Long Island Restaurants

The Orient

At 10:30 on weekend mornings, wake-up time for some, a multigenerational clientele of Chinese American families converges on the Orient in Bethpage for dim sum served from roving carts. In the two months since opening, the Orient has become a magnet for food-savvy members of the Long Island Asian American community.

Credit an expert kitchen whose authentic Cantonese, Sichuan and Hunan dishes offer stiff competition to the top spots in Flushing or Manhattan's Chinatown.

If you're smart, though, you'll put off your visit for a few weeks or go on a weeknight, for this restaurant is truly swamped. Reserve ahead, preferably for a group, to sample as many dishes as possible.

On two out of four visits, we went with Chinese-American friends able to read the Chinese-language menu insert. Was the food better with them along? Actually, it was terrific at all times. But perhaps I wouldn't have known about the irresistible little pork and salted fish patties the restaurant's owner, Tommy Tan, jokingly referred to as "Chinese hamburgers." Nor would I have thought to order water spinach, a verdant treat.

Then again, maybe I would have. On a visit without our Asian-born friends, Tan noted the culinary adventurousness of our party when we ordered cold stewed beef topped with spiced jellyfish (flavorsome but chewy). Next time, he told us, he would guide us through the Chinese menu.

Whatever your strategy, it would be hard to go wrong. Both wonton and hot and sour soups were exemplary. Pickled pork and cabbage soup had lots of meat and flavor. Delightful, too, was a peppery seafood soup with thin egg noodles.

An appetizer of fried wontons with Sichuan sauce was a hit. Assorted dim sum (mostly shrimp and pork dumplings) from a bamboo steamer offered enticement to come back for the full weekend array. Honey-glazed boneless spareribs? Delectable.

Sliced pork with cashews featured tender meat in a lush sauce. Filet mignon was fine, either with broccoli or, from the Chinese-language menu, with winter melon and fresh bamboo shoots. And a must-have is the sublimely crisp salt and pepper shrimp.

Do order the fried chicken, its skin burnished mahogany, its meat juicy and flavor-intense. Tangerine chicken, a seeming cliche, was light, fruity and pungent. Plan, too, on whole fried flounder, golden and crunchy on the outside, sweet and flaky within. If you're lucky, you'll be brought a bowl of sweet red bean soup to conclude your meal.

Weekend dim sum service offers a profusion of dumplings, some filled with shrimp, others with pork or beef. Tiny Manila clams luxuriate in black bean sauce. Sample the superb steamed roast pork buns and rich, pork-filled, phyllo- like triangles. Or just about anything else that comes your way. Finish with a custard-filled, shredded taro-topped tart.

I wouldn't be surprised if the traffic from Flushing to Bethpage seems just a little heavier these days.

Reviewed by Joan Reminick.

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