Philip Chiang’s mother, Cecilia Chiang opened The Mandarin restaurant in San Francisco in 1961. The restaurant introduced Americans to authentic regional Chinese cuisine, rather than the Americanized dishes like chop suey that were common at the time. Philip Chiang worked in his mother’s restaurant, developing his passion for Chinese cuisine before opening his own restaurant, Mandarette in West Hollywood, California, in 1984 to offer a more casual and accessible Chinese dining experience than his mother’s high-end Mandarin restaurant.
Paul Fleming, an existing restaurant owner, was a frequent guest at Mandarette. Impressed by Chiang’s innovative recipes, Fleming proposed a partnership, resulting in the creation of P.F. Chang’s. The first P.F. Chang’s opened in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1993. The “P.F.” in the name comes from Paul Fleming’s initials, while “Chang’s” is derived from the last name of co-founder Philip Chiang.
In September 2023 the first P.F. Chang’s restaurant in India opened at the Bengaluru International Airport. Their second restaurant in One Lodha Place, Lower Parel opened on January 14, 2024. In April 2024 they opened their third restaurant in India and the second one in Mumbai in Andheri West. The P.F. Chang’s restaurant at DLF Mall of India in Noida opened in November 2024. This was the chain’s fourth outlet in India and its first in the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR).
On a bright sunny Wednesday afternoon, we stopped at this restaurant for lunch. This being a working day, crowd was less and we could immediately get a table of our choice. Their Indian branches have more vegetarian options which is a delight.
We had Burnt Chilli Hakka Noodles and Black pepper vegetables. The Noodles cooked right had exotic veggies in Spicy burnt Garlic sauce. The Black pepper vegetables had a medley of Tofu, Edamame, Water chestnuts, Broccoli, Asparagus, Bell peppers, Napa Cabbage in black pepper sauce. Both dishes did not have the more common “Indian-Chinese” tomato sauce heavy flavours.
After a hearty meal we were surprised to get on the house fortune cookies. It was fun to gently break it and read our fortune.
The friendly staff, nice ambiance and interiors, good food, quick service and delightful fortune cookie to wrap it up made this a delightful foodie experience.
