Review: Acacia Tree’s menu contains authentic Chinese treasures, and some surprises

Okay, I admit it. I thought I was pretty adept at navigating an authentic Chinese menu. Over the years, I’ve managed to navigate my way through the menus of more than 30 restaurants specializing in a variety of regional cuisines — mostly Szechwan, Cantonese and Taiwanese, but also a few more obscure specialties like Jiangxi’s chile-riddled rendition of three cup chicken, and the dumplings and noodle dishes of Harbin.

It didn’t take Acacia Tree long to show me the error of my ways. Turns out I’d been spoiled by all those bilingual menus at other restaurants.

I hasten to add that most of Acacia Tree’s menu is indeed bilingual, starting with the two dozen or so specials listed on two dry erase boards just inside the front door. The printed menu, too, provides English names and descriptions of its regional specialties — Szechwan, mostly, with a generous sprinkling of dumplings and other dishes from northeastern China, birthplace of husband-and-wife owners Xiaowei Fu and Yan Xue.

The menu also offers the obligatory selection of Chinese-American favorites, as well as a few popular dishes that the couple inherited when they bought the Korean restaurant Dae Jang Kum three years ago.

The couple, who had previously been part-owners of Taipei 101 in Cary, changed the name and converted the concept to Chinese in October 2018. But they haven’t yet gotten around to translating one page of the menu, which is printed entirely in Mandarin.

Naturally, that’s the page that most piqued my curiosity when I visited Acacia Tree for the first time last summer with my wife. I wasn’t curious enough to order blindly, though — and our server, while eager to please, wasn’t sufficiently fluent in English to translate. So I ordered from the specials boards and the bilingual menu, which between them offered plenty of temptations for an adventurous palate.

But not too adventurous. As I often do the first time I visit a restaurant, I stuck with dishes I was familiar with to get a point of reference. We started with Szechwan cold noodles in chile oil, which were exemplary. So were green beans, wok-fried to a blistery turn. Another vegetarian dish, listed simply as “crispy eggplant,” wasn’t particularly crispy, but delivered the umami goods big time in a rich, earthy sauce.

But the star of the show that night was sweet sour fish, which turned out to be Acacia Tree’s rendition of a dish also known by the fanciful name of squirrel fish. Named for its appearance, which is said to resemble a squirrel’s tail, the dish features flounder filet, cut in a crosshatch pattern so that it fans out when fried, then glazed with a pineapple- and red pepper-spangled sweet and sour sauce.

We had barely scratched the surface of Acacia Tree’s offering, but it would be several months before I made it back for a second visit. I just couldn’t get over the idea that the Mandarin menu contained hidden treasures. I kept trying to figure out a way to get at them

Then, after months of my wife hearing me dither about how I should really be reviewing Acacia Tree, and whether I shouldn’t just go ahead and order from the menus I could read, my wife came to the rescue. “I have a friend at work who speaks fluent Mandarin,” she said. “How about we invite her and her husband to join us for dinner, and let them order?”

Problem solved. The next weekend, Alison and Sam joined us for dinner at Acacia Tree. After a moment of confusion as to just which page of the menu I wanted help with (turns out if you look like Mandarin is your native tongue, they give you a menu printed entirely in that language), we were in business.

Alison ordered Chinese style: no sequenced courses, dishes served as they’re ready. First to arrive was triple delight, a vegetarian dish that lived up to its name with a toothsome trio of Japanese eggplant, green pepper and potato covered in a garlicky brown sauce.

Next came boiled fish filet in chile sauce, which turned out to be a soup — and a very good soup at that, featuring bite-size morsels of tilapia in a fiery broth riddled with dried red chiles Szechwan peppercorn, ladled out at the table into individual bowls.

We all agreed that the dry pot beef that followed the soup was a home run — a savory medley of lean tender petals of meat, cauliflower florets, tender bamboo shoots and loofah served on a hot iron plate. And pork-filled chile sauce wontons, which Alison noted was one her Szechwan-born father’s favorite dishes, had us smacking our lips in appreciation of his good taste.

A few days later, armed with Alison’s translation of the Mandarin menu, I did indeed unearth a hidden treasure: braised pork short rib with taro in a savory-sweet brown sauce (think pork candy). Needless to say, I plan to keep digging.

The owners’ daughter, Lin Fu, works in the restaurant as a manager and server (and, in a pinch, a helpful translator). She explained to me that the family is still refining the menu and completing its translation. In the meantime, the bilingual menu and specials boards offer plenty to make Acacia Tree a worthy addition to the Triangle’s treasure map of authentic Chinese restaurants.

Acacia Tree

101 Keybridge Drive, Morrisville

919-677-1190

acacia-tree-asian-cuisine-former-dae.business.site

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Prices: $

Atmosphere: casual, contemporary Asian

Noise level: moderate to high

Service: eager to please, can be slow when busy

Recommended: Szechwan cold noodles, chile sauce wonton, sweet sour fish filet, triple delight, dry pot beef, braised pork rib with taro

Open: Lunch and dinner Tuesday-Sunday

Reservations: strongly recommended on weekends

Other: beer and wine; accommodates children; modest vegetarian selection; wheelchair accessible; parking in lot.

The N&O’s critic dines anonymously; the newspaper pays for all meals. We rank restaurants in five categories: 5 stars: Extraordinary. 4 stars: Excellent. 3 stars: Above average. 2 stars: Average. 1 star: Fair.

The dollar signs defined: $ Entrees average less than $10. $ Entrees $11 to $20. $$ Entrees $21 to $30. $$ Entrees more than $30.

This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Review: Acacia Tree’s menu contains authentic Chinese treasures, and some surprises."