The Great Wall of China was constructed to keep roving packs of ancient pandas from absconding with the local cuisine. Succeed where the bears failed with today's Groupon: for $10, you get $20 worth of Chinese cuisine at Tian Jin Chinese Restaurant on West 79th Street in Chanhassen.

With seafood, beef, lamb, tofu, pork, duck, chicken, fried rice, chow mein, lo mein, and chow mei fun on Tian Jin Chinese Restaurant's menu, there's a dish to accommodate any and every Chinese food whim. But Mpls.St.Paul Magazine recommends the restaurant for its authentic Mandarin and Szechuan dishes, adventurous appetizers like the home-style gizzards ($6.95), and the house specialties. Szechuan specialty ma po tofu ($9.95) wraps vegetarian tongues in a savory bean curd embrace, and cumin lamb is a succulent medley of the titular meat, fresh bell peppers, and onions in an earthy sauce ($14.95). Or, take a dive in the tastes of the ocean with the sea cucumber with scallion sauce ($16.95). No matter which dish you request, you're bound to discover a wealth of unexpected Chinese flavors that haven't yet danced with your taste buds or serenaded your incisors with John Fogerty lyrics; Heavy Table magazine says Tian Jin "is doing some remarkable things with the food that sheds real light on how it’s meant to taste."

Reviews

Tian Jin received favorable reviews in Secrets of the City magazine, Heavy Table magazine, and Mpls.St.Paul Magazine. 88% of more than 200 Urbanspooners recommend the restaurant.

• Here’s the short version: The Chinese food you probably know is a xerox of a xerox. Tian Jin is serving up the original document. Thinly sliced gizzards that are covered in a cooling herbal sauce. Tongue-tingling boiled beef of shocking subtlety. Fried chicken tossed with whole peppercorns. The best dumplings you may ever get to try anywhere, profoundly honest. An entirely new take on the eggroll, based on taro root. – James Norton, Heavy Table