Ever since they opened in Renaissance Towne Center back in April, Joyee’s has been a fairly regular take out stop for us. I’d place an order online and sometimes take JJ on over to pick up our food. It’s always the same two dishes…the Smoked Duck and Popcorn Chicken. I then have to actually use the air fryer to heat up the popcorn chicken to make it palatable. But the Missus insists it’s Her favorite…though I honestly think it’s because of the price, $11.99 and portion size. I mean, I have to actually cook it to make it edible for the Missus?
Personally, I thought the popcorn chicken…it’s called Spiced Street Chicken on the menu at Soup du Jour is actually better overall.
So recently, I decided to try them both over the course of a couple of days……..
Soup du Jour:
I know, interesting name for a place that makes a bunch of Chinese/Taiwanese Dishes in an apartment complex. I really hadn’t been back since I did my mega post back in January.
Even though the patio is dog friendly…it was just too hot to take JJ…so I just went and did a take out order.
Along with an appetizer of Spiced Street Chicken ($15.50 – you can also get it as a plate), I got the Honey Glazed Spareribs ($17.50) which the Missus enjoys.
Here’s what the chicken looks like.
It’s quite crunchy, has a nice white pepper – salt – basil flavor, good aromatics. Mild five-spice. Nice and fragrant.
Moist meat.
The Missus’s main gripe is that it doesn’t refry well in the air fryer.
The Missus enjoys the kind of Asian Fusiony Honey Glazed Spare Ribs.
No, these aren’t smoked pork ribs. It is supposedly braised overnight and has a nice balanced umami-sweet-savory flavor. I know it doesn’t look very pretty or tender…..but looks are deceiving.
It’s quite moist and tender and comes right of the bone. The Missus actually likes the leftovers along with the roasted veggies….which I still kind of find weird, over rice the next day.
The portion size is quite generous for the price….for these days.
Soup du Jour
8583 Aero Dr.
San Diego, CA 92123
And then a few days later…..
Joyee Noodle House(UTC):
It’s really easy online ordering, then pick-up. The same ‘ol, same ‘ol.
The Popcorn Chicken ($11.99) and the Smoked Duck ($19.99).
Let me tell you….that Popcorn Chicken just doesn’t look very good.
I had the Missus try a piece before doing the air fryer thing and She took a bite and made a face and put it back in the box!
The Missus says the smoked duck tastes like how they make it in Shandong….very savory.
They’ve been getting kinda sloppy recently and seem to just throw stuff into the container…..pieces stuck together, skin fallen off….. Still the Missus enjoys the flavor.
Here’s what things look like after the air fryer and air roast.
The Popcorn Chicken is still fairly moist, but becomes crisp.
The texture is more like what we like in Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken…..I believe they are using potato starch for the batter. It’s a bit milder in flavor, but nice and crisp-crunchy.
I put the skin back on the pieces of duck and air roast.
And this suddenly looks much better too, right?
Still, I don’t think I should go and to takeout, then have to cook the food again to make it to our standards, right? What do you think?
Joyee Noodle House(UTC)
8935 Towne Centre Drive
San Diego, CA 92122
And, I’m open to any Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken recommendations…though let’s not do Bopomofo ok?