full key restaurant

This blog should be called Lisbeth Eats…Noodle Soups or Lisbeth Eats…Asian food. I eat out at Asian restaurants A LOT! I think it’s because I don’t know how to make many Asian dishes at home. And I especially love noodle soups – Pho, Bun Bo Hue, Ramen, Udon, Naeng Myun, Jjam Ppong, Kalgooksoo and Hong Kong style egg noodle soups to name a few – just a few. 😉

There aren’t very many restaurants in or around Baltimore that specialize in Hong Kong style noodle soups. So yesterday, when we had some work and errands to run near Wheaton, we knew we had to go to Full Key for lunch. There are 3 dishes we always order at Full Key – Roast Pork, Shrimp Dumpling Noodle Soup and Snow Pea Leaf with Sliced Garlic. In my opinion they make the best versions of these 3 dishes. I also like to get congee (rice porridge) here when I’m feeling under the weather. According to my mom, rice porridge or kimchi and bean sprout soup cures the common cold. 😉 Yesterday we ordered a few extra dishes and brought the leftovers home for dinner. Here is what we had.

I wish I took a better shot of the roast chicken and duck. There was a woman picking out her duck and chicken and I couldn’t get in a proper shot. Do you see that figure in the window? I don’t know if it’s because it was Halloween over the weekend but it freaked me out! When I looked back, I swear no one was standing there like that HAHA. 😉

Full Key has the best roast meats. They offer a roast pork, chicken and duck combination that is fantastic. We love when the sweet and sticky char sui sauce on the roast pork is extra sticky and caramelized. Oh my how delicious! I find that the later in the day you have it, the better the roast pork. So we usually head over to Full Key for dinner, but if you wait too long, you run the risk of showing up when all the roast pork is gone! That happened to us a few times. We were crushed!

Hong Kong style noodle soups are another specialty at Full Key. They have the best versions of this type of noodle soup in the area, for sure. You can get it with wontons, fish balls, shrimp dumplings, roast pork, roast duck, beef brisket…list goes on. My favorite is the shrimp dumpling noodle soup. We usually order one and share it like an appetizer. I put a little bit of thin egg noodles, some broth and a drizzling of chili oil together on the Chinese soup spoon and gobble it all up. Hits the spot!

Snow Pea Leaf with sliced garlic. My favorite Chinese vegetable dish. I always order snow pea leaf at Chinese restaurants and it’s never as good as the one I get at Full Key.

Kung Pao Chicken. Hot, spicy and overloaded with peanuts. You know how some people always order General Tso Chicken? Like you’re not really eating ‘Chinese’ if General Tso isn’t in the mix? HAHA. This is our one faux-Chinese dish we love to order. (I think it’s faux-Chinese. I always assumed, anyway, that it’s not an authentic Chinese dish or it’s a Chinese dish that has been westernized. Correct me if I’m wrong.) By the way, I always find Americanized/Westernized Chinese dishes taste awful when you order them at an authentic Chinese restaurant. Is that just me? But Kung Pao Chicken always tastes good! Hmm, is it an authentic dish? 😉

Seafood Pan Fried Noodles. The first time I tried pan fried noodles was at Noodle Corner in Columbia, MD. I really like the mix of crispy noodles with soft noodles smothered in gravy.

A few other dishes I like to order at Full Key are Clams in Black Bean Sauce, Cod Fish with Sweetened Soy Sauce and Congee with Sliced Beef. They also have a specials board by the kitchen window and we’ve never been disappointed ordering something off it. Full Key is my all time favorite Chinese restaurant in the DMV. It’s just really good food at really good prices. You know, Full Key is always on the Washingtonian 100 Cheap Eats List. Give Full Key a try and let me know what you think in the comments section below.

Full Key Restaurant
2227 University Boulevard W
Wheaton, MD 20902

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