Eastern Dynasty Revisited

There was one more Cantonese style restaurant we wanted to check out for “FOY” Kenneth, to help plan his holiday night out. Naturally our initial recommendation was for Noble Chef; but we had revisited Taste of Hong Kong and were pleasantly surprised. And based on that meal; the Missus was all for me doing some “due diligence” and revisiting Eastern Dynasty since it had been almost two years since our last visit.

Man, the place was buzzing, soon after being seated; the place was full; so I only took a photo of the ducks hanging…..

What was also interesting was of the three places; Eastern Dynasty was the least expensive.

For instance; the half roast duck was $21.

This was also pretty darn good as well. The skin wasn’t as thin and crisp as Taste of Hong Kong; but it definitely had more of that five spice – duck flavor. The fat had been rendered decently; and those drippings…man; we’re talking major left over fried rice material. Very moist and tender…a pleasant surprise!

I was craving some of those Soy Sauce noodles ($17.95) and we’d never tried that here.

The texture was almost like pan fried noodles; which I liked as it took me back to the first time I had this dish. My cousin got married many moons ago to a guy who owned a business and was pretty successful. The reception was held on the Oceania Floating Restaurant, which at the time was world’s largest floating restaurant. You can read about it here. Being a poor kid, raised by a single mom; I’d never had any food like that before! And when these noodles arrived……I had always preferred noodles to rice when I was young…my mom attributed that to craving saimin all the time when she was pregnant with me…anyway; I’ve always loved this simple dish since then. This version had nicely coated noodles; it could have used more sprouts and scallion though. Word of warning, I don’t think this would heat up well….so you ‘betta finish ’em all up at the table.

The one clunker was the Salted Fish, Chicken, and Eggplant ($19.95).

This smelled nice and stinky; but the sauce was watery and lacking in flavor. The eggplant was mushy; not fairly firm on the exterior and molten-buttery inside. It was on the bland side in spite of the “fragrance”.

Our last dish was our favorite from our previous visit; the Mei Cai Kou Rou (Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetable – $20.95). I gotta say; this was a bargain with regards to current pricing.

The tender, buttery nicely flavored pork. The slightly bitter-sour-edging on too salty preserved vegetable. The slices of napa hidden under everything actually helps balance out the strong flavors. As an FYI; this is not a sweet version of this dish as it leans more towards soy-salty-savory. It’s the Missus’s favorite version here in SD.

The service was good considering that every table was taken in this rather small restaurant. It was the most inexpensive of the three meals. Kenneth, I’m not sure if my posts have been helpful or have caused more of a quandary with regards to your choice. Either way, I’m hoping that the place you select provides a wonderful meal and experience for the both of you! Of course; you could always go to all three……

Eastern Dynasty
4690 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 830pm