Mr. K bringing reliable Chinese food to Fayetteville

Jeff Kong is aware of the sweet-and-bitter pork he cooks at his restaurant looks distinctive. 

For starters, there’s no fluorescent red sauce synonymous with the Chinese-American takeout classic. Alternatively, Kong builds the sauce from scratch for every single purchase. The sauce is basic — water, sugar, white vinegar, a little bit of soy sauce for coloration. Cooked right up until a little thickened and tossed with slim slices of fried pork and garnished with wispy curls of scallion, the dish is visually a lot far more subdued than the shiny crimson model, with a piquant flavor unburdened by the dish’s regular saccharine sauce.

At Mr. K Authentic Chinese, which Kong opened on Yadkin Highway in Fayetteville in mid-February, Americanized favorites like Basic Tso’s hen and beef and broccoli just take up only all over 20% of the menu. The rest is reserved for dishes from Kong’s upbringing in China, from the seafood restaurant his dad and mom ran in China and later, Oregon, and from his possess time controlling eating places in North Carolina due to the fact 2014.

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Dishes like braised pork belly, west lake beef soup and dry pot Chinese cauliflower usually are not commonplace at Chinese restaurants most places, let by itself Fayetteville. In addition to owner, Kong has had to perform the position of coach, guiding diners into trying an unfamiliar dish, with the guarantee that if they never like it, it is really totally free and he’ll prepare dinner them a thing else. 

Kong stated there wanted to be authentic Chinese food stuff in Fayetteville, and it can be his goal to make it happen.

From China to Fayetteville

Kong was born and lifted in Dalian, a port metropolis in northeastern China. He moved to the U.S. at 17 to join his dad and mom, who experienced moved to Eugene, Oregon, a 12 months or so right before. He landed in San Francisco on Dec. 9, 2004, with just sufficient English to notify immigration officials where by he was likely. To begin with unwilling to depart his existence in China at the rear of, Kong created his way up to Oregon and then Iowa, wherever he studied nursing at the University of Iowa.