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One of America’s most celebrated Chinese-chef icons brings his robust, full-flavored cooking to the Philadelphia suburbs.
If you blink, you might miss the plain storefront beside the Giant supermarket in King of Prussia’s Henderson Square. Yet that modest space, glowing red between a yoga studio and a dental clinic, bears a name that makes me stop in my tracks: Peter Chang.
Chang is something of a legend in the Washington, D.C. area, and his notoriety grew after a 2010 New Yorker profile by Calvin Trillin titled “Where’s Chang?” that chronicled a local cult following for the chef, whose career involved repeated moves between Sichuan kitchens. By 2011, Chang finally settled down under his own name with a restaurant in the DMV—opening in Charlottesville, Virginia—which became the first in a rapidly expanding family of concepts. Today that empire has grown to about 20 restaurants of varying styles across the Mid-Atlantic, from Chang Chang in Dupont Circle to Nihao in Baltimore. This trajectory earned the former Chinese Embassy chef multiple James Beard Award nominations, including a finalist nod for Outstanding Chef in 2022.
Now, Chang has debuted in the Philadelphia region with two new ventures—Peter Chang in King of Prussia and Mama Chang in Colmar—marking his tangible arrival in the area.
I savored Lisa Chang’s signature bubble scallion pancake and then sampled across the nine compartments of a dim sum sampler. Highlights included the crisp, white snap of a crystal shrimp dumpling, a Peking duck spring roll with hoisin, and a wonton infused with house chili oil. The experience convinced me that Chang’s arrival in Philly is very welcome.
Understanding exactly how these new restaurants fit into the Philadelphia region’s already rich Chinese dining scene is a separate consideration.
Chang has long been described by fans—and even the company’s own site—as a Sichuan chef, since many of his dishes carry the characteristic lip-numbing tingle from Sichuan peppercorns and the earthy cumin aroma typical of Sichuan cooking. In reality, however, he hails from Hubei, a central Chinese province where rail lines and the Yangtze River help shape culinary influences from neighboring regions like Sichuan and Hunan, yet where local interpretations yield distinctive flavors.
Chang’s take on dan dan noodles, for instance, is lighter, brighter, and more intensely spiced than versions I’ve tried at other Sichuan restaurants nearby. He substitutes vegetarian diced tofu for the usual ground meat and toppings of crushed peanuts paired with preserved olives and mustard greens to deliver a nuanced umami profile. His black pepper shrimp, presented in a striking blue-and-yellow hot pot, blends multiple regional styles into a bold, balanced sauce that nods to Sichuan kung pao, the peppery kick of Hunan, and touches of Maggi and Worcestershire sauces, a combination Lydia Chang—Peter Chang’s daughter and business partner—says is common in Cantonese kitchens.
The group’s flagship concept, Peter Chang, now operates 15 locations and opened a BYOB outpost in King of Prussia last summer. Mama Chang, the larger concept, opened in October in Colmar, a 400-seat space that previously housed Golden City, a Chinese staple for 39 years, and now features a liquor license.
The two concepts are presented as separate in theory—Peter Chang offers a broad array of classic Chinese dishes, often in tapas-sized portions, while Mama Chang, which started in Fairfax, Virginia, focuses on Hubei-style home cooking and larger family-style plates inspired by Chang’s mother, Ronger Wang. In practice, however, both Philadelphia-area restaurants share nearly identical menus as the company experiments with what resonates with local diners.
The group tends to favor suburban locations for easier parking and the chance to introduce traditional Chinese cuisine to communities less familiar with it. In this region, a notable demographic shift has seen many Chinese families move to northern and western suburbs of Philadelphia over the past twenty years. Other established outlets—like Han Dynasty’s Exton and Royersford sites, Margaret Kuo’s Kitchen, and more—have found audiences without compromising their identity.
According to Lydia, about 40% of Peter Chang KOP’s customers are of Chinese descent, whereas Colmar’s share is around 20%. In Colmar, Americanized Chinese favorites remain popular, so the team aims to stay flexible, keeping staples like chicken lo mein and shrimp fried rice available while highlighting signature dishes and value options such as Peking duck combos and a $33 all-you-can-eat weekend brunch.
With so many distinctive dishes at both locations, I encourage diners to skip over the impulse to order General Tso’s and instead try the Wuxi-style sweet-and-sour chicken, which features larger chunks, lighter batter, and a sauce with a robust garlic kick. The dim sum assortment is a superb starting point, whether ordered as a sampler or as individual dishes like the firecracker cilantro fish roll, shiitake and bok choy dumplings with kale dough, or the cucumber salad with a bold garlic-chili dressing.
Continuing Chang’s green culinary theme, the jade tofu duck soup offers a verdant, kale-tinted broth enriched with duck stock. The Peking duck remains a crowd-pleaser; the bird is prepared in the classic fashion—air-inflated skin separated from the meat, dusted with five-spice salt, blanched in a baking-soda bath, then roasted with a glaze of vinegar and corn syrup, yielding crackly skin and tender meat, served with house-steamed pancakes, shaved scallions, and hoisin.
The duck is consistently popular, as is the bronzed branzino in sweet-and-sour sauce, whose deep-fried fillets form a pine-cone pattern that showcases the kitchen’s skill in classic dishes. The dragon eggplant in garlic sauce demonstrates knife skills, with angular suoyi cuts that allow the eggplant to expand in a glaze balancing sweet, sour, and spicy notes.
Lydia notes that Chang has a particular fondness for spice, especially in dishes prepared with a double-cooked “dry fry” technique, where ingredients are pre-cooked or battered and then finished in the wok with aromatics. Eggplant fries and bamboo fish—crispy flounder fingers in a crackling crust—exhibit this approach, while a house-made chili oil infused with cardamom and star anise elevates shredded tofu skin salad into crisp, noodle-like stretches. Pickled fresh chilies are essential to the soybean beef pot, a rustic specialty served in a clay pot. The hand-pulled Xi’an belt noodles at Mama Chang’s menu showcase garlic, Sichuan pepper, and coarse pepper flakes, finishing with a splash of hot chili oil over a sauce of vinegar and soy.
Yet no dish delivers more punch than the double lamb shanks, an Uyghur-inspired preparation whose tender meat falls from the bone and is seasoned with cumin and pickled chilies.
The menu also offers subtler flavors. The farmer’s stir-fry combines roughly chopped celery, bell peppers, and tofu skin scrambled into eggs, a nod to Chang’s mother’s farm-fresh cooking. The Yangzhou-style Lion’s Head meatballs—large, airy pork spheres in a mild brown gravy—represent comfort food at its finest, achieved through careful grinding and whipping to create a high-fat mixture that braises into a silky sauce scented with sesame oil and soy. Diners accustomed to Chinatown renditions will find this version notably light and airy. The dish is presented in a hot pot with a ceramic Buddha, bridging elegant embassy banquets with the homely warmth the Mama Chang concept seeks to cultivate in Colmar.
As these two locations mature, I’ll be watching how they evolve, especially as more people in the broader region discover that one of America’s most decorated Chinese chefs is finally in their backyard. Right now, both restaurants are solid additions to the suburban dining scene, and with time they may become a broader regional draw as Chang and his family deepen their culinary mission.
Peter Chang KOP
Henderson Square, 314 S. Henderson Rd., Suite C, King of Prussia, PA 19406, 717-431-0488, peterchangkop.com
Open 11:00 to 21:00 daily, with later hours on Friday and Saturday. Large plates ranging from $16 to $40. Wheelchair accessible. Not ideal for gluten-free dining. BYOB.
Menu highlights: Dim sum box platter (firecracker cilantro fish roll; Peking duck roll; chili-oil pork and shrimp wonton; garlic cucumber salad); scallion bubble pancake; tofu skin salad with chili oil; dan dan noodles with tofu; spicy dry fried eggplant; farmer’s stir fry; dry fried bamboo fish; twice-cooked pork belly; dragon eggplant with garlic sauce; Peking duck; soy bean beef pot; cumin lamb shank; fried branzino with sweet and sour sauce.
Mama Chang
118 Bethlehem Pike, Colmar, PA 18915, 215-822-0299, mamachangphiladelphia.com
Open 11:00 to 21:00 daily, with extended hours to 22:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. Weekend brunch 11:00 to 15:00 with bottomless dim sum at 33 USD per person. Wheelchair accessible. Not ideal for gluten-free dining. Full liquor license offering simple cocktails, Chinese beers, and baijiu.
Menu highlights: Many Peter Chang dishes appear here, including jade tofu duck soup and Lion’s Head pork meatballs, plus additional specialties suited to the Colmar setting.
