*** As of July, 2006 Golden City is under new Ownership – posts on the "New" Golden City, can be found here, here, and here.
After my first visit to the "new" Golden City for lunch; I thought I’d give them a few weeks to get their act together. So after one evening of a few movies at San Diego Asian Film Festival this past October, the Missus and I paid a visit to Golden City to partake of the "Supper Menu" served between 9pm through Midnight. We arrived at Golden City at just past 9pm:
When we entered, just a few tables were filled along with one rather large, raucous party where the Older Chinese Men were pounding a few beers. One of the great things about the "old" Golden
City; were the reasonably priced late night specials, and though the prices have gone up a bit at this new location they are still reasonable. Most dishes range from $5.25 – $6.95 from 9pm til closing.
So we started ordering; first with the Roast Duck ($5.95 – 1 piece):
The "old" Golden City made pretty good roasted meats, and I understand that the Chef used to work at Emerald making the roast meats. So I was looking forward to this. The skin was nice and slightly crisp, and the meat was nice and tender. But the flavor was a bit off; it did taste like roast duck, mind you; but the flavor was strangely muted, as if it was a mere shadow of its former self.
Rock Cod with Black Bean Sauce ($6.15):
One of the Missus’s favorites, the fish fillets were cooked to a moist and tender state, and the onions were cooked through perfectly. However, the Bell Peppers were undercooked and very raw tasting. The sauce suffered from a lack of Black Bean taking away any personality from the dish.
Goat with Dry Bean Curd ($5.95):
Per the Missus’s instructions, I’m not allowed to eat this. Between bites, she did say it was just as good as she remembers.
Lastly out came "My" dish; Kwai Fei Chicken ($5.95):
One of my favorite dishes back home in Hawaii is what is called Cold Ginger Chicken; basically cold, Poached Chicken served with a ginger-scallion oil. I’ve never really found a version of this dish that I’ve enjoyed on the Mainland. What I did find was Kwai Fei Chicken. Basically, chicken is rubbed with seasoning, and steamed. This dish is also served at room temperature or cold with the heavenly ginger scallion oil. Golden City used to be a regular stop for this at their old location. Tonight, the chicken was over cooked making it tough and dry. And not even the scallion oil could cure it. So in the end; I ate most of the oil on rice (it is really delici-yoso), and took the chicken home for Frankie and Sammy.
In the end it seemed as if Golden City was literally a "shadow of it’s former self", as all the flavors seemed strangely muted. Though as we left groups of people started streaming in; searching for reasonable Chinese Food at 10pm.
In the last installment we have a "regular" dinner; and I’ll have the same dish for lunch that I had on opening day.
Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearney Villa Rd
San Diego, CA 92123