**** Yum Cha Cafe has closed
It seems that a whole bunch of FOYs (Friends of Yoso) have been on "Yum Cha Cafe watch". A few days back, FOY Trent email'd me saying that he saw equipment being moved into the space….and like a good YCC groupie, I was there that afternoon to take a photo.
Walking up to the window, I peered at the menu…..and felt funny. This was getting a bit out of hand. There's a fine line between groupie and stalker. So I backed a-waaay from the window, leaving behind the gathered condensation left by my nose and hands, walked away, and decided to tuck Yum Cha Cafe back into the far reaches of my mind.
Until……. I received an email from another FOY, Fred, who informed me that Yum Cha Cafe was open. A perfect storm had formed. I had gone in to work at 6am and been so busy that I skipped lunch, I was hungry, the Missus had also been "shopping" so She had skipped lunch. Yum Cha Cafe here we come…..
There are two ways of ordering…you can either fill in one of the order sheets and hand it to someone….or elbow your way in line and order from one of the ladies, who may hand you off to another lady, who in turn, will pass you off to the cashier. One other thing, Vietnamese is the language of choice for many of the employees at this location of Yum Cha Cafe.
Compared to the San Gabriel location, the prices here are about 40 cents to a dollar more here in San Diego.
And there was a full complement of Chinese BBQ, but no Rice Porridge today.
Yum Cha Cafe in San Gabriel serves up decent quality food at good prices, how would the new San Diego location hold up? Well…… we'd like to make a few more visits, so you'll have to wait for a bit. But that means that you be able to visit, and form your own opinions, right?
But just as a tease, here's some chicken feet ($1.39):
I'm showing these with the express purpose of tempting FOY and fellow food blogger CAB.
I think the Missus kinda enjoyed these…
Even though the prices here are 40% higher than LA, the Missus and I filled up for a total (including tax) of $8.78. And because great minds think alike, I think we saw Cathy's Husband (The Mister) walking into the place as we were driving out!
Yum Cha Cafe
6933 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111
Open Daily: 8am-8pm
Wandering Chopsticks writes about the San Gabriel location of Yum Cha Cafe in this post.
lol! My eyes were scanning for chicken feet on the menu and wouldn’t you know it, you had a picture of it just for me! Thanks, Kirk! Boy, those look good…
Ooo… I’ve been waiting for this to open too, may have to go after work in the evening to avoid the weekend crowds. Too bad about our SD “surcharge”, we always get screwed… but still cheaper than Emerald/Jasmine/Pearl/China Max.
Hi Kirk, thanks for the update! I think I’m going to wait for your full post before visiting because I never know what to order.. Unless of course you say they serve Sheng Jian Bao.. ? 🙂
You are correct, Kirk. The Mister brought home half of everything he ordered…and it was still good when cold. Then the two of us went back last night, ordered three things and then ordered three more…Soup and half a duck next time. I have it planned.
wow to fill up for $8 something that is a good deal!
Hi Carol – My pleasure!
Hi GT – Much cheaper…and better than 99 Ranch Market, and Jasmine Express…at least I think so.
Hi Dennis – LOL! Sorry, no Shenjian Bao
Hi Cathy – The roast pork looked good. Plus they have Kwai Fei Chicken.
Hi Kat – Yes, with the economy the way it is……
My child wants to try chicken feet and I’ve been hoping to find someone willing to share the experience. I’ll nibble, but its halfhearted.
This looks like a good place to try the nibbling, with or without a guide. Thanks.
Hi Kouign Aman – Give it a try here….at the least it won’t set you back much.
Hey Kirk! I’ve been so anxious for this place to open that I dragged Mr. GF out there last night. The ladies are very nice and most speak Cantonese, which earned me lots of brownie points. We went at 7pm and there wasn’t a lot of dim sum left, so we ordered noodles. The wonton noodle soup was decent… broth was good, the wontons were basically shrimp in wonton wrappers, and the noodles were ok. Instead of bok choy, they served it with bean sprouts. Wasn’t the best bowl I’d ever had, but it was more than serviceable. The dim sum was ok… sesame balls were good (not enough filling), chicken egg rolls tasty (Mr. GF has a weakness for them), and the custard buns (nai wong bao) were not great… the filling was crumbly. I want to go back in the morning and try their Chinese breakfast (soy milk, Chinese “donuts”… YES) with the dim sum in a fresher state.
Hi GF – You forgot to mention the one thing about the food there…..the price.
The prices are insane! I’ve been twice now and each time, I bought an armload of food for less than 10 dollars.
Hi GF – The Missus and I ate for under seven bucks once……pretty amazing.