Soup Dumplings and Sheep Elbow at Heng’s in Mesa

Heng’s Kitchen is a small counter-service Chinese restaurant tucked into a corner of the food court at Mekong Plaza in Mesa. It might be the least flashy restaurant at Mekong, but it offers an extensive menu of traditional Chinese dishes (more than 100 at last count), including a pretty broad repertoire of Shanghainese and Sichuan specialties you’d be hard pressed to find elsewhere in the Valley.

Five Phoenix Specialties You Should Go Get Right Now

There are certain foods and drinks that are Phoenician to their cores. Some were born here, some contain unusual desert ingredients only found here, and others simply have some long-standing history with the Valley. All of them make for idyllic weekend meals, whether leisurely sipped at the picturesque Biltmore or eaten out of hand while strolling through Scottsdale.