In most parts of the country when you enter a Chinese restaurant with a name like "Mandarin," "Hunan," or "Szechuan," you do not expect to find authentic food or food exclusively from that region. Seattle, however, is home to quite a few restaurants that accurately reflect the cuisine of specific types of Chinese food, and Mandarin Chef is among them.

Located north of the University of Washington, this restaurant is tucked among a group of storefront buildings serving ethnic cuisine from about as many places as I have seen in a one-block area. While restaurants near any campus are usually nothing about which to get very excited, this seems to be a very good group of eateries (at least by reputation).

The Tofu and Mushroom Hot Pot is Mandarin Chef's version of a dish I order quite a bit. The waitress recommended this dish, and made a point that it is also quite a healthy dish. I thought it was one of the better ones I had eaten, and was different enough from the Cantonese versions that I was glad I tried it.

Some of the noodle dishes are supposed to be specialties of the restaurant. There were enough interesting looking dishes to definitely make me want to return.