The Main course 8-16
Auspicious Chinese Restaurant
Rating: 
The restaurant’s location is indeed favorable and lucky. This one short block off Lancaster Avenue is especially lovely.
There is ample parking in several metered lots. Care has been taken to maintain the street and decorate the trees with many small lights, making the street a delight at night.
Auspicious’s interior is equally attractive, with rich dark, lacquered mahogany tables and chairs, black flooring, traditional black and red terra cotta-colored walls and narrow, directed-light ceiling spots.
A magnificent scroll painting of a Szechwan village scenes runs the length of the restaurant on one wall, a replica of the original, which once graced the Imperial Palace in Beijing.
On a midweek evening, the dining room was still filled with patrons even as late as 9 p.m. Most had brought their own wine. Soft, contemporary western piano recordings played in the dining room.
There was an eclectic variety of dishes on the tables and on their way by. Traditional Chinese fare was easily recognizable: spring rolls, wonton soup, barbecue ribs, shrimp in lobster sauce, General Tso’s chicken, mu gu gai pan and Singapore noodles among them.
I suspect many come here for the more unusual offerings like Thai “Sriracha” buffalo wings, “Mu shu wraps,” “Kickin’ Mango Chicken,” “Penang Paella” (curried seafood over fried rice), and the creative “Create-Your-Own Stir-Fry” combinations.
We sampled a mix of traditional offerings: wonton soup, Peking duck roll, and chow fun noodles and a few upscale, eclectic dishes: salt-and-pepper calamari, miso vegetable soup and the “Zen Flounder.”
Presentations were attractive, but our soups ($3 each) were served only lukewarm. They partially made up for this by being very tasty, especially the miso vegetable soup, with its chicken stock broth, a hint of tomato and its assortment of still-crisp veggies.
Peking duck roll ($3.75), the gourmet’s eggroll, was splendid, its soft flour burrito-like wrapping contained succulent duck meat, but sadly only along barely two-thirds of its length.
A second appetizer called “Salt and pepper calamari” ($9) was very disappointing. The menu did not divulge that it was fried. The squid rings were coated in a thick breading, and it looked and almost tasted like fried onion rings. It also eluded me as to why it is named “salt and pepper” calamari.
The “Zen Flounder” entrée ($15) was the most unusual. Pale green Napa cabbage leaves were wrapped around moist rolled flounder and steamed and served with a thick, intense ginger, scallion dipping sauce. You have to like ginger, as more ginger was inside the wraps as well.
A final, shared dish, shrimp “Chow Ho Fun” ($10) is a noodle dish, one of the dozen noodle and rice dishes on the menu. The firm, large, flat chow fun rice noodles were a treat in a wonderful, mildly spiced, dusky brown sauce, dotted with scallion. The shrimp were on the small side and a bit overcooked. Chicken or beef are alternatives.
The dessert selection was non-Asian favorites, except for green tea ice cream, which was very good. The menu was impressive.
A calming ambiance and fair fare deserve an overall rating of mmm (out of 5 m’s). To contact Mitch Davis, e-mail him at: MdavisMainCourse@aol.com.
Auspicious Chinese Restaurant
Location: 11 Cricket Ave., Ardmore Phone Number: 610-642-1858 Cuisine: Upscale Chinese Ambience: Very attractive, comfortable
Hours: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9:45 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 10:45 p.m.; Sunday noon to 9:30 p.m.
Prices: Appetizers, soups and salads: $3 to $11; Entrées: $10 to $18; Lunch $7 to $9 Alcoholic Beverages: B.Y.O.B.
