Category: Chinese Restaurants

Road Trip – The Buttery, Pipeline Road Trail, and Revisiting Special Noodle (Santa Cruz)

Bakery, Chinese Restaurants, Croissants, Dog Friendly, Monterey/Carmel/Santa Cruz - Monterey Bay/Peninsula, Road Trip, Travel

Upon waking on our full day in Santa Cruz, we decided to head up Soquel Avenue to a bakery I’d heard about. It was a short 10 minute walk from our hotel. Right past the Shopper’s Corner Market, was the Buttery.

The low key location had a nice outdoor area.

And the Missus watched JJ, while I went inside to get us some croissants and coffee.

There was no one in the queue when I entered and I was pleasantly surprised at the price of the plain croissants – $2.95.

So, I was ready to be underwhelmed at this croissant, but it was surprisingly good!

The exterior looked a bit overbaked, but the laminate was crisp, but not flaking to pieces. The ridges didn’t fall off either.

The interior was nicely honeycombed and fluffy. But most importantly, there was a decent amount of butteriness to this! Not bad at all! Better than what we’d had at Bouchon Bakery a few days previous!

I even gave JJ a taste and he went bonkers! Oh man, did I open up a can of worms here!

The Buttery
702 Soquel Ave.
Santa Cruz, CA 95062

Of course we’d return the following morning….

And of course the Missus needed me to “burn off” those croissant calories, so we headed back to the hotel, then set out to Henry Crowell Redwoods State Park. Marissa, the lovely young lady at BPC had recommended the Pipeline Road Trail, though she told me that it was kind of long – 6 miles or so. The big plus being that it starts at the Park Office and that it is well paved and maintained. It is the only dog friendly trail in the park as well.

There a 900 foot elevation gain, but we really didn’t feel it.

There were some nice views.

And of course those lovely Redwoods……

And JJ handled it like a champ. Actually, you can tell by his expression that I’m the “weak link” here…..

It was on the “easy side” for the Missus and JJ, who did really well.

After heading back and freshening up, it was time for lunch. Well, since we had enjoyed our dinner the previous evening at Special Noodle and the Missus was still missing Chinese food we walked on back to the restaurant.

The gentleman from the previous evening remembered us and we were seated in the same area. He even made sure got chopsticks without asking this time!

We decided on some different dishes this time around; starting with the La Rou with Smoked Bamboo.

This usual Hunan style dish was a bit short on chilies and spiciness, but the bamboo was nice and crisp; though the pork was definitely like the stuff I can get at 99 Ranch Market. It was far from bland though with a good amount of soy and smokey tones.

The rice had obviously just been finished as it was steaming hot; but also a bit on the mushy side.

We also got the Braised Pork Belly – Hong Shao Rou, which turned out to be quite good!

Just tender enough, without being mushy, the porkiness came through nicely. Ginger – Soy tones came thru nicely, and more importantly for the Missus, this was much more savory than sweet.

After finishing this; we really needed a nap!

Special Noodle
415 Ocean St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

I guess this will be a regular stop when we’re in Santa Cruz!

Now it was nap time!

Ju Feng Yuan Revisited

Chinese Restaurants

I had fully intended on returning to Ju Feng Yuan after my not so great visits to Super Dumpling in Carmel Valley. It had been a while since I last visited and though I think Lucious Dumpling’s Outpost in Eastlake is now my favorite, I needed to revisit JFY, which was my previous fave for jiaozi in San Diego. So, I set out with a visit to JFY in mind…but got sidetracked to Dumpling Inn…..a big mistake on my part.

I know “FOY” RD mentioned the Popcorn Chicken and Julie is a big fan, so I had my agenda set! I would not get sidetracked this time!

I arrived on a weekend at opening time and was the first in.

I did the iPad ordering thing from my table. The Pork and Chinese Cabbage Dumplings ($11.95) and Popcorn Chicken ($9.99).

The Popcorn Chicken was actually the first to arrive.

Fairly crunchy, a bit on the chewy – drier side, but not bad. Decent mild five spice tones. Good salt and pepper. I’m fairly certain they use potato starch, based on the texture.

Proper popcorn chicken; though a step below my favorite, which is from Soup du Jour….strange; I thought I did a post on the place which I’ve visited like 8-9 times since getting back from Taiwan…but I guess not??? I need to do one more visit to catch up then get me post done.

I mentioned previously, that I’m not a big fan of the sauce that accompanies the jiaozi, but of course they do have Black Vinegar.

I did enjoy the Pork and Chinese Cabbage Jiaozi – 8 decent size dumplings.

The wrappers were adequately tender, with a decent stretch to them. I do like mine a bit more “fluffy”, but this was fine; better than most anything you’ll find in SD.

The filling was textbook pork jiaozi, nice savory tones, seasoned well, not overly minced and tender. Good porkiness. Would not be amazing in the SGV…..but in SD……

I wish JFY was closer to me; though it is a faster drive than Lucious Dumplings…which I need to return to! Thanks for always thinking of us RD and Julie!

Ju Feng Yuan Dumpling Cafe
12265 Scripps Poway Pkwy Suite B109
Poway, CA 92064
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 1130am – 3pm, 5pm – 830pm
Friday 1130am – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm
Sat – Sun 1130am – 330pm, 430pm – 9pm

Road Trip – Sweetie Pies Bakery (Napa) and Special Noodle (Santa Cruz)

Bakery, Caffeine Fix, Chinese Restaurants, Dog Friendly, Marin, Napa, and Sonoma Counties, Monterey/Carmel/Santa Cruz - Monterey Bay/Peninsula, Road Trip, Sandwiches, Travel

We had a great night of sleep at the Napa River Inn…and no, we didn’t have any “spooky” visitors as I had heard about earlier in the evening at The Fink. Before we left for our next destination, I decided to grab a quick Breakfast Sandwich from Sweetie Pies Bakery which is right next door to the hotel.

This place has quite a selection of treats for your sweet tooth. We had gotten a sample delivered to our room for breakfast the previous morning.

I ordered a Fried Egg Sandwich to take back to our room.

A basic toasted Ciabatta, with creamy avocado, and pesto.

The bacon was basically a single slice lining the middle of the sandwich, on the burnt side, and a single fried egg. Again only enough to cover two-thirds of the sandwich.

My guess is that “Sweetie” is mostly about the pies as the name indicates?

Sweetie Pies
520 Main St.
Napa, CA 94559

After devouring the sandwich, we checked out and headed to our next destination; Santa Cruz. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to arrive at our accommodation, the Hotel Paradox. We were early for check-in so the hotel let us park and we went to explore Santa Cruz for a bit. The hotel was on the other side of the San Lorenzo River from downtown Santa Cruz and we were next to San Lorenzo Park. On the map, it looked like a nice “green space”. Unfortunately, it was taken over by the homeless population while we were in town. So, instead of having a nice green space for JJ to explore, well…..

We did think the Dragon Archway, which faces the last Chinatown in Santa Cruz across the river. And you can see the two folks hanging out under the archway as well. This made the Missus somewhat uncomfortable crossing the bridge at night. We ended up using the busier Laurel Street Bridge when it was dark.

Regardless, the Missus and I really enjoyed downtown Santa Cruz. It had a kind of Hipster-Artsy-Hippy-Surfer vibe to us. Very mellow and laid back; at least when we were there.

We dropped by Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting for our caffeine fix. It was recommended by one of JJ’s Bay Park Coffee “Aunties”, Marissa who used to work there and went to UCSC.

Cold Brew and Latte fortified we headed on to do some shopping.

Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting
1330 Pacific Ave.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

The Missus loved wandering thru the “eclectic” shops.

And bought quite a few items during our stay.

It seems that tarot card reading, and various psychic readings are big business here.

My goodness, check out the name of this shop! I wonder….

Yes, it was quite entertaining here!

We decided to grab an early dinner….by this time, the Missus was sorely missing Asian food…well, Chinese to be specific. I did some research before the trip and found a place that was dog friendly and basically two blocks from where we were staying. Now, I did have my doubts because the place served everything from Orange Chicken to XLB to Chow Fun to Sichuan/Hunan and has multiple locations, named Special Noodle. But I thought we’d give it a shot. Now if I had my doubts…imagine the Missus!

We arrived and I expected us to be seated on the patio; but the very nice gentleman escorted us to one of the back dining rooms!

He also spoke Mandarin….which eased some of the doubts the Missus had. The menu was huge….talk about “Vietnamese Menu overload” times 2!

Yep, this place tries to cover all bases.

It was a huge portion of rice for a single order.

We decided on some typical Hunan style dishes. Starting with the Pickled Beans with Minced Pork.

While kind of mild in the spiciness department, this was a pretty legit dish. Nice soy flavor, the long beans had a nice crunch adding that mild salty-sourness to the dish. The pork wasn’t overly chewy. Nice savory dish!

And of course I had to try the Intestines with Chilies.

Made with a combination of sliced jalapenos and dried chilies, this had a nice smoky kick. Nicely seasoned with soy sauce-garlic-white pepper and a touch of numbing Sichuan Peppercorns. The pork intestine was fairly tender, with a pleasant initial toothsomeness. Nice funky tones and a really good dish.

And of course……

What we did notice as the place filled up was that the Chinese customers were seated in the same area as us. While the “other” customers were seated in the front dining area, which we named “Eggroll Land” ! Kind of funny….

The Missus was pleasantly surprised at the food and even though She got Her “fix”, we’d end up returning the next day for lunch!

Special Noodle
415 Ocean St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

We were enjoying Santa Cruz. In addition to the “vibe” we had gotten decent Chinese dishes as well!

Odds and Ends – The Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings from Taste of Hong Kong, What’s up with Oxtail Prices, what Made my Xmas Day, and Other Stuffs

Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants, Markets & Grocers, yoso-silly

Just a couple of things as we recover from New Years.

The Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings from Taste of Hong Kong:

Remember how I was mourning not ordering the Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings during my last post on Taste of Hong Kong? Well, last week we did a revisit to ToHK…I decided to not take any photos since I’d just done a post. But then the chicken wings came out.

My goodness, these were terrible! Something has changed with the batter as it was too wet-mushy and had an almost mealy texture to it. There were fried (burned) slices of garlic incorporated into he batter, which had a strange sweetness. The wings had been overfried and while the exterior was saturated, the meat was tough and dry. What a bummer!

This is what it used to look like.

Well, I guess we can cross this dish off my “favorites” list.

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

What’s up with Oxtail Prices:

The Missus had thoughts of me making my oxtail soup for New Years, so I went to Zion to see if they had oxtails….I found them, but look at the prices!

I guess I haven’t made oxtail soup in ages? I don’t remember paying this much for oxtails! I need 4-5 pounds for my soup….but yikes! I did go to other places, but all the oxtails were over $14 a pound!

Is this the norm?

What made my Xmas Day:

On Christmas day, I took JJ up the street to visit the local donut shop and grab my usual. Like I wrote back in 2020, I think these businesses are part of the “fabric” of the neighborhood and I try to support them. Especially if the place has such wonderful owners as the Cambodian couple who run TK Donuts. So, I try to visit at least once a week and I guess because I used to go there like 4-5 times a week during Covid to help them stay open, they still remember me!

And on Xmas day, after I got my usual, they asked me to wait a minute and handed me a bag with something wrapped in foil. They told me that “this is something that just finished cooking for Christmas”, it’s a traditional family recipe. What was it?

My goodness, it’s Cambodian style roast chicken! It was still hot when I got home. Actually, the Missus loved it and took most of it to work for lunch the next day!

They are so nice! And this beautiful gesture made my day and really touched me!

TK Donuts
3095 Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117

Please be careful out there!

The major storm that hit us on Christmas must have made international news? Because fellow blogger and good friend Kat sent me an email wondering if we were ok! Bless her…Kat, you’re amazing! I emailed her back saying I didn’t think it was too bad. Then a day later, I took JJ to Western Hill Park after having my usual morning coffee and my goodness!

There were actually three trees down in the park! Yikes!

So please, be safe out there and take care!

Revisits – Nate’s Garden Grill and Village Kitchen

American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Chinese Restaurants, Dog Friendly

Nate’s Garden Grill Revisited:

Well, the Missus has the “gardening bug” going really strong! We’ve been hitting up Walter Andersen Nursery at least once a week these days! Yeesh….

Anyway, She mentioned wanting to check out City Farmer’s Nursery on Euclid…..well now; opportunity knocks! Since Nate’s Garden Grill is right next to the nursery and my goodness, we hadn’t been to Nate’s since right before Covid! So, with JJ anxious to do some more exploring we headed out for breakfast.

Man, the place was pumping on this Sunday morning!

We got what was an old favorite of ours; the Pulled Pork Hash and an Avocado Toast on Pretzel Bun. The Missus went in to order while I got us a table on the patio.

Where JJ made himself right at home. There was some live music, so I made sure we sat on the other side of the patio out of the way of folks.

The Pulled Pork Hash was a bit of a disappointment.

Other than the crisp, perfectly buttered, and tasty sourdough toast. The pork lacked smokiness and was really chewy, the eggs overdone, and the dish was on the bland side. In a rare move, we had to grab some salt from the condiment table…and then went back for more hot sauce. Too bad, because this was one of our favorites from previous visits.

I’ve always enjoyed the Pretzel Buns at Nate’s and which didn’t disappoint with the Avocado Toast.

Slightly chewy, mildly salty-nutty, and crisp crust. The avocado was really creamily mashed, wish there was more of it. Didn’t care for the bacon which was really thick cut and chewy, rather than crisp like I enjoy.

Overall, not an especially pleasing breakfast. Though the two young ladies loved JJ and asked us if he could have some steak! Good lord……we got bland pulled pork and chewy bacon…..he got steak? What is this world coming to? So, I guess if JJ had his way; we’d be here often…..

Nate’s Garden Grill
3120 Euclid Ave.
San Diego, CA 92105
Current Hours:
Tuesday 11am – 730pm
Wed – Thurs 11am – 9pm
Friday 11am – 9pm
Saturday 8am – 9pm
Sunday 8am – 5pm

Dining In at Village Kitchen:

It’s become a standard routine that when we return from one of many road trips that the first thing the Missus wants is…….well, Chinese food of course! And after returning from one of our road trips, the Missus was thinking of visiting Village Kitchen. I had thought we had just done take out recently….but no, that was from all the way back in November of last year! Man, time has flown by!

Another interesting tidbit is that She wanted to dine in…..looking at all my posts on Village Kitchen it seems that my last seven posts on the place were takeout visits! And the last time we’ve actually eaten in the restaurant was….yes, you guessed it, before Covid!

Over time we’ve noticed that several of our favorite dishes are no longer on the menu. We stuck with one old favorite, one that has been +/- over the years, and one new item from the menu.

Our old favorite, the La Rou with Bamboo Shoots Skin was quite good. We actually wanted the version with radish skin, but they were out.

Though not as spicy as we’d like; the smoked pork was more tender than usual; the bamboo shoots slightly crunchy and earthy. Not overly salty, nice savory tones.

I consider the Eggplant and Green Chili with Preserved Egg to be the “signature dish” at Village Kitchen, though we’ve had mixed results ordering over the years.

These days it seems to have a lot less chilies, thus making it less spicy…but oh my; so much pidan! Which the Missus enjoyed…She loves that savory-complex umami flavor, with the ammonia like finish! Well, there was a ton of it here! The eggplant was very creamy and smoky, there was a hint of sweetness as well. This was a huge portion.

The one new item on the menu we tried was the Smoked Bamboo Shoots with Pork Belly.

Not enough black bean to really add much flavor to the dish; which was really salty. The pork belly was tough and chewy as was the bamboo shoots. This one is a “one-and-done”. Lacking in spice.

Overall, not a bad dinner….we’ll stick with our old favorites. We’ve noticed that the portion sizes here sure have gotten bigger over the last couple of years. It was good to actually dine in rather than do take-out for a change.

Village Kitchen
4720 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Hope everyone is having a nice post-Xmas weekend!

Sunday Stuffs – Hong Kong Kitchen & Dim Sum Replacing Golden City and Dagu Rice Noodle (Miishen) Coming to Convoy

Chinese Restaurants, Exploring San Diego

Hong Kong Kitchen & Dim Sum Replacing Golden City:

I know that the long standing Golden City had closed; but did not expect to see signage for a replacement so quickly…so this caught me by surprise.

Golden City had gone thru an ownership change earlier this year and I guess they just couldn’t make it.

Kind of sad in a way since we used to go to the old location on Convoy and then this location when the moved here in 2005! I’m sure many of you have dined there over the years!

Man, Cathy, the Late Ed from Yuma, and I have done 27 posts on Golden City!

5375 Kearny Villa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92123

Dagu Rice Noodle (Miishen) Coming to Convoy:

During our visit to Eastern Dynasty, I saw this sign up in the location that used to be Dokdo.

Hmmm… Dagu Rice Noodle; Yunnan Crossing the Bridge Noodles, eh? Another big time chain coming to the area. They have locations everywhere it seems; not only in the SGV, but even Madison, Wisconsin and off Buford Highway in ATL….both places I’ve spent time at!

4690 Convoy St. #108
San Diego, CA 92111

And of course I need to have a photo of JJ here, right?

We’ve been going to check out the lights at Clairemont Christmas Park since 2019! We used to take Frankie…so now we take JJ. He was a little squirt last year and didn’t enjoy it as much as this year……

It’s always a fun time. You can even get free home made cookies and cocoa and they had music going as well!

Cross streets of Lana Drive & Jamar Drive San Diego, CA 92117

Eastern Dynasty Revisited

Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants

There was one more Cantonese style restaurant we wanted to check out for “FOY” Kenneth, to help plan his holiday night out. Naturally our initial recommendation was for Noble Chef; but we had revisited Taste of Hong Kong and were pleasantly surprised. And based on that meal; the Missus was all for me doing some “due diligence” and revisiting Eastern Dynasty since it had been almost two years since our last visit.

Man, the place was buzzing, soon after being seated; the place was full; so I only took a photo of the ducks hanging…..

What was also interesting was of the three places; Eastern Dynasty was the least expensive.

For instance; the half roast duck was $21.

This was also pretty darn good as well. The skin wasn’t as thin and crisp as Taste of Hong Kong; but it definitely had more of that five spice – duck flavor. The fat had been rendered decently; and those drippings…man; we’re talking major left over fried rice material. Very moist and tender…a pleasant surprise!

I was craving some of those Soy Sauce noodles ($17.95) and we’d never tried that here.

The texture was almost like pan fried noodles; which I liked as it took me back to the first time I had this dish. My cousin got married many moons ago to a guy who owned a business and was pretty successful. The reception was held on the Oceania Floating Restaurant, which at the time was world’s largest floating restaurant. You can read about it here. Being a poor kid, raised by a single mom; I’d never had any food like that before! And when these noodles arrived……I had always preferred noodles to rice when I was young…my mom attributed that to craving saimin all the time when she was pregnant with me…anyway; I’ve always loved this simple dish since then. This version had nicely coated noodles; it could have used more sprouts and scallion though. Word of warning, I don’t think this would heat up well….so you ‘betta finish ’em all up at the table.

The one clunker was the Salted Fish, Chicken, and Eggplant ($19.95).

This smelled nice and stinky; but the sauce was watery and lacking in flavor. The eggplant was mushy; not fairly firm on the exterior and molten-buttery inside. It was on the bland side in spite of the “fragrance”.

Our last dish was our favorite from our previous visit; the Mei Cai Kou Rou (Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetable – $20.95). I gotta say; this was a bargain with regards to current pricing.

The tender, buttery nicely flavored pork. The slightly bitter-sour-edging on too salty preserved vegetable. The slices of napa hidden under everything actually helps balance out the strong flavors. As an FYI; this is not a sweet version of this dish as it leans more towards soy-salty-savory. It’s the Missus’s favorite version here in SD.

The service was good considering that every table was taken in this rather small restaurant. It was the most inexpensive of the three meals. Kenneth, I’m not sure if my posts have been helpful or have caused more of a quandary with regards to your choice. Either way, I’m hoping that the place you select provides a wonderful meal and experience for the both of you! Of course; you could always go to all three……

Eastern Dynasty
4690 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 830pm

Circling Back to Dumpling Inn and Shanghai Saloon

Chinese Restaurants

Well, perhaps this shouldn’t be a “circling back” post since the last time I was here, waaaay back in 2014 it was under the previous ownership. And then at the end of that year, the family that used to own Minh Ky (which changed hands in September of 2023) took over the “old” Dumpling Inn and created Dumpling Inn and Shanghai Saloon. So yes, that was over 11 years ago! I really wasn’t interesting in seeing the “new” DIaSS…..

But, on this day, much like happened with my long overdue revisit to El Borrego, fate intervened. I was late shopping at Nijiya and for some reason decided to head up Convoy. I had my mind set on revisiting Ju Feng Yuan for my jiaozi fix, but then I thought that I needed to finally try the chicken at Zhengxin. I saw ample parking available so I pulled into the lot. Unfortunately, there was a line at Zhengxin???? I’d already gotten a parking spot and even though El Viejon seemed like a good choice, I kinda wanted some jiaozi….so, Dumpling Inn it was.

Walking in, I noticed that even though the place was buzzing, there were many seats at the bar. So, I had a seat there.

The interior looks pretty good; it sure doesn’t look like the old Dumpling Inn to me. The customer base was mixed; though mostly non-Asian. The gentleman working the bar was really nice and handed me a menu.

I ended up ordering the Pork Dumplings ($15) and the Pig Pork Ears ($8.50). I was brought the sauces.

And yes, I’d forgotten…even at the old Dumpling Inn, they bring you white vinegar…I asked about black vinegar, but was told they were out??? Sigh…..

Anyway, my “Stewed” Pork Ears arrived.

I put the “stewed” in quotes as this was full on “rubbah”…..while I always enjoy a nice crunchiness…there’s usually “layers” of that texture along with some more gelatinous textures. This was simply just hard. It also lacked any pungency and herbaceous/anise tones. I did add some white vinegar just because I needed something other than soy sauce.

And then the jiaozi.

Well, these looked ok; but the wrappers were waxy-hard, too thick, needed some pillowiness-stretch to them.

The filling had decent sesame-soy sauce flavors, with a hint of porkiness.

But was basically a hard, dense, ground “meatball”. Which would have been ok in a won ton; but has no place in a jiaozi.

This was pretty disappointing. Meanwhile, I saw a Chinese couple (I heard them speaking Mandarin…really loudly) bust out their own bottle of Chinkiang Black Vinegar! I had to crack up.

In the end, perhaps I should have expected this. I guess some egg noodle won ton soup a la Minh Ky would have been a better choice? You know I’m really not going to go for the XLB, Orange Chicken, Kung Pao Beef, etc….

Unlike El Borrego, this didn’t quite work out. Well, at least I gave it another try after all these years. I’m headed to Ju Feng Yuan for my jiaozi fix and making sure I don’t get distracted!

Dumpling Inn and Shanghai Saloon
4625 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Sun, Wed, Thurs 11am – 230pm, 4pm – 830pm
Fri -Sat 11am – 230pm, 4pm – 930pm
Closed Monday – Tuesday

Taste of Hong Kong Revisited

Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants

Recently, “FOY” Kenneth contacted me regarding a recommendation for a sit down Cantonese style dinner. Of course, our “usual” immediately came to mind. But that got me wondering how some of other Cantonese style restaurants along Convoy were doing. And then, having returned from one of our road trips with JJ, was wanting some Chinese food. Yes, can’t you hear it? It’s Opportunity knocking.

We thought we’d check out Taste of Hong Kong since we hadn’t visited in quite a while. Since our last visit, the owners of ToHK had taken over China Max, though I don’t think for the better. And I understand the chef has left as well…so I thought it would be “interesting”.

Now this parking lot, like many along the Convoy corridor can be a total mess during busy hours…and lets not get into the lack of street parking. On this day, the lot was empty. Leave it to our dining during an “off hour”.

As always, the folks working here were “all business”. One thing I quickly noticed is that the prices seemed lower than that of our last visit to Noble Chef. Oh, and one more condition for the visit. The Missus told me I couldn’t order my favorite dish from here; the Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings, sigh…..

They were hanging up some roast duck when we were seated, so of course we needed to get some.

We started with the Marinated Pork Intestines ($19.99). Which looked good when it arrived.

The sauce had a nice balance of soy-sweet-sour. As for the intestines; well, it was super chewy….like s-u-p-e-r chewy. In the end, it was better to give those dentures a break, swallow it, and hope for the best.

Of course we had to order a Salt Fish dish for the Missus. She went with the Salted Fish, Chicken, and Eggplant ($21.99). Now the last time had this dish, it was lacking in salted fish, not this time though.

Decent amount of salted fish, very savory, but not overly salty. The eggplant was cooked perfectly, molten and buttery in texture. Good amount of chicken as well. I think this is the Missus’s current local version of the dish.

Instead of going with some salt and pepper pork chops or chicken wings; we went with the HK Style Fried Prawns with Chili and Garlic ($26.99).

Nice and crunchy, the you could make out the sweetness of the shrimp, even with the salty-peppery garlic seasoning. The shrimp was a bit tougher then I prefer, but I enjoyed the flavors.

And of course we had a half Roast Duck ($23), last time we ate at Noble Chef it was $28 for a half roast duck, so we were interested to see how this would turn out. Well, it turned out to be pretty positive.

While not as strong in the five spice department, the skin was light and crisp; the fat had been wonderfully rendered, and the meat tender. As an added bonus; all that fat and juice from the duck……guess who was making duck fried rice with that? The size of the duck was on the larger side as well. Decent savory-salty-sweet balance as well.

So, it looks like we’ll need to return to get those Salted Egg Yolk Chicken Wings, right? And try out some other dishes. But before that; I think we’ll need to give Eastern Dynasty a revisit. Sometimes, it’s good to get out of your routine and try some different items. I need to thank “FOY” Kenneth for doing that for us!

Taste of Hong Kong
4428 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Sun – Thurs 11am – 230pm, 430pm – 9pm
Fri – Sat 11am – 230pm, 430pm – 930pm

Fish With You Weather?

Chinese Restaurants

**** Fish With You has changed their name to Yonny Mini Hot Pot, though it seems that the Suancai Fish is still offered

I know, I just did a post on Fish With You like three months ago! But the recent rainy and cooler weather had the Missus craving the Signature Suan Cai. The Missus simply told me She wanted “The Fish”. Which caught me off guard. You see, whenever the phrase “The Fish” was uttered by Her it meant HFS at Centerpark. So, I said “it’s kinda cold and wet….you want poke?” She looked at me in disbelief and said, “no, that’s DA FISH….I want THE FISH!” Sigh…..

So, we headed on over to “The Fish” and ordered our usual, the Signature Suancai & Fish. Which at $26.95. rice is still free; kind of a rarity these days. A good amount of numbing peppercorn this time around. Nice ma-la. The fish was tender with no off flavors.

There’s that that suan-tian-ku-la-xian thing going on.

And of course, there’s leftovers. Now, in previous posts I noted to take out all the chilies before packing for takeout. Unless you wanted it really spicy. The longer the formerly dried chilies sit, the more impact it will have. On our recent visits, there’s another change. We’ve noticed that the snakehead changes texture when eaten later on….so now, just to add another layer…..we consume all the snakehead.

And add soft tofu to the leftovers….

Which turns out to be a good way to eat the leftovers.

With prices these days; getting the most for your money is quite important to us, but we still want to enjoy those meals as well. And at $26.95 for two meals (with the addition of the tofu)…well, that almost seems like a bargain these days, right?

Fish With You
3904 Convoy St. #101
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 1130am – 10pm

What have you been eating with the recent influx of rain and cooler weather?