything served is high quality. In my opinion, though, when restaurants such as ABC offer an opportunity that comes close to an authentic Chinese experience it should be seized upon, especially in the Southwest where gloppy and gooey Americanized Chinese food predominates.