East meets West as Hot Wok Cafe sizzles

You'd be forgiven for thinking you were entering something other than a Chinese restaurant when you walk through the Hot Wok Cafe's front door. The reception area and dining room are spotlessly clean, the tables have tablecloths and are graced with knives, forks and classic western wineglasses, and the walls are free of chintzy fake-lacquer art.

Owners John King and his wife, Sara, opened the restaurant after moving from Colorado three years ago, but the first bites of their cooking dispel any worries that a western atmosphere and stint in the American West portend a poor command of the Chinese kitchen.

The Hot Wok Cafe does a particularly good job with its duck, a meat often cooked until it is parched and redolent of shoe-leather. The sizzled duck crepe is delightful shredded duck and scallions wrapped in a flaky tofu skin (not at all reminiscent of the tofu chunks cooked into Chinese main courses) and pan-fried until crisp. Topped with sweet duck sauce, the crepe makes a delicious appetizer once you overcome your surprise at seeing the crepes served on narrow slivers of bread. I also recommend the Hot Wok duck special, a half a duck cooked until crispy but not dry, and served on the bone with eggplant and other Chinese vegetables.

The dumpling appetizer consists of six canolli-shaped Chinese dumplings. Wonton wrappers are rolled around a shrimp-chicken-vegetable stuffing that spills out both ends, but the Hot Wok's dumplings taste traditional when doused with soy sauce. The salad that comes as an accompaniment is bland, marinated seaweed intended more for appearance than consumption.

I found the Hot Wok Cafe's eggplant dishes something of a disappointment. Despite the menu's praise for the Chinese Eggplant Combination — a beautiful plate piled with shrimp, an eight-inch long sea creature the menu described as "calamari" and the namesake eggplant — the too-sour and astringent sauce smothered any eggplant or seafood flavors the dish might have had. As the friend who accompanied me on my second trip to the restaurant commented, "It looks good."

I also found the sha cha beef somewhat banal, sauteed beef with bell peppers and onions, and covered with a wholly unremarkable sweetish and ever-so-slightly spicy brown sauce. If you enjoy a burning sensation on your tongue, you will have to strong-arm the chef into adding extra chili peppers; even the starred dishes don't register more than a hint of culinary heat.

Hot Wok Cafe serves superb orange beef, close to the best I have tasted. The kitchen balances the sweet and sour of the fresh oranges with chili peppers to create a dish that is tender and flavorful without letting the orange flavor become overpowering. I certainly will be returning for this dish, and it by itself justifies a trip to the restaurant.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the review, the atmosphere is decidedly not that of a typical Chinese dive. The restaurant is clean and subdued, and chopsticks are available only by request. The dishes themselves, all colorful and presented beautifully, contribute to an upscale-suburban atmosphere while the patrons are generally middle-aged, verging on elderly. Do not let that deter you, however. Hot Wok Cafe will make sure that you feel welcome. The dining room is marred only by the soda fountain, which lines one wall, and the service is uniformly polite and attentive. John and Sara should give lessons to the waiters at other Chinese restaurants.

Just 10 minutes away from campus in West Windsor, Hot Wok Cafe is great for a night away from Princeton, and is more interesting than the grandiose Route 1 chain behemoths. Overall, the food is on par with or slightly better than Tiger Noodles, the best of the in-town Chinese restaurants, while the atmosphere is an order of magnitude more pleasant. You do pay something for the atmosphere; the dinner menu is slightly more expensive than what you can find in town. Expect to pay $8-$15 for an entree. The lunch specials are a terrific value at less than six dollars apiece. If you want to bum a ride off a friend, the friend will not be disappointed with the meal. Otherwise the restaurant does offer free delivery for orders more than $25.

To get to the Hot Wok Cafe, take Washington Road east and cross over Route 1. Washington Road jogs left just before the Princeton Junction train station; make sure you remain on Washington Road. Continue to the second light, Clarksville Road — you will see West Windsor High School at the intersection. Turn right on Clarksville Road and continue 1.5 miles down; the restaurant is on the right.