Chinese Restaurants – Page 12

Tasty Noodle House (Convoy)

February 14, 2024 Cathy Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog, is being written by Cathy today. Kirk is otherwise occupied, away from computers and with His Missus.

The Mister and I had the good luck to find a parking spot in the worst parking area on Convoy Street and then needed to decide what we wanted for lunch. This parking lot serves at least 12 restaurants.

Remembering that Kirk had posted about Tasty Noodle House, (but it was six years ago!) we chose this restaurant after looking at the menu by the door.

The tables were quickly cleaned and turned when we were here.

Green Onion Pancake ($5.75) is always nice to share. Flaky layers with a light crunch and a delicate spring onion flavor to the (not oily) pastry.
Spicy Sesame Wonton ($12.50) was another great sharable choice. Most of the other tables had large steamed buns delivered and these more delicate wontons had a great pork and vegetable flavors as well as a pleasant chile based sauce which was used for dipping. Complimentary heat, not numbing.

Beef Chow Mein with Pickled Vegetable ($14.99). The beef was tender and not chewy with a nice salty flavor, probably imparted by the pickled vegetables, which also had a pleasant bitter undertone. The noodles were properly cooked and the other vegetables added a good texture to each bite.

Hot Tea ($3.99). I always order tea and must say the quality of this particular pot was excellent. Fresh, flavorful and just right.

We will stop in again, if we find a parking spot.

Tasty Noodle House 4646 Convoy Suite 110 San Diego 92111 (858) 430-6876 Website Open Mondays 9 a.m.-9:30 p.m. All other days: 11-2:30, 4:00-9:30

Bafang Dumpling (Mira Mesa)

Man did Bafang Dumpling generate lot of buzz when they opened at the end of December. Folks that I know who went talked about crazy lines and 30-40 waits for food. Funny thing, we thought about checking out Bafang during our trip to Taiwan, but things never worked out. We even had considered going to the City of Industry location, but ended up having not so great guotie and XLB at Jiou Chou Dumplings instead.

But now it was nearing the end of January and the rain has left San Diego a soggy mess, Bafang opens at 10am, and it was Monday. Sounded like a good time to see if the place wasn't too crazy, so I drove on over with a plan B (turo turo) just in case. I needn't have worried.

Bafang 01

As the nice young lady opened the door telling me; "welcome, you're the first customer of the day".

Bafang 02

Bafang is one of those fast-casual places, you order at the counter, pay, and are given a buzzer which will go off when your order is ready for pick up at the counter.

Bafang 03

My coworker "CY" whose family is from Taiwan went to Bafang when they first opened (of course), I didn't want him to tell me what he thought of the food, so the only advice he gave me was "make sure to visit the sauce bar, it will come in handy".

Bafang 04

Well, since I had ordered guotie and jiaozi black vinegar was a must. I also got the chili sauce and the garlic sauce.

Bafang 05

Waiting for my order I had a little taste of each sauce, all of which I thought was terrible. The black vinegar tasted watered down, the garlic sauce had very little garlic flavor, at least to me and was overly sweet, and the chili sauce was quite weak as well. Before I had time to really wonder if this was an omen of what my meal was going to be like, the buzzer and bright lights went off.

One thing I did appreciate about Bafang was the ability to do half orders of pot stickers and dumplings, which meant I could try both without stuffing myself silly.

Because it is usually pan fried, I went for the guotie ($5.75 for 6) first.

Bafang 06 Bafang 07 Looking at the dumplings gave me pause. Look at the color; it's very "light", and as I thought, these hadn't been fried long enough and were hard and chewy, rather than crisp. The tops should be somewhat pliant with a slight pull to it. These were a bit on the brittle side. The filling was decently seasoned, but had too much napa cabbage for my taste.

Not very good.

Bafang 08

One thing I really loved in Taiwan were the pork chops; like the Missus said, "In Taiwan you never met a pork chop you didn't like". So, of course I had to try the pork chop ($8).

Bafang 09

These looked pretty good; but it was really chewy. While it had some five spice flavor to it; it needed more white pepper and salt.

Bafang 10

It wasn't particularly crisp either.

Looking at the jiaozi ($5.75 for 6), I shook my head. I really looked like it came out of a bag pulled from the freezer.

Bafang 11 Bafang 12 This was pretty bad; the "skin" was hard and brittle. The filling seemed to be half cabbage, the pork mealy, dry, and was quite tasteless.

This wins the award for the worst jiaozi I've had in ages. I left shaking my head and thinking, "this is like college food court cuisine" and I'm probably not the target audience for this. Still, I needed to give the place another try. Another rainy Wednesday, meant another opportunity to not have to deal with crowds.

Bafang 13a

Bafang 13b

This time I went with the Niu Rou Mian (Beef noodle soup $16.75) and also the Spicy Fried Chicken ($8).

When I was summoned to the counter to pick my order up I was surprised at how large that bowl of NRM was! It took up an entire tray!

Bafang 14 Bafang 15 So, I hunkered down and took a sip of the broth and shook my head. It was really thin, lacking in beefiness, with just a hint of metallic-anise tones. It was in need of more richness. At least it wasn't salty….but on second thought it could have used more sodium and white pepper.

The hunks of meat and daikon were huge. This meant the meat was on the drier and tougher side and lacking in flavor. The hunks of daikon had retained its flavor but were not cooked all the way thru.

The noodles were overcooked, mushy, and lacking in the springiness….in other words, instead of "QQ", this was more like "DoDo"…..

Bafang 16

Though if you're more into portion size, this might be the dish for you.

I was ready to be let down by the Spicy Fried Chicken ($8), but it ended up being the best item I had during my visits.

Bafang 17 Bafang 18 I would skip the "chili sauce" which wasn't particularly spicy, just kinda oily.

The coating of the chicken was crunchy and there was enough white pepper and savory seasoning on this. Hallelujah!

The chicken was on the tougher side but was adequately moist.

Bafang 19

Well, that made one-out-of-five here. This kinda makes me think there must be a huge difference between Bafang here and in Taiwan, right? I read that Bafang has almost a thousand locations in Taiwan.

This sign made me laugh.

Bafang 20

In my mind it didn't stand for Bafang Dumplings; I would use another word that starts with "B". But of course, that's just me. In all honesty, because Bafang opens at 10, I was hoping this would be a good place to add to my rotation, but as it is now, it's going to be a while before I return, if ever.

I'm hoping your visits to Bafang were better than mine; please tell me about them.

You can read Soo's post on Bafang here!

Bafang Dumplings
9690 Reagan Rd.
San Diego, CA 92126
Hours:
Daily 10am – 10pm

Eastern Dynasty Revisited

February 6, 2024 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants

We continued our roast duck quest with a visit to a place we had only done takeout from; Eastern Dynasty. We hadn't enjoyed the dishes much from Eastern Dynasty, and the last time we did takeout, other than the Kwai Fei Ji, which the Missus specifically said we weren't going to order, well this was going to be interesting.

Eastern Dynasty Rev 01

Parking at the Convoy Pointe Plaza can get pretty tight during prime time; but we arrived during the middle of the week at 5pm for dinner and had no issues finding parking. Eastern Dynasty had just opened and we were the first customers.

Eastern Dynasty Rev 01b

We placed our orders and soon enough the dishes started arriving.

First up, the Roast Duck.

Eastern Dynasty Rev 02

This was totally different from what I'd had from here previously. It as still on the mild side in terms of flavor, definitely in need of more assertive anise flavor. But the skin, while a bit too soft was passable, and the meat was very moist and tender. Not great, but not bad at all.

Previously, when I had tried to order the Salted Fish and Chicken with Eggplant, I was told "not to order it", and when I went ahead anyway, my goodness, it was waaaay too fishy! But here we were a year later.

Eastern Dynasty Rev 03

Whoa, like the duck, this was surprising, though unlike said fowl, it was not in a good way. This hardly had any salted fish in it and was very bland. Did they have a shortage of salted fish? Or perhaps they've changed chefs?

We also ordered the Salt and Pepper Pork Chops.

Eastern Dynasty Rev 04

I liked the seasoning on this, good amount of pepper, perhaps a bit too much MSG. But the pork was tough and the coating lacked crispness.

For the last dish; the Missus wanted the Mei Cai Kou Rou. I reminded Her how greasy and bitter it was the last time we tried it. She was undeterred. And it turned out to be the best dish of the meal.

Eastern Dynasty Rev 05 Eastern Dynasty Rev 06 Man, this was a nice surprise. The pork was tender, not overly fatty, and braised well. Mei Cai Kou Rou can be overly sweet, but this was nicely balanced, good salty-savory-ginger-anise-sweet balance. It was also not overly greasy and we could taste the preserved vegetable, which added pleasant sour notes, and a slightly crunchy texture to the dish. This also had julienned napa cabbage, which one could complain is filler, but it added a hint of sweetness and a nice contrast in texture. This dish got the Missus to exclaim, "when we're done with the roast duck exploration, let's do Mei Cai Kou Rou!" Be still my arteries!

This was an interesting visit. I'm wondering if there's such a large gap between takeout and dine in here? Or perhaps the kitchen staff has changed since our last visit? I'm hoping that it's not a matter of consistency in the prep of the food.

Eastern Dynasty Rev 07

Have you been to Eastern Dynasty recently? If so, how did it compare to earlier visits? Do tell!

Eastern Dynasty
4690 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 11am – 230pm, 5pm – 830pm

Paris – The View from Galeries Lafayette Haussmann and Lunch at Maison de Chengdu (Yet Again)

January 27, 2024 mmm-yoso Caffeine Fix, Chinese Restaurants, France, Paris, France, Travel

I really didn't want it to end; but here it was, our last day in Paris. We decided to spend our last morning doing what we've done so many times in the City of Light. I went to the corner Boulangerie, of which there were three and had a croissant at the apartment. And then we headed on over to Rue Montorgueil and had our Cafe Allonge at Café du Centre like we've done so many times.

No, it's not about the coffee really. Even the caffeine snob…the Missus loves this. It's about watching life walk past you and breathing in the city.

It's not unusual for us to spend an hour or more here.

Café du Centre
57 Rue Montorgueil
75002 Paris, France

And of course, once we were done, we headed off….well, with no goal in mind, just to do that Flâneur thing. Which brought us to the Passage des Panoramas.

Where we could do that "other" thing we'd really embraced called lèche-vitrine ("licking windows" i.e. window shopping).

As we exited the passage I had an idea. Since we were close to Galeries Lafayette, why don't we head on over. Now we had already seen the holiday displays earlier during our stay, which were admittedly a bit strange this time around. But there was one other thing I'd always meant to do at Galeries Lafayette and I thought since it was a pretty nice day, this would a good time.

So we headed on over and entered the store.

And headed on up to the rooftop terrace, where you get great views of Montmartre.

And the Eiffel Tower.

We enjoyed the view!

Soon it was time to get some lunch. We decided to stay around the apartment and just go back to Maison de Chengdu. We had enjoyed this simple Sichuan restaurant a block from the apartment so much that we had already eaten there twice.

We were seated upstairs this time.

This time around it was a three-out-of-three. We got our two favorite dishes from our previous visits, the Intestine Dry Pot and Green Beans with pork. Both were just as good as on previous visits.

You can read about those dishes in my previous posts on Maison de Chengdu.

The "new" dish was the Sautéed Mountain Yam, what I call yamaimo.

Whoa, in spite of the underwhelming look of the dish, this was quite good. The slippery mountain yam had achieved a bit of sweetness when stirfried. Yes, it was slippery, slimy, but quite nice with the earthy-sweet wood ear. It was so simple, yet quite satisfying.

Looking back, I think we were quite lucky to have selected where we stayed. Heck, our favorite simple, straight-forward Sichuan restaurant was a block away. And yes, the dishes we had here were better than the Sichuan in San Diego. Isn't that sad?

Maison De Chengdu (古味成都)
16 Rue Volta
75003 Paris, France

A Revisit to Taste of Hong Kong

January 23, 2024 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants

After our revisits to the Noble Chef and Golden City, the Missus wanted us to try out the roast duck at some other places. I'd been wanting to have the Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings from Taste of Hong Kong and it been almost a year since our last visit. So, we headed on over. We had noticed that the place does get a bit crowded for dinner, so we arrived just after the opening time of 430pm.

The Missus looked over the menu; we had three items that we wanted to order and the Missus got a fourth, kind of surprising item.

Of course we got the half Roast Duck.

Taste HK Rev 01

This was a bit of a surprise as it was much better than what we'd had here before. The fat was nicely rendered, great duckiness, good anise tones, the meat was moist and tender. The one thing I didn't like was the skin which I found to be too hard and chewy. Still, in terms of fatty goodnes, this was the best we'd had so far! But the texture of the skin needs improvement.

Of course the Missus got Her Salted Fish and Chicken with Tofu.

Taste HK Rev 02

The usual sauce/gravy was more like a thin soup. Loved the smooth and velvety tofu, but there was hardly any salted fish flavor in this; the dish was lacking in the funky-savory tones. It was on the blander side of the spectrum.

I'd been looking forward to having the Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings. During our first visit it was "love at first bite". On our second visit, there seemed to be some "QC" issues and the wings weren't as good. So, what would be the result on this visit?

Taste HK Rev 04

Man, there was a good amount of savory-eggy yolk used. The entire bottom of the plate was yellow! The skin was crisp, the flesh moist and tender. This was an umami flavor bomb. Of course, I don't think this travels well and so we finished it all during this meal.

For the last dish; like what we had done at Golden City, the Missus wanted something different. I'm not sure why; but She ordered the ChengDu Style Roast Duck and Spam in Spicy Broth. It was a huge dish.

Taste HK Rev 03

Man, that broth was spicy, though it was lacking in the numbing "ma" that we expected. There was supposed to be tripe in this dish as well; but we found nary 4 little strands of tripe. The spiciness of the broth totally wiped out any flavor the duck would have, though it seemed to highlight the saltiness of the Spam. I don't think we'll be ordering this again.

Taste HK Rev 05

Though I'm sure we'll be back for those wings.

Taste HK Rev 06

And perhaps even the roast duck….though I think we've got at least 3-4 more places to try.

Taste of Hong Kong
4428 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

COMC, The Road Trip Edition – Revisits to Bistro Na’s and Canton Restaurant – Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ

January 18, 2024 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

During the late fall and early winter, we made several road trips to revisit Mountain House. We decided to stay the evening and make a stop for lunch on the way home. We revisited places I've already posted on, so I thought I'd just post mostly photos of those meals. So, here I go C(learing) O(out the) M(emory) C(ard) again

Bistro Na's:

Good lord, how many posts have I done on the place since our first visit in 2019? There have been some changes over time. Bistro Na's lost their Michelin Star in 2022 and many of the dishes we'd enjoyed in the past are no longer on the menu. We've also noticed some inconsistencies in execution and quality as well.

But, on this visit, the Tofu Skin and the Smoked Duck Breast were as good as ever.

What we consider to be their signature dish, the Crisp Shrimp was not however.

The shrimp lacked the plump tenderness of what we'd had before and the shells seemed to have been fried differently as they were hard instead of being light and crisp.

And did we really spend $22 for a tiny portion of under seasoned Ong Choi? It was listed as having fermented bean curd, but there was not much of the cheesy-salty-savory-sweet flavor present.

After this visit, we decided to give Bistro Na's a rest for a while. There's no much more to explore in the SGV.

Bistro Na's
9055 Las Tunas Drive
Temple City, CA 91780

Canton Restaurant – Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ:

Well, this is now our default stop for Cha Ca. Ever since that initial visit, the Missus has been wanting to return. We've been back three times….I basically have stopped taking photos here. The food has been consistent on all our visits.

Tons of fresh herbs and veggies.

Funky mam nem, a generous portion of bun……extra onions which we put on the sizzling plate.

And we usually get the Cha Gio as well.

Plus, they open at 930am, which is great for our return trip home.

Canton Restaurant – Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ (Cash only)
8550 Westminster Blvd.
Westminster, CA 92683

Golden City Revisited

January 15, 2024 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants

**** Golden City has closed

After our last visit to Noble Chef, the Missus and I decided that we needed to get out there and do the “roast duck rotation”. It had been a year-and-a-half since I’d last dined in at Golden City and it had been been even longer for the Missus.

We arrived right at 5pm and the restaurant was empty.

GC Rev 01

Though the place soon started filling up. Of course we got the half roast duck ($17.95)….but, just for a change of pace, we decided to order items we hadn’t tried before.

As for the Roast Duck. Well, it was not very good.

GC Rev 02

As you can tell by the color this was quite bland. The skin was rubbery, this was a very meaty duck, but the flesh was dry and too chewy. One of the worst versions we’ve had in recent memory.

We also ordered the Dry Bean Curd with Fish Fillet Clay Pot ($19.95). We fully expected this to have a good amount of Yuba – Tofu skin and was quite surprised to see that the dish had more Fried Tofu than anything else.

GC Rev 03

We also would have preferred nicely velveted fish, instead of battered and fried, then sauce fillets. This made the texture somewhat gluey. The flavor of the sauce was fine, not overly salty.

Our good friend Candice had recommended we try the Dry Scallop, Shrimp, and Chinese Broccoli Fried Rice ($18.95). At first glance, the rice didn’t seem evenly coated.

GC Rev 04

But this was surprisingly good. Very savory tones; the shrimp perfectly cooked, tender and sweet. We were kind of interested to see what was going on with gailan in fried rice; but it was just the stems sliced thinly cross-wise. A nice, fragrant dish.

I was kind of surprised that the Missus ordered the Fried Capelin with Spicy Salt ($18.95).

GC Rev 05

I think that perhaps I misguided Her when I mentioned that Capelin was in the smelt family. She expected small, crisp, savory fish. These were quite large and assertive in flavor. The Missus wasn’t able to deal with the oily-fishiness of the capelin. I was ok with eating this fried “bait”. The dried chilies and garlic did help a bit.

Well, perhaps our exploration of dishes we’d never tried at Golden City didn’t go quite as planned. And that duck was not very good at all.

GC Rev 07

In terms of price; our meal was quite a bit cheaper than Noble Chef. But, I think if and when we return to Golden City we’ll be sticking to old favorites, like the Kwai Fei Ji.

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Sun – Tues, Thurs 11am – 830pm
Fri – Sat 11am – 9pm
Closed on Wednesdays

Hi! Dumplings

January 9, 2024 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian

I know; you were probably expecting Bafang, right? I'm kinda waiting until all the grand opening craziness subsides a bit before visiting. So, I thought I'd go ahead and do a post on Hi Dumplings which took the place of the Mr. Spicy which Cathy posted on at the end of September last year.

Anyway, I had to take my car in for servicing in the area and getting out at just before eleven gave me the perfect chance to check the place out.

Hi Dumplings 01

The interior is rather spartan, I was greeted by the really friendly young lady working. She was there on all three of my visits and was so nice.

Hi Dumplings 02

I was handed a menu, which seemed to have everything from Xiao Long Bao to Niu Rou Mian, to La Zhi Ji and Orange Chicken, Chow Mien and Spring Rolls.

Hi Dumplings 03

I guess they're casting a wide net for customers since this isn't Convoy or Mira Mesa?

Anyway, I was in the mood for something with some spice, so I ordered the Kou Shui Ji (Mouthwatering Chicken – $8.99) a favorite dish of mine. What arrived took me by surprise.

Hi Dumplings 04

Can you figure out what's missing? There was a base concoction of kou shui ji; sesame paste, vinegar, peanuts, garlic…..but where the heck was the chili oil? I asked the young lady and she apologized and brought me out a little dish of the chili oil.

Hi Dumplings 05

Which wasn't enough and I asked for another. The chicken was really tough and the dish didn't make my "mouth water" in the least bit. This wasn't a very good version of the dish.

Of course, the sign says "Dumplings", right? And as I will usually do when trying out a jiaozi place I ordered the basic Pork and Cabbage Dumplings ($11.99). You can order this steamed or boiled, or even pan fried ($1 upcharge). The young lady suggested getting them steamed and I complied.

Hi Dumplings 06 Hi Dumplings 06b These dumplings were fairly hefty in size. The wrapper of these steamed jiaozi was on the thicker side, chewy, and too brittle.

The filling was flavored well; though it was on the tougher end of things. Good light sesame oil-porkiness-salt and a bit of "juice" to boot. The black vinegar helped things along.

While this obviously seemed quite fresh I actually made wished that I'd ordered the basic boiled dumplings.

Hi Dumplings 07

There was only one other table with customers during my entire meal; though they were doing some good takeout business. The table was having the XLB and it really didn't look very good.

Before I left, the friendly young lady and I had a short chat. I suddenly realized that I didn't know where the Chef as from. I was told Dongbei….. I should have asked before I placed my order.

I was in the area a couple of weeks later and returned.

I was interested to see what the Signature Chicken Wings ($7.99) would be like. The ever friendly young lady told me that even though there was a chili pepper next to the dish on the menu; it wasn't very spicy. They had put it there after some young kids had the chicken and thought it too spicy for them.

Hi Dumplings 08

This was a bit strange for me; the skin was on the chewy side. It seems like these wings were skewered and grilled. The chicken was dry and tough. The seasoning was salty, but lacking in much else.

I was set on ordering some jiaozi boiled and decided on the Pork and Shrimp Dumplings ($12.99).

Hi Dumplings 09

I don't know if it's just me; but I've noticed that Dongbei style jiaozi tends to have thicker and chewier wrappers. So this pretty much fits the bill. The boiled versions were a bit more tender. Another thing I noticed were how large these dumplings were.

Just for a comparison to the chicken wings.

Hi Dumplings 10

Overall, I prefer the pork and cabbage filling to this. The filling was tough and chewy, the shrimp seemed undercooked and crunchy. The seasoning milder than the pork and cabbage version. So, I'd probably go with the pork and cabbage boiled.

And so, I figured that I'd had enough for a post. But then I found my self in the Grantville area again. It's been pretty cold by SoCal standards recently and a bowl of Niu Rou Mian sounded good. Plus, that young lady who works at Hi! Dumpling is always so nice and friendly, I thought I'd drop by and give the NRM a try.

Funny thing, the young lady remembered me. I got the Braised Beef Noodle Soup ($12.99).

Hi Dumplings 11 Hi Dumplings 12 My first thought when the bowl hit the table? What the heck is broccoli doing in this soup? The beef looked tough, but was adequately tender. The broth had a good amount of anise flavor and apparently even a more hefty amount of msg as I kept on chugging water after my meal. The soup was on the thinner side, needed more richness and beef flavor. The noodles were on the mushy side for my taste as well.

I don't think I'd have this again.

It's kind of sad overall since the gal working here is so nice; but the food just doesn't give me a reason to return. On the good side, it seems like dumplings of all kinds are really coming into their own in San Diego!

Hi Dumplings 13

Hi! Dumplings
6618 Mission Gorge Rd.
San Diego, CA 92120
Current Hours:
Wed – Mon 11am – 9pm
Closed on Tuesdays

Sunday Stuffs – Eat Crispy Burger Coming to Convoy, Bann Korean Cuisine Closes, and News on China Max

January 7, 2024 mmm-yoso Burgers, Chinese Restaurants, Korean Restaurants

A couple of things I've seen during my shopping trips to the Kearny Mesa Area.

Eat Crispy Burger Coming to Convoy:

While passing the building housing Starbucks and Yakyudori, I noticed some window signage in one of the units.

SS Eat Crispy 01

So, I took a quick turn into the parking lot.

SS Eat Crispy SS Eat Crispy

So, it seems that a location of Encinitas Eat Crispy Burger is coming to this location. I guess they want to give The Friendly some smashburger competition in the area?

4898 Convoy St. #104
San Diego, CA 92111

Bann Korean Cuisine Closes:

Recently, the Missus needed some cosmetics from the shop in H Mart. I really don't get over there too often, basically because of the parking situation, but we headed on over and scorede a parking spot. While the Missus was paying for Her "stuffs", I walked on over to the food court and noticed that Bann Korean Cuisine had closed.

SS Bann Closed

Bummer. Though I really didn't visit the place as much when they moved to the H Mart food court, I used to visit quite often when they were located on Miramar Road. Perhaps moving to this location was not a great move? It's seems that turnover here might be pretty high as Katzya closed up shop here recently as well.

7725 Balboa Ave. (In the H Mart Food Court)
San Diego, CA 92111

And finally, News on China Max:

In one of my posts last month, I mentioned dropping by the location of China Max's reconstruction. In the comments "FOY" Julie asked if I knew what was going on. Well, this past week Eater San Diego had an answer.

SS China Max

In case you hadn't read or heard; the original owners of China Max had decided to sell the restaurant. The new owners also own Taste of Hong Kong. Per the reporting from Helen I Hwang in the Eater post:

"Its food focus is still developing, but options include Szechuan cuisine, a noodle house, or dim sum and a Cantonese menu similar to China Max."

Not sure how I feel about that.

Can you believe that it's been almost four years since the fire at the restaurant?

4698 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111

Revisits to Noble Chef

January 3, 2024 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants

It seems that even though we'll eat Chinese food on our trips, one of the first thing the Missus wants when we return is…..drum roll please, Chinese. Upon returning from our last two trips, the Missus had been wanting to eat at the Noble Chef. It had been over a year since we'd last dined in, so we headed on over.

It was a Saturday just past 530pm on a when we arrived….and holy smokes, the place was humming.

Noble Chef Rev 01

We were lucky to get one of the two tables still available.

Having had the food from Noble Chef so many times, it was a regular stop for us during the pandemic and the Missus has some dishes that She enjoys. So, the basic ordering was easy and we decided to try one dish that we hadn't ordered before.

Of course we started with the Roast Duck, which was a take out favorite of ours, but we hadn't enjoyed as much during our last dine in visit.

Noble Chef Rev 02

Well, this was much more meaty than we recalled and the skin a bit more chewy. In terms of seasoning it was good. The leftovers did much better as we got more sauce and I heated it in the air fryer.

The Salt and Pepper Pork Chops here are a favorite of mine.

Noble Chef Rev 03

These were crisp, though a bit thicker than we prefer. Nicely seasoned, good salt, mild spice.

A favorite of the Missus is the Salted Fish and Chicken with Eggplant.

Noble Chef Rev 04

Nice funkiness, good sodium control, but the eggplant was on the stringy side and undercooked for our taste.

For some reason, the Missus ordered the Hunan Seafood. As I figured, this really wasn't "Hunan".

Noble Chef Rev 05

The seafood was nicely stir fried; the shrimp was especially tender and buttery. The dish was quite bland and had barely any spice and the vermicelli noodles were mushy.

Another favorite of mine is the Soy Sauce Chow Mien. Man, this was a huge portion.

Noble Chef Rev 06

This was unevenly stir fried and not all the noodles were coated well. Some of the noodles were undercooked and hard.

The Missus enjoyed the dessert as always.

Noble Chef Rev 07

Well, not a particularly stellar meal. Still, we decided to give Noble Chef another shot when returning from our last trip.

This time the Missus went with the Salted Fish and Chicken with Tofu.

Noble Chef Rev 08

This was quite good, the funky flavors of salted fish came thru clearly; the tofu was soft and velvety, the dish was quite savory, though not overly salty. I think this is what the Missus will be ordering from now on.

Of course we got the roast duck again.

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This was on the bland side and the duck didn't have enough sauce. That was quickly remedied by request. The skin was on the tougher side as well. Looks like we'll have to look for other options for roast duck!

We also got the Seafood XO Sauce Fried Rice. When the dish arrived, we quickly took a look, and the question was raised; "where was the XO sauce"?

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There was a good quantity of shrimp in this; though the rice wasn't evenly coated, nor was there a detectable hint of the pungent, fragrant, umami-forward XO Sauce in this dish. Pass on this….

I decided to get the Black Pepper Pork Intestine.

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I really enjoyed the pungent-offaly-salty flavor and the toothsome texture of the intestine. The Missus thought this to be too sweet, but I enjoyed it.

The Salt and Pepper Pork Chops were even better this time around.

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Thinner, crisper, more evenly seasoned. This is how I remembered the pork chops being in the good 'ole days.

So, what's the takeaway? Well, I guess YMMV here; though the prices were decent for this day and age; the pork chops and duck does well in our air fryer as leftovers. The service was very nice on both visits. So, I guess we will be back; unless we can find something better in the area? Let me know if you have any recommendations!

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The Noble Chef
6159 Balboa Avenue
San Diego, CA 92111