New China Restaurant

New China Restaurant Facts:

Owner: Shangheng Qiu

Offers: dine-in, take-out

Capacity: over 2000 square feet

Seats: 70--80

Year of Establishment: 2007

Phone: 434-955-2111

Address: 721 E Atlantic St, South Hill, VA23970-3425

House Specialties: General Tso’s Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken

A new owner and a small staff can make a restaurant seem to be the little guy, the underdog in the battle for recognition in the fierce food industry. But despite the challenges, owner Shangheng Qui, who only took over New China in 2007, has endured and thrived. His highly trained staff and stream-lined menu has won over patrons in the area and created a name for his restaurant. The underdog has become a big dog of business.

Mr. Qui only came to the United States eight years ago and immediately immersed himself in the food industry. After serving as a busboy, waiter, and chef at numerous celebrated and unheralded restaurants, he took over New China in 2007 as an experienced and excited new owner.

Located in a prosperous shopping mall of the owner’s choosing, the small establishment has never been wanting for customers. “Many people come to our restaurant to enjoy the fabulous food after shopping.”

Decorated in a traditional Chinese style, the restaurant’s main superficial feature is its large picture of the Temple of Heaven- about 1 meter wide and about 3 meters long. The famous and classic picture greets the customers when they step into the restaurant. Stepping into the 2000 foot dining area that comfortably seats up to eighty people, customers likely won’t even notice the bright and clean tile floor- they’ll be too distracted by the smells of the food coming from the kitchen!

In Focus

“In my point of view, healthy dishes are well prepared food dishes with less oil and fried-free,” says owner Shanghen Qiu. With this in mind, he considers most of his dishes to be healthy dishes. Additionally, New China Restaurant offers Assorted Vegetable dishes, both with and without chicken, to health-conscious diners. The vegetable and chicken are poached without MSG or other ingredients and customers add their own sauce to their liking.

Most of the dishes at New China Restaurant have sugar added to them. A different quantity of sugar equates a different flavor, Mr. Qiu believes. He has found most of his customers prefer sweeter dishes and so he has them flavored accordingly.

New China Restaurant’s signature dishes include General Tso’s Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken and egg rolls. The iconic General Tso’s Chicken is prepared by dipping boneless chicken legs in water for about one hour to two hours and then dehydrating them. After that, the chefs add some starchy flour, eggs, salt and green onion before putting them into the fryer. The chicken is then topped with sauce and mixed with salt, tomato juice, vinegar and cooking wine. The result is easily the most popular and delectable item on the menu. How popular you ask? According to the owner, “Generally speaking, we sell 40-50 plates of General Tso’s Chicken per day. But surprisingly, we had an experience of selling 300 plates one day! Our regular customers told us that our General Tso’s Chicken is immaculate and consistently good.” 

The Sweet & Sour Chicken is also a popular and delicious part of the menu. This recipe features chicken breast mixed with fermented flour and starchy flour, and then fried until golden brown. After that, I pleasant smelling sweet sauce is added.

The egg rolls are also a house favorite. Each egg roll contains the special house filling mixed with black pepper and plum juice, giving it a sweet and sour flavor.

By the very nature of being a restaurant with a take-out menu, speed is certainly essential when preparing the food. On average, it only takes 2 or 3 minutes to prepare a dish at New China Restaurant, ensuring orders are filled quickly and diners are never left waiting for long.

The Staff

In order to produce such delicious food in such amazing time, you’d think the restaurant staffed a small army of chefs, waiters, and hosts. But aside from the owner, there are usually only two employees working on a given night. One is the order-taker, and the other is the chef.

Previously, there was mention that New China Restaurant sells between 40-50 General Tso’s dishes alone per night. This means that the staff has to be highly trained and the chef has to be a kitchen god. “Our chef is experienced in handling large amount of dishes. He can deal with four dishes at the same time. Our customers are very satisfied with the quick service.” beams the proud owner.

Since the staff is so small, the owner is well acquainted with his team and knows how to get the most out of them. But there have been obstacles to overcome on the road to culinary success. Mr. Qiu explains that: “All the employees are Chinese. We found it very difficult to communicate with the local people fluently.” Initially, it was hard to understand what the customers wanted. But after months of practice and familiarizing themselves with the tone and pronunciation of the locals, they’ve been able to adapt. .

The restaurant has given back to the community for its acceptance of the restaurant. The management often provides customers with gifts such as cell phone accessories and show bills when the restaurant is quiet. They are also patrons of the local fire department and police station.

Message from the owner: “I strive hard to ensure a consistent flavor of food, and make painstaking efforts to provide a comfortable and neat environment.”