Magnolia Chinese Cuisine

Pineapple fried rice is the dish Magnolia Chinese Cuisine points to first, and it tells you how the kitchen thinks: shrimp and fresh pineapple turned through the wok until sweet and savoury share a single spoonful, familiar enough to please a cautious table and interesting enough that nobody calls it plain. From there the menu opens wide. Appetizers, soups, lunch plates, chicken, beef, pork, seafood, vegetarian dishes, noodles, rice, full-course dinners, and take-out combinations all sit on the same list, which is less a sprawling catalogue than a working answer to the question of what a Chinese restaurant on Lundy's Lane should be able to put in front of anyone who walks in.

The specifics reward a closer read. Cantonese chow mein arrives as egg noodles stir-fried with chicken, barbecue pork, shrimp, and vegetables, an anchor for the noodle side of the order. Salt and pepper calamari, tossed with scallions, gives the appetizers a crisp seafood option with a little heat, more distinctive than the standard roll. The chicken section runs deep — kung pao quick-fried with cashews and chili, lemon chicken under a bright citrus sauce, orange chicken with fresh peel, General Tso's in a sweet Sichuan glaze. Singapore-style rice vermicelli carries curry through shrimp and barbecue pork, and Buddha's Delight gives vegetarian diners a named plate of baby corn, mushroom, snow peas, and broccoli rather than a vague substitution.