Located in the Atlanta Chinatown Mall’s food court, Hong Kong BBQ gets you in and out quickly. In fact, taking the food to go is a great way to enjoy the Chinese barbecue and Cantonese specialties. Whether sliced in clear soup with thin noodles or as a platter with steamed rice, watching the chefs carve the glossy ducks and barbecued pork with a menacing cleaver is always fun. The large menu also features addictive dishes such as the sour cabbage and sausage fried rice and a stellar version of Hainanese chicken rice. Cash only or you’ll go hungry. less...

One is warm comfort; the other is crisp clarity. One is found off the beaten path in a Korean hideaway OTP; the other in the heart of Decatur. Yet Tuh’s barley bowl (bori-bop) is the East; The Bakery at Cakes & Ale’s grain bowl is the West. What they share is their essence - a bowl of grain, adorned and delicious. At Yet Tuh, the barley is the star, but there’s a wide cast of characters that get mixed into the bowl at the table - thin shreds of nori, tender vegetables and mushrooms, spicy soybean paste. They come together in great harmony; a moment of Korean foodie Zen. At The Bakery at Cakes & Ale, the grain bowl is an ever-changing daily composition of whatever strikes chef David Sweeney’s fancy: usually quinoa, often fresh field peas or beans, an accent of finely diced peppers or fresh herbs. Sweeney’s grain bowl never fails to be striking in its effect - each element distinct, but a sum greater than the parts. less...

When Peter Cheng announced he was opening his eponymous restaurant, fans of Tasty China worried that Atlanta’s first standout Sichuan spot would suffer. But seven months after opening Peter Cheng’s in Smyrna, the chef’s original restaurant is still the best our city has to offer. Classics such as crunchy dry-fried eggplant with custardy centers, confit-like tilapia served in neon red broth with silken tofu, and the tightly rolled and perfectly balanced crunchy hot and numbing beef offer that signature tingle and heat we’ve come to crave with crackhead-like devotion. The restaurant’s Spartan digs just go to show that spicy substance always wins out over style. 585 Franklin Road, Suite B3, Marietta. 770-419-9849. tastychina.net. less...

Like many Chinese restaurants, TASTY CHINA has gone through numerous chefs and staff changes — the charmingly abrasive hostess Phuong departed this year under mysterious circumstances. But, like a phoenix, the Marietta Szechuan restaurant manages to rise triumphant from every transition. Skip the “American” menu and go straight for the good stuff — anything made with Sichuan peppercorns. The french fry-like batons of dry-fried eggplant are as crispy and addictive as ever. The “Shan City chicken” — a pile of boneless or bone-in chicken fried to a crisp with toasted peppercorns and dried red chilis — will have your mouth tingling long after you depart. If the heat is too much to bare, dishes such as the “Slice fish and sour cabbage soup” — a silky and tangy broth swimming with tender pieces of white fish — are mild enough for tamer palates without sacrificing any of the wow factor. 585 Franklin Road, Marietta. 770-419-9849. less...