Trey Yuen a welcome retreat with delicious food

• By JUDY BERGERON
• Restaurant reviewer
• Published: Jul 10, 2009

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The Trey Yuen experience begins even before one’s inside the longtime Hammond restaurant.

Lush gardens, a pagoda-like structure over the semi-circular front drive and a tranquil pond brimming with tropical fish and water lilies transition diners from the hurriedness of busy surrounding streets into a peaceful dining oasis. Inside, Oriental chandeliers light dining areas accented with intricately carved and polished wood at every turn. Tasteful artwork, ornate chairs and banks of windows trimmed in frosted designs add to the décor of the large, yet cozy dining rooms. A courtyard filled with more shrubs and flowering plants centers the building.

On a recent, rainy Monday night, we started things off with an appetizer of crabmeat rangoons ($6.95). A half-dozen triangular fried wontons were filled with a smooth crab and cream cheese mixture. Crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside, these were delicious.

What better on a rainy evening than warm soup? We sampled the egg flower soup ($2.95) and the wor wonton soup ($3.50, lunch; $4.25, dinner) and were pleased with both. The egg flower soup was lighter and smoother than what we’ve tried other places, and in contrast, the wonton soup bowl was filled with bits and pieces of several ingredients. Along with the fried wontons were thin strips of pork, chopped bok choy, small shrimp and chives in a thin, well-seasoned broth.

 The hot pepper chicken with fried rice ($6.25, lunch; $10.75, dinner) features slices of chicken breast stir fried with strips of red and green bell peppers, onions and carrots, then tossed in a spicy, but not overly hot Szechuan sauce. Trey Yuen’s rice is fried to a medium brown and nicely seasoned, and this dish is great with steamed white rice as well.

The mandarin chicken ($6.75, lunch; $10.50, dinner) was also served with fried rice. Sections of boneless chicken are deep fried and covered in a flavorful, golden brown sauce and rolled in crushed almonds, adding to the texture and flavor. Green onions garnish the dish.

The shrimp and lobster sauce ($7.25, lunch; $11.25, dinner) has long been a favorite of ours and we can still recommend it. Plump, fresh shrimp, minced pork and strips of onion are cooked with seasoned black beans and garlic, then mixed with an egg sauce, and topped with green onions. The combination of flavors is outstanding and this also works well on fried rice or white rice.

If one is looking to sample several things in one dish, try the combination plate of an egg roll, barbecue pork, butterfly shrimp and chicken wings, with fried rice ($6.75, lunch). The meats and seafood were all nicely done, but it is Trey Yuen’s egg rolls that, year after year, are especially delicious, always notches above the competition. The puffy wrappers are fried to a medium brown and inside are packed with shredded cabbage, onion, celery and sprouts, and are perfectly seasoned. The sweet duck sauce makes a great topping for these although at least one in our party preferred a touch of hot mustard on each piece. But just a touch. This stuff is powerful.

In these tough economic times, it’s nice to know Trey Yuen has continued its practice of offering the lunch menu on Monday nights, and the dinner menu also for those who prefer it. This does make for a more crowded restaurant, no doubt, but our server, Kaitlyn, refilled our glasses promptly and was helpful and friendly.

Along with the complementary fortune cookies, a relaxing way to end the meal is with a pot of hot tea ($1.75 a cup). Sip it slowly and take in the last few  minutes of this most pleasurable dining experience. The busy world waits just outside.