Golden Palace Shines in Caldwell

After arriving in America in 1978, Ming Ma immediately set out to forge a career in the restaurant industry. He spent thirteen years working at a large Chinese restaurant in Idaho, where he developed his culinary expertise and was trained in restaurant management by the owner. Over the years, Ma gained a wealth of experience in both running a restaurant and cooking quality Chinese food. In 1991, he opened his first Chinese restaurant then followed that with Golden Palace three years later. Always looking to build on success, he later opened up a third restaurant in 2003.

Golden Palace is located on 703 Main Street in Caldwell, Idaho. Situated in the center of town, the area enjoys good foot traffic despite its distance from the downtown area. It is surrounded by residential areas, small businesses, the University of Idaho, Treasure Valley Community College and beautiful scenery.

The owner admits that the location was not ideal but it did have a lot of potential. “It was a sparsely populated area of town that was slated to be revitalized in the coming years,” Ma says. When he first opened Golden Palace’s doors, the business didn’t flood in as much as he had predicted it would. However, Ma was not alarmed because he knew it takes time for the word to get out and that business would be a bit slow at the beginning. “I was very confident that I could succeed in any kind of location, because of our quality food.” Ma believes that working in the restaurant industry requires effort and perseverance, but that diligence translates to success.

All together, this 5,000 ft2 restaurant is capable of holding up to 220 patrons at a time. In addition to the main dining area, Golden Palace also offers a spacious banquet room for special occasions. The interior also features classical Chinese elements that work to satisfy a curiosity about Chinese culture that certainly lingers amongst most of the patrons. Rosewood is used in the construction of the tables, partitions and walls. Chinese paintings, lanterns, wooden carvings, calligraphy prints, and many other cultural artifacts adorn the interior. Together, these decorations symbolize auspiciousness in Chinese culture. By decorating his restaurant using these materials, Mr. Ma has made sure that customers can appreciate splendid Chinese culture in the form of Golden Palace’s decorations while enjoying its irresistible food.

Style of Food

Golden Palace is serves a wide variety of well modified Asian entrees alongside some ordinary yet popular American dishes. The menu features a selection of items ranging from appetizers, soup and poultry, to vegetables dishes and more. At first glance, the menu looks rather ordinary. But, customers will find out it is anything but that after tasting the surprisingly delicious dishes. At Golden Palace, the chefs use small woks to cook. Mr. Ma points out the wok cooking method is used to control quantity, and more importantly, to keep the wok flavor. “Each item has just the right taste because we insist on providing customers with unique and authentic dishes.”

Mr. Ma summarizes his restaurant’s offerings as having large portion sizes, strong flavor, and plenty of sauce. All manner of cooking techniques are utilized including sautéing, frying, and poaching. Like most other Chinese restaurants in the States, the ubiquitous Sweet & Sour Chicken, Mongolian Beef, and Kung Po Chicken are some of the top menu items. Various set meals, which include appetizers, soup and entrées, are offered at the restaurant. “Set meals are always considered as time saving choices to most of our patrons because they are no longer puzzled by the long listed Chinese food menu to decide what to order,” Mr. Ma boasts.

The staff at Golden Palace believes that customers come first. Every item on the menu has been tested and adjusted based on customer feedback. Mr. Ma and his chefs do this in order to offer the flavors that customers really want. He knows how to dish up just what his customers want and also what they don't want, due to his 20 years’ of hands-on experience in the kitchen. “The key to keeping the menu localized centers on accepting the good and removing the bad.”

Among a wealth of notable dishes, Golden Palace’s fried rice receives the highest acclaim. Loyal customers have even told Mr. Ma that his restaurant’s fried rice is the best in the area and many of them travel long distances so that they can have it. The secret to Golden Palace’s extraordinary fried rice is their fresh white rice. Instead of using day-old rice like is usually called for in recipes, Mr. Ma prepares this dish using fresh rice. “In this way, the freshness, taste, and presentation are assured,” he says confidently.

Mr. Ma is a firm believer in healthy eating as well. Thus, his menu also offers a large variety of light dishes. Poached entrees are usually requested by people who have a desire for something healthier than fried/oily food. The kitchen ensures that these dishes are cooked to perfection to guarantee that health conscious customers will be able to enjoy a healthy dish that hasn’t been robbed of its dish of its flavor.

Sauce makes or spoils a dish, especially with Chinese cooking’s heavy reliance on sauce. The homemade stock, which is a stewed concentration of ox, chicken, and pork bone, is used to make different kinds of sauce and as a soup base for the Wonton Soup.

Service Makes It Special

As the saying goes, “starting strong is half the battle.” Some think that a good location determines the destiny of a restaurant. However, Mr. Ma thinks otherwise. He has over three decades of experience in the restaurant field, and believes that every good restaurant needs to put its focus on its guests. The next most important things are a reasonably priced menu and attention to detail. Also, freshness and the quality of the cooking ingredients must constantly be emphasized. Furthermore, sanitation is of particular importance.