We had enjoyed our meals at Fish With You and the Missus wanted to return before the weather gets too hot. We ended up making two more visits in the last couple of weeks.
Here's what we had.
We tried the Pickled Pepper Fish Skin ($6.95).
Fishy and way too sour….like eating rubber bands. Not a favorite.
The Missus wanted to try the Green Peppercorn and Suan Cai Fish…with snakehead, of course (Regular Portion $17.95).
If you want something not as sour as the Signature Suan Cai and Fish; this might be the way to go. It's also less spicy; but the green peppercorns provides a citrusy-numbingness. The tofu is really nice in this dish as well.
I was curious about the version of Shui Zhu Niu Rou ($19.95), the "Water Boiled Beef" a classic Sichuan dish. I know, after having the "Golden Beef Soup" on on one of our previous visits, I had mentioned staying away from the beef dishes here, but curiosity got the better of me.
While this was better then the other beef dish we tried, the meat was again a letdown. This time it was a thick cut, very chewy, lacking in velveting that is essential for this type of dish. The broth was decently spicy-savory-smoky, with a hint of ma-la. In fact, I used the leftover broth for tofu and soy bean sprouts, with an addition of some doubianjang. It's just that beef needed some tenderization. So, I guess I'm back to saying no to beef dishes here.
They make a big deal about serving Wuchang Rice from China, but we've never been impressed. It is often mushy and not very fragrant. Still, a key point is that they do not charge for a bowl of rice for each main course ordered. Quite a change from other Chinese restaurants these days.
Of course, on both visits we got the Signature Suancai & Fish (regular size – $17.95).
Love the sourness from the Suan Cai and the pleasant spiciness of the chilies. Snakehead does well in this dish. We also like the crunchy, slightly slippery celtuce in the dish. The level of sodium is not very high.
The folks working here are so nice as are the prices. So, it looks like Fish With You has made the "rotation"; at least for now. Not sure about when the weather starts heating up though.
Fish With You
3904 Convoy St. #101
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 1130am – 10pm
Not quite as "numbing-hot" as what we had before; though it had more of a pronounced soy sauce – white pepper flavor. It was still decently spicy; but the "stuffs" from the sauce bar made up for things and then some.
We enjoyed the frozen tofu; there was a firm bean curd we didn't care for. The intestine and two types of tripe were lovely….of course the Missus loves quail eggs. The lamb and sliced beef were meh…..at least to us. It seemed that offal was the way to go for this dish. At least for us.
Think fried mochi/manju. The exterior was crisp, giving way to a chewy interior along with a filling that was a bit too sweet for us. We tried one when it arrived and saved the rest for after the main courses were finished. Unfortunately, by that time it had started getting soggy. We ended up taking the rest home to heat in the air fryer. Still, I don't think we'll have this again.
The filling was fairly tender, not overly sweet, very classic seasoning. The regular bao was a bit too wet and doughy. The "Black Bao", obviously made with activated charcoal had an almost gritty-crunchy texture, though the flavor was less sweet, but not substantially different from the "regular" one.
The Peking Duck was "almost there". The fat had been nicely rendered, but the skin was still a bit rubbery. The flesh was very tender, the flavors spot on, good gamey-earthy notes, five spice, a hint of sweetness. The dan bing weren't up to the task and tore easily. Still, the duck was not bad at all.
The texture of the baozi dough was not as fluffy as I enjoy; but it had a hint of sweetness and was not bad. We enjoyed the pork version more….pork here is mighty tasty. There were hints of sesame oil, ginger, soy sauce….not sure how easy it is to get it in Genoa, but this was pretty good overall.
