Chinese Restaurants – Page 30

Szechuan Impression (Alhambra)

September 4, 2017 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

So, work has me going up to Irvine occasionally these days. It makes for a long drive, so recently, I had sessions all day and the Missus was off, we decided to head up and spend the night. I had wanted to stay in our old 'hood, Hacienda Heights, but the Missus wanted to be fairly close to my location so She wouldn't have to drive far to drop me off and then could do whatever She wanted. turns out She'd been working so hard and slept thru my texts when all my meetings were over. So I ended up having a nice 2 1/2 mile walk to the hotel. Which wasn't too bad; though it was pretty hot on Chapman.

And things seemed a bit seedy as well….I kind of stood out walking up the street and two different guys asked me if I was interested in "stuff". Strange.

Anyway, I got back to the hotel and we headed off for dinner. The Missus was really missing good Chinese food, specifically Sichuan. My first thought was a visit to Chengdu Taste, but since I'd recently checked out the Rowland Heights location, I thought we should visit Szechuan Impression, which has been creating quite buzz since opening a few years back. Yes, it's been that long since both the Missus and I have been able to take our time visiting our old stomping grounds. And yes, we've really missed the food in the SGV….but really haven't missed the traffic. A whopping 75 minutes from Garden Grove to Alhambra, without an accident to be seen.

I had actually planned well for this as we arrived right before Sichuan Impression opened.

This restaurant is on the small side; though there seems to be outdoor seating. Like the nice clean and well lit interior. We also enjoyed the rather professional service….we watched a couple come in with a young boy and the Server actually brought a little child's bowl for him.

We decided on a couple dishes from the menu. I love Sichuan Liang Mian, but have struggled to find anything like the version at Ba Ren, which closed in 2012. So, I had to order that here, since I'd heard good things about this version.

This was a disappointment. The sauce wasn't bad; though it was spicy enough, not enough vinegar tones, not enough sweet, not enough garlic….not enough. The noodles were a disaster; really hard and crumbly, with no "pull" at all.

Of course we had to have the Toothpick Lamb, which was better than what I had at Chengdu Taste in Rowland Heights.

The meat had been cooked at least twice, since the interior was pleasantly toothsome, which indicates some sort of braise and the exterior light and crisp. Good amount of cumin going on; with some spice, and a touch of the Sichuan Peppercorn signature numbing effect. I appreciated the cilantro, still don't enjoy the toothpicks, and the Missus wanted a bit more salt on this.

I miss the winey-porky-slightly sweet Chinese style sausages that Missus grew up eating in China. The closest facsimile we've had in the states had been at QingDao Bread. It was pretty hot out; so I ordered the "Impressive Sausage".

I enjoyed these a lot; nice cured pork flavor, decent wine, nice heat. The texture was a bit on the crumbly versus the nice waxy side and it wasn't salty enough. There was a smokey component to this that was seemed strangely reminiscent of paprika to me. The Missus wasn't going for this; as Her "Northern Sausage genes" kicked in….not enough wine, no sweetness, not salty enough, wrong texture. Still, I really liked this.

I didn't care for the Mapo Tofu.

There seemed to be a rather medicinal taste to this dish that was somewhat off-putting to me. It hit the Missus as well, but the more She ate it the more She enjoyed this. Loved the texture of the tofu; good "ma" (numbing), but not enough "la" (heat).

As we ate, we noticed that all the customers, save the couple with the young child, coming in were young. It seems that this is the new wave of Chinese regional restaurants, catering to the younger, "hipper" crowd of Chinese. The dishes aren't as salty, use less oil, and isn't quite a spicy. The Missus and I enjoyed the portion sizes as it seems that trend of "quantity over quality" is coming to an end. Cuisine isn't like the Mona Lisa, it's not a moment caught in time, it is constantly shifting. Though our meals are moments caught in time and we keep reaching for that moment…….and to be honest; for now I prefer the more traditional.

So, as it seems that another trip to China is not in the works; I'll keep searching for some good Sichuan Liang Mian.

Szechuan Impression
1900 W Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91803

Szechuan Chef (again)

August 30, 2017 Cathy Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of this food blog, written by three friends. Today, Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are unable to write about any meals either has consumed recently and Cathy's got a meal recorded on her camera, ready to share.

It's been *hot* the past few days! When I woke (around 2 a.m.) it was 65 and by 2 p.m., it was 101. {I fall asleep around 7 p.m., if you are concerned}. It was a day to get chores done early and then do nothing when the heat hit. Cooking inside our (non-air conditioned) house was not considered.

So, back we went down Convoy Street. Szechuan Chef is part of our 'rotation', which Kirk first wrote about in 2013 then I wrote about in 2015, posting once more as one of our 'birthday meals' in 2016 and most recently, Kirk wrote about a meal in April.

We try to order one 'new to us' dish as well as one 'familiar' item when we go out and today was no exception. Fish filet with tofu in black bean sauce ($10.99){rice is $1} was very nice, quite a large portion, had some great flavors and textures. Crispy fish, fried tofu and a not too salty black bean sauce with onion. Mild-no heat. Of course, my go to here is the deep fried cumin (not turmeric) fish ($10.99). Red pepper, onion, Chinese celery, garlic, ginger and chile peppers. We are never asked about what spice level we would like and it always is just enough.

Stay cool!

Szechuan Chef 4344 Convoy Street #F San Diego 92111 (858) 279-8881

Cold Tan Tan Men at Menya Ultra and Shann Xi Magic Kitchen (99 Ranch Market Food Court)

August 9, 2017 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Ramen

Cold Tan Tan Men at Menya Ultra:

Some of the folks at work thought we'd hit up Menya Ultra before things get really crazy. And yes, because it was a foursome, I actually waited in line for thirty minutes. I'd been told that the Zaru Tan Tan Men was really good; so I decided to order that with an ajitama.

The egg was very good, nicely flavored, and in this case, having it on the cold side was a plus this time. The noodles were very nice and katame (firm)….on two of my last visits I overheard folks complaining the noodles were "undercooked"…….god help them if they go to Rokurinsha, Ippudo, or just about any street corner ramen shop worth a damn in Japan. As for the rest? Well, I find this version rather bland with not enough savory umph to be satisfying to me. Even with the onions, the seasoned ground meat…..well, I'll just stick with the Ajitama Tonkotsu. Though I'm not sure when I'll be willing to brave the crowds again.

Menya Ultra Ramen
8199 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Shann Xi Magic Kitchen in the 99 Ranch Market Food Court:

**** This location of Shann Xi Magic Kitchen has closed.

I needed something from 99 Ranch Market and it was around 11am this past weekend. I decided to check out this location of Shanxi Magic Kitchen to see how they compared to the location on Convoy.

It's obvious that the two kids working here really don't want anything to do with their customers….they'd rather work on their laptop or socialize. I was treated like a mere nuisance.

Of course I ordered the Yang Rou Pao Mo ($8.99), which is served here without the pickled garlic or chili paste….perhaps you need to ask for them? But you shouldn't have to……it's standard for the dish.

I've mentioned that I've given up on finding the Yang Rou Pao Mo that I really enjoyed in Xi'an. So how's this facsimile?

The lamb in this was very tasty, quite muttony. The meat nice and tender. The flavor of the broth was heavy in white pepper, but decent, you could still taste "the lamb". It was a bit thin for my liking….I enjoy a thick and hearty Yang Rou Pao Mo, and while this was scalding hot, it lacked the richness and tongue (and belly) coating viscousity. Not much bean thread in this, though I saw some lily buds and a few pieces of tofu which looked just like the waxy, pasty, counterfeit leavened bread. Overall, not bad, but I'll be going to the location on Convoy if I ever want this again.

Overall, the (lack of) service and broth was subpar.

Shann Xi Magic Kitchen
5950 Balboa Ave (In the 99 Ranch Market Food Court)
San Diego, CA 92111

Steamy Piggy – A First Look(s)

August 2, 2017 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

While driving by last week, I noticed that Steamy Piggy, whose signage I saw back in January, was finally going through a "soft opening". Since that "helluva" (the one with Tajima/Liang's/Josun) parking lot was empty at 11am, I turned around and decided to give the place a try.

Even though the "open" sign was displayed, they didn't seem quite ready for prime time when I arrived…..which I'm sure they'll straighten out.

So I was seated outside. Pretty nice space, though there was water everywhere….I think they had hosed down the patio right before opening and the tables already felt a bit "sticky".

I was presented with an abbreviated menu. Since the specialty here is supposed to be dumplings, ordering that was a must. Unfortunately, they only had the Pork and Cabbage and the Pork and Shrimp versions and only pan fried. No problem, I wanted to see what the skill set of the cooks were, so simpler the better and I went with the Pork and Cabbage.

Needing another dish form the abbreviated menu; I went with the "Steamy Piggy Noodles" ($13.50), which was supposed to have Pork Ribs, Pork Belly, and Chicken.

Man, this was a load of carbs…..I mean a load….I barely finished half the bowl. The pork ribs were "MIA", the pork belly was a bit on chewy side for me, but the flavoring had nice hint of anise and soy flavor. There was a plethora of chicken. The noodles were overcooked and on the mushy side, but most of all, there was a certain greasy-blandness to this dish. Like something you'd make at home. I did like the "Steamy Piggy Sauce", a soy-chili oil concoction that was quite nice. I ended pouring almost a quarter of the bottle on the noodles to give it some flavor.

The filling for the pork and cabbage pan fried dumplings ($8)….I dare not call it guotie, were decent. Moist, not too salty, pleasant texture. I thought the wrappers were too thick and it wasn't panfried long enough or the temp was off as the bottoms weren't crisp enough and as a whole the wrapper was gummy. I'm not sure that this is worth eight bucks……

The young man who waited on me was awesome, friendly, gracious, and very nice. Sooooo…..I decided I needed to return.

This time I tried the shrimp and pork pan fried dumplings….called "Pimp Shrimp" ($9) on the menu. Sometimes I feel so old and out of touch….

In terms of cooking; these were better as the bottoms were more crisp. Other than that; the dumpling skins were the same, on the thick and gummy side. The filling on these were seasoned nicely with a definitive shrimp flavor.

And yet, I enjoyed the chili oil based sauce the best again.

Because the pork belly I had in my noodle dish seemed to have potential; I ordered the Red Cooked Braised Pork Belly ($8.50).

So, where to start? Too tough, salty, no sweet tones, and greasy to boot. Kind of sad, since I enjoy red cooked items. This was mediocre at best.

I could only manage 2 bites or so of what was in the tiny pot. I took the rest back to the office, "YZ" only had one bite; which was basically the consensus across the board.

I gotta say; while it looked like there were some service hiccups with other guests……the place filled up fast and I heard no less than three tables mention they read about the place on Eater. I had the same Server who was great….I think his name is Ivan.

Since this is still the soft opening period; I'm going to give this place a pass for now. I'll return in a few months to hopefully improved food and a more diverse menu.

Also, I'm vastly aware that the target audience for this place; much like Facing East is the younger crowd. Perhaps looking for well prepared, executed, and tasty food is not what it's about anymore. Perhaps style now matters more than substance…perhaps (I hope) I'm wrong. We'll see in a few months.

For a different look at Steamy Piggy, check out Kirbie's post.

Steamy Piggy
4681 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Open Daily 11am – 11pm

Rowland Heights – Chengdu Taste and a Walk Around Hong Kong Plaza

July 31, 2017 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

It was that time of the year again; time to head up to City of Industry. This time, like the previous, was a solo trip. Last time, I went and checked out the "West Colima – Azusa – Haceinda Heights side of things. I did this because there was a line outside of the one restaurant I wanted to try; Chengdu Taste. when Chendgdu Taste opened it really created a buzz; some said it to be "the best Sichuan restaurant in America", so forth and so on. Soon enough, it became it's own empire with locations in Rosemead, Houston, Las Vegas, and even Honolulu to go with the original shop in Alhambra. So here I was over a year later and guess what?

No line! So in I went…..

The place sure is a step up from restaurants we used to eat when we lived a few blocks away!

I ended up getting a small variety of dishes; starting with the "Pork with Garlic Sauce". Which came in a very nice presentation.

While I thought the pork more tender and flavorful in the version at Shufeng Garden across the street; I think the basic chili oil-garlic-soy-sugar here was superior. The pork was very fatty and a bit more chewy than I prefer; but man, that flavor was good.

If you've read our little blog for a while; you know I love Zi Ran Yang Rou; cumin lamb. I often make this at home, it's not hard, and yet it seems really hard to get a good rendition at most restaurants that serve the dish. So I had to order the signature and now much copied "Toothpick Lamb".

So, let me just say…I'm not a big fan of toothpicks in my food. As for everything else? Well, for once there was a nice amount of cumin in the dish….I could have done with more, but this is fine. There's a touch of heat from the chilies, but not too much. There's some Sichuan Peppercorns in this version, something I do with lamb loin chops, skirt steak, and even chicken at home. The meat was toothsome but not tough. This was very good. I do think onions and more cilantro would add to the dish.

Feeling a bit guilty, I felt I needed to order a vegetable dish; I ordered the Garlic Eggplant, which was the only mediocre dish of the set.

While it was cooked very well; the interior of the eggplant slices were creamy and molten, I felt the flavors fell short. Too sweet, not enough pungency, in spite of it being called a "garlic" dish, not enough spiciness, just kind of weak on the flavors.

I've been missing a couple of simple Sichuan "snack" dishes….the versions here in San Diego are not very good. So I ordered the Won Tons with Hot Sauce.

While the won tons were totally routine; not quite having that "kou gan" (口感 – mouthfeel) which makes for an excellent won ton. Thought it was not hard and tough, it's when you mix things up…..

And while I could have done with a bit more spice; this hit the spot. It's not quite like what I enjoyed in Chengdu or even what I had at No. 1 Noodle House years ago (my sources tell me it's not close to being the same these days), but I finished the whole bowl.

Leftovers to boot. Surprisingly good service, even friendly. Make me want to head on out to Alhambra to try…Szechuan Impression! Which my friends tell me is even better. Hopefully, I won't have to wait another year to get some decent Sichuan Food. Sorry to say; San Diego does not measure up.

Chengdu Taste
18406 E Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

After lunch I took a walk around Hong Kong Plaza.

I've done posts on this place going back to 2006, we used to live just a few blocks away. Things have changed quite a bit over the years. And new businesses always seem to be opening.

There are places that are still there from back in the late 90's when this was our neighborhood.

Places that I've done posts on over the years.

I even offered to get the Chou Doufu from the place She used to get it from weekly; Shau Mei. The sign has been freshened up and it had me wondering if the Missus would still enjoy the stinky tofu from here.

Was never a fan of RH Garden; but it still stands.

And those buses still pick folks up in the parking lot; whisking them away to Vegas and other places.

And of course; there are shops that cater to….well, the luxuries that come with having money these days.

It was nice to see that those older businesses seemed to be doing well.

But this is Rowland Heights and there's always change. Man, Shun Fat Market is becoming GW Supermarket.

We always say that we need to get up here more often; but work and life get in the way.

I hope we'll be back soon.

Clearing Out the Memory Card – Village Kitchen Revisited

July 24, 2017 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants

While it seems that the "other Village" is getting a lot of play these days……when a couple of folks from work asked to have lunch with me. Well, I picked Village Kitchen. It had been a while since I'd visited and I was interested in how things were coming along. I'd also heard that the owner wasn't around much these days….he was busy opening restaurant elsewhere.

The meal was a line-up of dishes I'd enjoyed in the past and a couple of new one's. Here's a short and sweet rundown.

Pork Intestine with Chilies.

The intestines were nicely cleaned, but were on the mushy side. Not very spicy; I actually enjoyed the previous version with slightly bitter greens more.

I wanted to check out the La Rou here and though they were out of several versions; we ended up with the Smoked Pork and Dried Radish.

Not a great version as far as I was concerned. The pork was way too salty and had kind of an artificial flavor to it. The radish hadn't been prepped perfectly and was too hard. Beauty Hunan definitely makes better La Rou.

The best dish at VK is still the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg; though it's much more eggplant, that has been made a lot creamier.

Less peppers and Pidan this time around. "RR" asked me what this was and seemed kind of afraid to eat it….I told him it was "Chinese Babaganouj"….. Smokey, creamy, a slight bit of spice….Calvin agreed that this is still the best thing on the menu as did the Missus, who enjoyed the leftovers.

I still enjoy the Sour and Spicy Chicken Gizzards; something that I was given by accident. It's still pretty good.

This was the spiciest dish of the day. Nice crunchy gizzards, decent saltiness. Though VK bills itself as a Hunan Restaurant, the dishes aren't very spicy like our favorites in the SGV. Though I probably can't tolerate that level of spice anymore. "RR" didn't know what gizzards were….I Googled it for him….he wouldn't touch this.

"RR's" favorite dish of the day? The Hunan Style Lotus Roots; another favorite of the Missus.

Nice and crisp.

I really enjoyed the Baby Radish Leaves.

Slightly bitter, making this quite savory. Not as spicy as I recalled.

All in all; a decent lunch. GK did real well for a kid from Minnesota and of course Calvin enjoys eating this stuff. "RR" is from Italy and talks a good game; but he could only handle the Eggplant and the Lotus Root. I'm not sure he'll ever go out to lunch with me again….oh well.

Even without the owner present; VK is still doing pretty well. It may not be on the top of the Chinese Food heap here; but it's much better than most. I need to return more often.

Village Kitchen
4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Trying to Beat the Heat – The Original Sab e Lee and Golden City

June 21, 2017 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

Man, it has been pretty hot the last couple of days; at least for us, as Cathy says; “wimpy San Diegans”. On the good side; this means revisiting some of my favorite places for dishes I enjoy during hot spells. I really do miss one of “staples”, a good Sichuan Liang Mian, which just doesn’t seem to exist in San Diego anymore. So, I stuck with other standbys.

The Original Sab e Lee:

**** TOSEL is now Zab Linda

I really haven’t been much since they’ve relocated. Like I said previously, I’ve not a clue who the folks who work here are these days….except for the one young man who has been there for a while. Went with one of the guys from work….he said he could eat spicy, but then decided to order it a heat level three. I told him he needs to order at least a five or he just can’t eat with me anymore. And so we did, and he did fine.

Nahm Tok.

Best dish of the day; though I think this needs more rice powder and I should have ordered it at least a 7 or something. Good citrus, nice fish sauce, not overly sweet….nice with sticky rice.

Issan Sausage:

Solid as always.

Nice sour and pork flavor….like I said in my recent Thai Papaya post; “while there might be better versions of Thai/Lao style sausage in San Diego these days….this is still a staple…..” Some peanut, a sliver of ginger, wrapped in cabbage, yields nice porky-sour tones.

Koi Neua:

Sorry to say they’ve done something to what was once a favorite of mine. I had been hopeful that the version I’d had here on my last visit was a fluke, but sadly, it was not.

The texture was off and it seemed to have been “cooked” in citrus too long.

It was not nearly as good as in the past.

I remember the joy that Koby expressed when I asked about this dish way back when. I do miss Koby at times; things were simpler, the menu was there to please a smaller sampling, but times do change. I guess I’m sticking with Thai Papaya. Perhaps I’ll run into Maylee one of these days and I can ask her about some of the SeL staples that are no longer on the menu.

The Original Sab E Lee
6925 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Golden City:

**** Golden City has closed

So, one afternoon I had to buy a bunch of take-out for the Missus’s coworkers. This netted me a $10 off card for Golden City.

With the Missus at work; I decided to get an old favorite, the Kwai Fei Ji….which, after the coupon was $3.49.

The ginger-scallion-sesame oil sauce was spot on; though the chicken was on the tougher side. Still, I whacked the whole thing……no rice, nothing….just Kwai Fei Chicken for dinner.

Golden City Restaurant
5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

So, what have you been eating to beat the heat?

Mr. Spicy (Grantville)(lunch revisit)

June 13, 2017 Cathy Chinese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is ta food blog and three of us share in the writing of posts. Right now, both Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are unavailable to write anything. Since Cathy is available, she is writing today.

It has been about a year and a half since I first wrote about Mr. Spicy. Just 'down the hill' from home (a route both The Mister and I drive to avoid the freeways), it's easy to drop in and pick up something 'to go'. On the rare occasions when both of us are home on the same day, we choose to stop here for lunch.
There is a lunch menu under the glass top of each table. The prices vary dependent on the primary ingredients. As you will soon see, the photographs of the plates are accurate.
Still no charge for hot tea here; I like that. Soup comes with every meal.

An egg roll (vegetable) will set you back 50¢. It's nice. The eggplant with brown sauce (I had ordered with Szechuan sauce, but there was a communication problem)($5.99) was a very good plate of food; it was just fresh and good and hearty. It didn't even need the spicy 'kick' that I thought I wanted. The fish with Szechuan sauce ($7.99) was delightful; a thin breading gave each piece of fish a nice light 'crunch' and the vegetables (onion, carrot and green pepper) were just right, as was the sauce. Very fresh tastes with this dish.
The Mister orders orange chicken ($6.99) every time. He stares at the menu, pretends to be considering something else, but when it comes time to order…he is predictable. It's a good size serving of lightly crunchy large pieces of tender chicken in a very nice spicy sauce.

We really like the dry pot and twice cooked fish from the dinner menu and one of those always shows up when we eat here or order to take home later in the day. This family owned and run restaurant is good.

Mr. Spicy 6618 Mission Gorge Road (at Zion) San Diego 92120 (619) 546-6686 Mon-Sat 10:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m. (Closed Sunday)

Vancouver/Richmond – Kirin Seafood Restaurant (City Square), Parker Place Meat & BBQ, and HK BBQ Master

June 8, 2017 mmm-yoso Canada, Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum, Travel, Vancouver, Canada

The Missus and I really wanted to try out some Dim Sum while in Vancouver. We'd heard so much about the quality of Dim Sum in Richmond/Vancouver. The one little thing; we weren't quite sure when we'd return from visiting the Capilano Suspension Bridge, so I didn't want to make reservations. Instead, after checking out the fun at Anime Revolution, we got on the SkyTrain and got off at the Broadway-City Hall stop and walked over to City Square Mall. We'd take our chances at Kirin Seafood Restaurant.

Of course, when we arrived, the first thing they asked us was if we had reservations. Though we had no problem getting a table as the place wasn't totally full.

We weren't super hungry and we had plans after lunch, so we ordered five items from the menu.

Starting with the tendon and tripe.

This was a nice and hearty dish, though pretty mild in flavor. The tendon had a slight chew to it; the tripe slightly crunchy with no off flavors. The Missus actually enjoyed the daikon more than anything else in this dish.

The Scallop Dumplings were a disappointment as the scallops were tough and overcooked.

The wrappers were very sticky and tore quite easily.

Our favorite dish of the meal was the rustic looking stuffed wintermelon.

The wintermelon still had a nice texture; providing just enough resistance. It had also absorbed the flavors of the pork and the broth nicely. The enoki mushrooms provided a nice, earthy taste and the pork was tender and just about perfect.

The Deep Fried Shrimp Dumpling with Consomme was interesting.

The fried dumplings were excellent; the wrappers light, yet crunchy, the shrimp filling tender and flavorful. We both felt the consommé was rather bland and flat…….it was like watered down chicken broth in flavor and brought nothing to the dish.

After that rather bland consommé; we were a bit concerned about the Scallop and Bamboo Pith Fungus Dumpling in Supreme Soup, but this ended up being quite good.

Great flavors all around and the soup; while rather light had a nice balance in terms of seasoning to flavor.

Overall, while pretty good, based on all the great things we heard about the Dim Sum in Vancouver, we both thought Sea Harbour in the SGV was every bit as good if not better. I'll make sure to make reservations at Chef Tony or another place for Dim Sum the next time we're in Vancouver.

Kirin Seafood Restaurant
555 W 12th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 3X7
Canada

After lunch we got back on the SkyTrain and headed on over to Richmond, getting off at the Aberdeen stop, and walking on over to Parker Place Mall and Parker Place Meat & BBQ. Yes, this place is located in a shopping mall.

The line here grows rapidly and moves quickly….it's to your benefit to have your act together and know what you want……when its your turn you need to be quick about it.

The Missus was really looking forward to some Roast Duck….so I got the Roast Duck on rice to go.

Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q (In Parker Place Mall)
4380 No 3 Rd
Richmond, BC V6X 4E8
Canada

Having gotten out unscathed; we headed to our next stop. If you thought Chinese BBQ in a shopping mall was interesting….try going to a parking garage.

For some Chinese BBQ……

This is where HK BBQ Master is located; just down the street from Parker Place BBQ. Again, a fast moving line for take-out….here there are a couple of tables as well. Some deal; roast duck on rice.

HK BBQ Master (In the parking garage of Real Canadian Superstore)
4651 No 3 Road
Richmond, BC V6X 2C4
Canada

Since we had restrained ourselves somewhat during lunch; we'd have this for an early dinner at the apartment.

Walking down No 3 Road reminded me of the SGV………without the crazy traffic…..

Choices abound…..

And guess who we ran into on the SkyTrain back to the apartment?

Yep….good 'ol DV himself.

This woman couldn't stop giggling and taking photos of DV.

Being the ever so friendly Canadian version of DV; he waved the woman over and they proceeded to take a bunch of selfies! You gotta love it.

As for the duck? Well, in spite of saying we'd be having it for dinner, we did have a couple of pieces while it was still warm…..just for comparative purposes of course!

Here's Parker Place.

Here's HK BBQ Master.

While HK BBQ Master's duck looks a lot darker; Parker Place's duck won hands down; being more moist, with a nice amount of anise-beany-duckiness. The skin HK BBQ Master's version was rubbery, the meat dry, and while it had a decent duck taste, it wasn't balanced out with anything else. Of course, both of these are vastly superior to any roast duck in San Diego. I was told that HK BBQ Master makes great roast pork, but the Missus was after duck.

It was time for a nap…..then we'd be off to our next stop(s)!

Lunch Specials at Hui An Garden

May 23, 2017 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants

**** Hui An Garden has closed

Fu An Garden's short run ended back in January and the place became Hui An Garden. For some reason, I wasn't particularly motivated to visit, but over the last three months I decided to check out some of the lunch specials. Those visits, along with posts like Faye's, would give me some indication whether to make some time for dinner here.

The interior is basically the same….but I find the floors here to be kind of the sticky side these days.

On my first visit, I ordered; or thought I ordered the Shredded Pork with Preserved Vegetable on Rice….but strangely ended up with Pork Fried Rice?

There was a slight bit of wok hay going on as it left a (very) slight smokiness; but as a whole this was pretty bland. Also, when having fried rice; I like to be able to count every grain should I want to. There were several clumps of rice in this.

Not sure about portion size (which was fairly generous), I also ordered the Bok Choy with Garlic.

This was a straight forward, typical stir fry; perhaps on the more oily side. This was supposed to be "baby bok choy", but were pretty large. The cooking was a bit uneven as the lower stalks of the bok choy was almost raw on the larger pieces. It also could have used a bit more garlic and white pepper.

On my next visit I made sure to get the Shredded Pork with Preserved Vegetable on Rice. Man, this was a lot of rice!

And even though I used to make fun of the couple of pieces of plain blanched broccoli or carrots used on these type of lunch special dishes….here it's been replaced by a rather strange stir fried cabbage, flavored with a touch of soy sauce. The pork slices were decently cooked; tender, there wasn't enough preserved vegetable, nor was it very good as it didn't add enough of the nice sour-savory flavors to the dish. I finished all the pork and vegetable and still over half the rice left!

During this visit I noticed two older Chinese customers come in and order roast pork. Well, I figured it must be worth a try.

So I came in and ordered the Roasted Pork Belly on Rice. I told them to give me "half rice", but again something got lost in the translation as again there was a load of rice.

Actually, the pork was pretty good in terms of texture; the skin thin and crisp, the pork belly tender. The flavor was on the milder side and that sauce was not very good; almost bitter to my palate. This is probably the best item I've had here.

The next time I returned I walked into this.

I wasn't quite sure what was going on. Then I realized, it was "all hands on deck" as they were prepping box lunches….like stacks of food, which the tall guy carried out making several trips back and forth then left to deliver them somewhere. It took them a while to see that I was standing there.

I was curious about the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings on the menu. I wasn't too hungry, so I asked for no rice.

There were eight wings, not bad for $6.99. I thought the batter looked a little bit on the light side; but was crisp, if not especially flavorful. The wings could have used more "salt" and even "pepper". The wings were much better than the drumettes which were on the dry side.

So, tired yet? Just to compare this place to FuAn Garden; I decided to get the Roast Duck….for lunch it is of course on rice. I forgot to tell them to go easy on the rice, though I'm not sure it would have made much difference.

Actually, this isn't as much duck as you might think; it's pretty thin slices. While the duck was nice and moist, the skin decent, not tough, though a bit too flaccid for me. The duck was really short on flavor; lacking in richness or sweetness, without any bean paste flavor, and the cabbage was almost raw to boot.

In terms of pricing; every dish you see in this post was $6.99. So it's hard to complain too much; in spite of the handful of cabbage as the vegetable (not a garnish). The portion sizes, at least in terms of rice is quite large, the proteins, not so much. Looking back, I realize that perhaps I needed to go in a different direction here….maybe in the future. Though I probably should try out Noble Chef again first.

Hui An Garden Restaurant
4768 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111