East Idaho Eats: Mandarin House offers rare, authentic Cantonese dining experience

POCATELLO — There are more than 40,000 eateries in the United States listed as Chinese restaurants. One in Pocatello is on an elite list to have been named one of the top 100.

Mandarin House, on Yellowstone Avenue, was named to that list twice — in 2008, for its decor, and in 2009, for its regional and specialty cuisines.

And the restaurant means so much more than good food to the fabric of the community.

Mandarin House has been a mainstay in downtown Pocatello for more than 40 years. But the business didn’t shoot into the spotlight of national recognition until current manager Kevin Cao and his family took it over in 2007. Now, serving the dishes from their home island of Hong Kong in a dining room draped with decorations and art shipped from China, Mandarin House offers a tasty and authentic trip to the far east.

“We do have a lot of Asian buses come through Pocatello,” Cao said, “they eat here and say, ‘that’s like home.'”

While the restaurant is called Mandarin House, Cao explains in the video above that the food served in his restaurant is actually Cantonese — Mandarin and Cantonese are the two main dialects spoken in China.

There are numerous cuisine types found in China, the three most commonly served in the United States are Sichuan, known for its spice, Shandong, known for its lighter seafood-forward dishes, and Cantonese, what you would probably think of first as being Chinese food.

Things like Char Siu, Chow Mein, and a Mandarin House specialty Sweet and Sour Chicken are staples of the Cantonese food you would find in America.

Along with the Sweet and Sour Chicken, Cao served me Spicy Pork, a newer addition to the Mandarin House menu that borrows some of the flavors more recognizable in Sichuan cooking. The thinly sliced pork belly — also available in beef — is cooked in a garlicky soy sauce with large chunks of jalapenos. While it is a spicier offering, Cao says that his kitchen, manned by as many as 15 cooks at a given time, is happy to tone down the spice should it be requested.

After all, the Mandarin House way is to serve its public.

Whether that means staying open through the COVID pandemic — according to Cao, the restaurant remained open for pick-up throughout 2020 — limiting ingredients known to be allergens or re-opening the dining rooms as soon as it was deemed safe.

Mandarin House re-opened its dining room in early-February, taking safety precautions like closing tables and wrapping sanitized silverware.

“Right now, it’s just safety first,” Cao said. “As a restaurant, as a business, we just want to comply with what the government says. If it’s good for the public, we’ll be part of it.”

That sentiment, like everything Cao and Mandarin House stands for, goes well beyond the day-to-day operations of the restaurant. Cao, a happy participant in every public event in Pocatello, is excited for the opportunity to get back to entertaining his community.

The Mandarin House staff, he explained, hand-builds floats for any parade that comes through town. Not only that, it constructs decorations for every holiday season. If you get Orange Chicken on Halloween, you’re going to come face-to-face with a jack-o-lantern and perhaps some hanging witches. If you get Moo Goo Gai Pan on Christmas, you’ll have to walk past a tree and lights.

Cao and his staff have been offering Pocatello so much more than some of the best Chinese food in the country, they take pleasure in offering a complete experience.

Mandarin House is located on Yellowstone Avenue, across the street from Fred Meyer, and is open daily from 11 a.m., closing at 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m. on Sundays and 8:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Visit them on Facebook here.

If you want to make a recommendation for the next destination to be included on East Idaho Eats, email Kalama@EastIdahoNews.com and include “EATS” in the subject line.