Full Key, Wheaton, Montgomery County, Maryland

Full Key is one of the many small ethnic restaurants in Wheaton. It sits in a small strip mall at 2227 University Boulevard with other restaurants and shops. Here’s the menu, and here’s an out of focus photo of the sign.

Full Key is a common Cantonese restaurant name, and translates into “prosperous” or the like. Full Key is not related to Full Kee, the H Street/Chinatown spot, but it has a very similar Hong-Kong leaning menu. Once inside, you feel like you’re in Chinatown. It’s staffed by Chinese-Americans, the decorations evoke China,

and the tables are set with the familiar pot of hot tea and small cups, and the classic zodiac place mat. (I’m an ox, in more ways than one.)

And there’s that most wonderful Chinese “decoration” of all, roasted ducks.

Back in my working days, I frequently walked up to Chinatown and Full Kee to have a bowl of the Hong-Kong-style noodle soup with roasted duck, and I’d split a plate of vegetables sautéed in garlic — Chinese broccoli, snow pea leaves, leek flowers, or spinach. The problem was handling roughly cut bone-in duck with chopsticks. Imagine eating a chicken wing with chopsticks. After ruining several ties when the duck pieces fell from my chopsticks into the soup, I switched from duck to shrimp dumplings. When Nancy and I went to Full Key, I was keyed up for some noodle soup with shrimp dumplings.

Nancy ordered one of the lunch specials, 四季豆雞/牛 (chicken and green beans). 

The sauce of the chicken with green beans didn’t seem like a Hong Kong sauce. Hunanese and Sichuan elements may be creeping into the menu to attract a broader audience. Nancy enjoyed the dish, and I thought it tasted quite good — a big cut above the usual daily specials at Chinese restaurants.

I, of course, went with the 水 餃 麵. I only looked at the menu to make sure it was there, and ignored the reminder of the menu. For now.

That’s actually a misleading photo of the shrimp and pork dumplings and noodles in soup. The server gave each of us a bowl and a spoon, apparently on the natural assumption that we would split the two dishes. I ladled out a bowl of the broth for Nancy. Then I remembered to take a photo. So you’ll have to imagine the noodles completely covered with a layer of delicious chicken broth.

Nancy commented immediately on the broth. It has an intensity that you don’t often find in chicken broth. I imagine it’s so gelatinous that you could hold a container of the cooled broth upside down and it would stay there defying gravity, a la a Blizzard. (Do not try this at home.) What else is in there? Probably some pork bones. Duck bones? Some star anise? Ginger and onions, I’ll wager. At any rate, it’s wonderful with many-layered flavor.

The noodles themselves are tasty, and the shrimp dumplings are delicious. The shrimp flavor is right up front with a startling burst of flavor, and the pork is in the background, as always making everything taste better. I like to mix some of the hot chiles in oil and the soy sauce that graces the tables, and dip the shrimp dumplings in it – lightly – and to dab some on the noodles.

The tariff for the meal, a full meal indeed, including tax, was $22 and change. Honest. Here in the Washington area. The soup is one of my favorite meals, and everything else I’ve had there has been very good. The Chinese-American diners, who comprised a majority of the customers, seemed delighted. Go to Full Key, and you’ll be delighted, too — with the food, the setting, and the service. And even the bill.

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