Recently, I was craving some Beef Sate with Egg Noodles "dry" (Mì Bò Sa Te Kho) and since I was in the office, I decided to head on over to Tim Ky, which used to be a fairly regular stop for me back in the day. Strangely, while I had done takeout from Tim Ky during Covid, I hadn't actually eaten in the place since back in 2019! A revisit was long overdue!
And since all these noodle shops open fairly early, I could roll on in for a 10am "lunch".
There's some construction going on in the parking lot and the shops look like they've got some new signage. There's now a menu outside the restaurant, I'm guessing to help folks do takeout, but the interior looks basically the same.
Another thing that's not the same (of course) are the prices. The Beef Sate Egg Noodle is now $15.69. I remember when it was less than seven bucks.
My dish arrived very quickly.
And I proceeded with my "standard process" of mixing the dish to my satisfaction. I quickly noticed that there wasn't any "sauce" at the bottom of the bowl, it was merely a touch of sate sauce squirted over the egg noodles. This was not nearly enough to coat all the noodles and would not provide enough of that savory-nutty-pungent flavors for the dish. I ended having to add a rather large amount of the broth on the side to the bowl creating more of a soup, which kind of defeats the purpose of things. Also, the broth was quite MSG heavy, but at least wasn't bland. It was good in a soup spoon with a slice of meat and onion in it. The noodles were also undercooked and hard as well.
The meat was adequately tender and nicely coated, but the overall dish really didn't have that shalloty-garlicky-savory-lemongrassy-mild spice I enjoy.
Needless to say, I was disappointed. Sigh…..
Which led me to wonder if this was the norm? So, I decided to head on back over and try one of the more "basic" items from the menu. When I arrived, the old timers were going full blast in the parking lot.
At the restaurant I had a bit of a dilemma; what to get won ton noodle soup or the dumpling noodle soup. Well, luckily all of these "Mi" places have combo, the Won Ton & Dumpling Egg Noodle Soup ($14.79). Which is what I got.
The was a definite difference in the soup, it was way lighter and thinner than what I'd had here in the past, really lacking in savory tones; more like white pepper-salt water. There were 2 won ton and 3 dumplings….yes, I counted. The wrappers were very soft and tender; really enrobing the fillings. In fact, doesn't the won ton look like brain matter?
The fillings, while being more chewy than I recalled, as nicely flavored, porky, hints of seafood, sesame oil, and so forth. The char siu was hard and very tough and weak in the sweet-porkiness I enjoy.
The noodles this time around had just the right amount of crunchy-al dente pull for me.
This wasn't bad, but that soup was on the weak side. Hmmmm…..is this how things are these days?
Perhaps it was time for me to "make the rounds" and find out?
Tim Ky Noodle
9330 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126
Current Hours:
Daily 9am – 8pm
Haven’t been here in a while either. Prices have really gone up
I haven’t been here in forever even though Lucky Seafood is a regular stop for groceries. I used to get the won ton and dumpling soup, no noodles. Since I make the won ton and dumplings at home, I don’t order it at restaurants.
The construction in the parking lot is an Aldi that’s replacing Big Lots.
They sure have ST!
Thanks for the info Sandy! I’d usually get the beef sate egg noodle, but it was fairly mediocre, so I thought I’d try the “basics” there.
I tried them a few times. I like the won ton and dumpling soup better at Minh Ky.
I preferred Minh Ky too Soo. But that was before the new ownership took over. I need to try them again.
bummer
Yes, it was Kat!
Bummer. As a MM regular, I do think a lot of the older restaurants around the area that aren’t able to maintain big volume are either on, or close to being on, life support. Them’s the breaks.
I was quite sad because Tim Ky had been a favorite of mine KPW.