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FAMILY FARE : GOLDEN CHINA : Oriental Jewel : An exterior pizza parlor appearence belies the decor and quality of food at this restaurant.

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Golden China is exactly the kind of place you might easily miss. It’s a big Chinese restaurant half a block from the ocean in a Ventura neighborhood that could be described as both sleepy and overbuilt. With its neon beer signs and colored lights, it looks like a pizza parlor from the outside.

Enter through the bar and it still looks like a pizza parlor. But once inside either of the two large dining rooms, with their carved wood panels, Oriental chairs and Chinese-lantern light fixtures, the feeling is one of serenity and comfort.

The huge menu lists 113 different items, Mandarin and Sichuan, most rich with the garlic and ginger characteristic of both cuisines. But be forewarned: A number of dishes at Golden China are intensely sweet. Order too many and you may go home feeling like a kid after Halloween.

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Pu-pu mixed appetizers are served on a large wooden platter with a fire pot burning in the middle. The flame casts a cozy glow over the table. Teriyaki beef on a stick tasted of garlic marinade rather than teriyaki, but was very good. The paper-wrapped chicken morsels (actually, wrapped in aluminum foil) were tiny but flavorful.

The ribs were bright red, sweet and dry, with a slight vanilla-like flavor. My children would happily have made these their entire dinner. “They were the only things I liked the best,” said one.

The hot and sour soup was neither as hot nor as sour as some I’ve tasted. We found two fine reasons to order pot stickers: A flavorful sauce filled with chunks of garlic and ginger, and the way the meat ball popped out of its won ton skin and landed on my husband’s lap.

Of the entrees, we particularly liked the whole fish. A big, fresh red snapper, covered with a very spicy sauce, deserved the attention received when set before us.

Another handsomely served dish was the shrimp in a basket of woven noodles.) The simple sauce enhanced the quality of the vegetables and shrimp.

Moo-shu pork, which my husband claims is the test of a Chinese restaurant the way a hamburger is at an American establishment, passed with flying colors: paper-thin crepes filled to overflowing with finely shredded pork and cabbage in a slightly smoky sauce.

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Beef in orange peel sauce was one of the sweeter dishes, and one I would order again (and again). The citrus peel was thin and chewy and intensely orange-flavored. The beef was so crisp and sweet it was like a wonderful high-protein candy. The slices of green onions, as big as quarters, were perfect, however the red chiles we avoided like land mines. Altogether, a dramatic dish to eat.

We didn’t really need dessert, but in order to write a complete review, we ordered the glace apple.

Big chunks of hot apple arrived enclosed in crisp caramelized shells, with a hint of roasted sesame seeds. The waiter dipped them in ice water at the table. It was one of those desserts that proves that adventures in eating go on and on.

* WHERE AND WHEN: Golden China, 1105 South Seaward Avenue, Ventura, (805) 652-0688. Lunch and dinner 11:30 a.m.--10 p.m. daily. Full bar. Parking lot. All major credit cards. Dinner for two, food only, $20-$44.

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