The cooler weather has meant that I've been "doing the rounds". I decided to drop by Yummy House for some takeout.
Just like on my previous visit over a year ago, the place was totally empty. How do they stay in business? Anyway, they didn't have the wintermelon soup again this time, so I just went with the same 'ol, same 'ol. I went for a walk after placing my order.
Upon returning, my order was ready and I headed home.
Like before, I got the Beef Tendon Pot and the Lamb with Suan Cai.
The Beef Tendon Pot was disappointing; first, the portion size was half that of my previous visit.
You can tell by the light color that this didn't have enough tomato flavor, thus it lacked a nice tanginess. Also, there was very little tendon as well; it was mostly tough slices of beef. The soup was quite thick and had a greasy tongue feel to it. Man, to think I really used to like this dish.
The other "usual" dish was a bit better.
The lamb was nice and gamy; and there was a good amount of suan cai as well, though we always have add in some of our home made stuff to bolster the fermented flavor. We also add in a good amount of white pepper. Once done it had a bracing sourness that the Missus enjoys. Maybe I should just think about making this at home.
Overall, I'm probably not going to return for a while. And I'm thinking, I'll need to try some other dishes as those that were our favorites are not available or have been disappointing over recent visits. Kind of a bummer.
Yummy House
4633 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Which leads me to ask; how have old favorites of yours been faring recently?
I gotta say, that Kwai Fei Chicken was the best I've had in a while. Moist, tender meat, decently seasoned. The sauce, while still high in the oil to ginger, was much better than last time. Really good. Alas, the Missus is not a big fan of Kwai Fei Ji. 
I don't know what it had been before, but it's a pretty large space.
The menu is quite extensive. Since this was a first visit…
The Mister ordered the Ma Pu Tofu ($12.99). Quite large, a nice heat/spice level, plenty of pork.
My 'usual' first time eating at a Chinese restaurant, Egg Foo Young ($12.99) This choice was BBQ pork (getting to try another favorite in this order). 
The BBQ Pork was inside (rather than on top of) the eggy vegetable filled pancake. Another unique version and quite tasty.
Menu prices have slightly increased. The choices are pretty much the same. 
We ordered the House Original and the House Spicy broths/"Yin Yang" ($4.25 per person). You can also order a mushroom broth as well as low sodium. 
The Supreme Angus Beef Lunch ($10.70) is accompanied by assorted seasonal vegetables ( thick slices of potato, daikon, a variety of mushrooms and greens) as well as fresh noodles, 'krab" sticks, frozen tofu and assorted meatballs (pork, beef and fish). The Angus beef pieces were nicely marbled and very flavorful; quickly cooked to a pleasant tenderness in the boiling broth.
Once again, I chose the fish filet lunch ($10.70) which has the same sides and includes an entire filet. This was plenty of food.
However the menu has "Add Ons" at the bottom and we decided to order the mini veggie platter ($3.95) just to try the 'lunch version'. This was really worth it: tomato, squash, corn, bok choy, cabbage, spinach, mushrooms and chrysanthemum greens 
Hot tea is still no charge.
The two sided, laminated/ easily sanitized menu is a bit pared down from pre-Covid-19 days. The majority of choices are Vietnamese with some Chinese choices also.
Still, hot tea is brought out when you are seated; some things are back to normal.
The seafood chow mein (crispy noodles) ($15.99) was quite large, filled with shrimp, fish and scallops as well as very fresh vegetables. Excellent. 
The salt and pepper fish filet with rice ($16.99) was also a very large portion. Light and crisp fry (proper) and onion were all that was needed for this meal. We did have leftovers of both. 
Right in the same strip mall as Eastern Dynasty I saw that Manna Bakery was closed. Man, this is an oldie. I've never posted on this place. I think my last visit was in pre-blogging days, but I know they had a very loyal clientele. 
Now, the batter on the wings from GC back in the day was on the lighter side and was also quite thin and the wings got soggy quickly. In this case it was the opposite; the batter was almost hard; not crunchy…hard. Also, I'm not sure if I'm rubbing off on Calvin (good lord, I hope not), but after our first bite we both said "where's the salt and pepper"? Barely any garlic, pepper was MIA, a few slices of scallions. I mean, this was bland, and while the wings were moist, there was just too much batter. The wings were large…but heck, I could have used some "salt" on my Salt-and-Pepper Wings……..
The noodles were nicely cooked and coated. But we both noticed something right away when biting into the shrimp. You can tell by the color. It seems the shrimp were blanched and just dumped into the dish. It had absolutely no flavor. 