Chinese food and Thai food are restaurant favorites of many people who like to eat.
The Tea Garden mixes both, making for a one-stop variety experience right in downtown Yakima.
I was tipped off to the place by a reader who wanted to pass on that the Tea Garden has its own pho. In the interest of not overloading Herald-Republic readers with my pho obsession, however, I decided to try something else on my first visit there.
I went with the No. 3 Chinese combination: a well-presented selection of egg flower soup, barbecued pork, sweet and sour prawns, chicken chow mein and barbecue fried rice.
The soup was perhaps the highlight of the meal, so good that I would have been satisfied with just a bowl of it. The shredded chicken was thick and surrounded by plenty of flavor in the broth.
Soup lovers should note that the menu includes several types of tom yum and tom kha — savory staples of almost any Thai menu — including vegetarian versions.
The barbecued pork was well done and perfectly complemented by the standard hot mustard and sesame seeds. The sweet and sour prawns lived up to their name; the breading did not overpower the prawn within.
Overall, the meal was a good introduction to the Tea Garden. It seemed designed to please as many palates as possible. Not a bad thing, but by the time I got to the fried rice I was ready to toss in the rest of the hot mustard and some sriracha sauce.
The Tea Garden
Location: 110 S. Fourth St.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays-Fridays; 4-9 p.m. Saturdays; closed Sundays.
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