Chew Man Chu

I would have loved the rice powder-dusted Thai beef salad if the fish sauce dressing (in a rare case of flavor overdrive) had dialed back the spice a notch. The wonton soup, likewise, was nearly there with a perfect golden broth. The clumsily house-made wontons, though, filled with whole shrimp and coarse-cut pork, were doughy and unwieldy to eat.

The house-made dumplings, in general, were big disappointments. The unnaturally green chicken-spinach dumplings were doughy. The crispy pork pot-stickers were filled with errant gristle. And there was also something unexpectedly crunchy inside the rubbery pureed poultry centers of the crispy garlic chicken rolls. The oxtail dumplings were all pink and bouncy inside, with none of the tenderness I'd expect from a slow-braised meat. The deeply steeped dark gravy that pooled around them like deconstructed soup dumplings, meanwhile, was both intensely over-seasoned and jarringly sweet.

It was a common theme. Deep-fried croquettes, whether filled with dark chile paste and shrimp (for "Burn Your Mouth") or a special with crab, conch and corn, came gilded with syrupy glaze. The mooshoo chicken, served with doughily undercooked pancakes, was slathered in too much hoisin. The grilled Korean short rib already had a cloying taste from its apple juice marinade (some orchard fruit here isn't uncommon), but the last thing it needed was the dark sweet gloss of Chinese char-siu barbecue sauce.

Other dishes, meanwhile, wasted promising savory ideas with sloppy cooking. I loved the notion of a duck twist on the chicken lettuce wraps popularized by P.F. Chang's, but these finely minced duck bits were so overcooked and chewy, they might as well have been mystery meat. The all-trendy pork belly, meanwhile, made one of its least appealing cameos I've seen. With thick jellied layers of under-rendered fat and less-than-tender meat stacked high on a steamed bun like an Asian pastrami sandwich, this belly put some genuine "chew" in Chew Man Chu. Yum.

The dessert selection is mercifully short, with some brought-in exotic sorbets. But there's really no need since everyone gets complimentary doughnut holes, freshly fried and stuffed with chocolate, dipped in honey then shaken tableside with powdered sugar. Of course. Despite its many flaws, Chew Man Chu somehow succeeds in sending its customers off with a sweet taste in their mouths.

Next Sunday, Craig LaBan reviews Fish. Contact him at 215-854-2682 or claban@phillynews.com.