Category: Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

Soup du Jour and Joyee Noodle House (UTC) Revisited – A Popcorn Chicken Compare (and other stuffs)

Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chinese Restaurants, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

Ever since they opened in Renaissance Towne Center back in April, Joyee’s has been a fairly regular take out stop for us. I’d place an order online and sometimes take JJ on over to pick up our food. It’s always the same two dishes…the Smoked Duck and Popcorn Chicken. I then have to actually use the air fryer to heat up the popcorn chicken to make it palatable. But the Missus insists it’s Her favorite…though I honestly think it’s because of the price, $11.99 and portion size. I mean, I have to actually cook it to make it edible for the Missus?

Personally, I thought the popcorn chicken…it’s called Spiced Street Chicken on the menu at Soup du Jour is actually better overall.

So recently, I decided to try them both over the course of a couple of days……..

Soup du Jour:

I know, interesting name for a place that makes a bunch of Chinese/Taiwanese Dishes in an apartment complex. I really hadn’t been back since I did my mega post back in January.

Even though the patio is dog friendly…it was just too hot to take JJ…so I just went and did a take out order.

Along with an appetizer of Spiced Street Chicken ($15.50 – you can also get it as a plate), I got the Honey Glazed Spareribs ($17.50) which the Missus enjoys.

Here’s what the chicken looks like.

It’s quite crunchy, has a nice white pepper – salt – basil flavor, good aromatics. Mild five-spice. Nice and fragrant.

Moist meat.

The Missus’s main gripe is that it doesn’t refry well in the air fryer.

The Missus enjoys the kind of Asian Fusiony Honey Glazed Spare Ribs.

No, these aren’t smoked pork ribs. It is supposedly braised overnight and has a nice balanced umami-sweet-savory flavor. I know it doesn’t look very pretty or tender…..but looks are deceiving.

It’s quite moist and tender and comes right of the bone. The Missus actually likes the leftovers along with the roasted veggies….which I still kind of find weird, over rice the next day.

The portion size is quite generous for the price….for these days.

Soup du Jour
8583 Aero Dr.
San Diego, CA 92123

And then a few days later…..

Joyee Noodle House(UTC):

It’s really easy online ordering, then pick-up. The same ‘ol, same ‘ol.

The Popcorn Chicken ($11.99) and the Smoked Duck ($19.99).

Let me tell you….that Popcorn Chicken just doesn’t look very good.

I had the Missus try a piece before doing the air fryer thing and She took a bite and made a face and put it back in the box!

The Missus says the smoked duck tastes like how they make it in Shandong….very savory.

They’ve been getting kinda sloppy recently and seem to just throw stuff into the container…..pieces stuck together, skin fallen off….. Still the Missus enjoys the flavor.

Here’s what things look like after the air fryer and air roast.

The Popcorn Chicken is still fairly moist, but becomes crisp.

The texture is more like what we like in Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken…..I believe they are using potato starch for the batter. It’s a bit milder in flavor, but nice and crisp-crunchy.

I put the skin back on the pieces of duck and air roast.

And this suddenly looks much better too, right?

Still, I don’t think I should go and to takeout, then have to cook the food again to make it to our standards, right? What do you think?

Joyee Noodle House(UTC)
8935 Towne Centre Drive
San Diego, CA 92122

And, I’m open to any Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken recommendations…though let’s not do Bopomofo ok?

Facing East – Lu Rou Fan, Reader Recs

Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chinese Restaurants, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

In the comments of my post on trying out the Lu Rou Fan at Bei Yuan Tea & Boba, “FOY” Franklin mentioned enjoying the LRF at Facing East. Facing East? Well, that’s interesting since I’d really not enjoyed any of my meals at Facing East, seeing it as a gimmicky Asian fusion kind of place, with those multi-colored XLB, serving everything from Ramen and Karaage to BiBimBap to Kushiyaki……. Still, I felt I should give the place a try since it’s been over 7 years since my last visit! It would be interesting to see if things had changed.

Checking out the hours online was interesting as the place did open for lunch on Fridays to Mondays, but only from noon.

And yes, looking at that menu….it’s still all over the place. Though I did a laugh seeing that they served “Dumlings”……well, I hoped that I wouldn’t be a “dumling” for revisiting the place!

I walked in and was given the opportunity to pick my own table. Ordering was done as is kind of the norm these days….via QR code.

I went and ordered the “Braised Pork Rice”, unlike what the posted menu listed, it’s priced at $14.50, which is still a decent price. Based on that price, which was even cheaper than the ramen, I was not expecting the size of the bowl that arrived!

Those chunks of pork were cut quite large, but were decently tender. The sauce was quite salty; with a bit of a greasy mouthfeel, and lacking in any sweet-pungent-wine tones. It wasn’t bad, just a bit one dimensional with regards to flavor. Also, the pickled vegetables tasted like Takana-zuke; Japanese pickled mustard greens. Which I do like, but not with my Lu Rou Fan.

I ended up using the chili oil to help cut the saltiness of the pork.

The rice was decently cooked, fairly moist. The boiled egg was adequately done, no gray-green ring, perhaps a bit overcooked for my preference, but totally fine. It wasn’t cooked in soy sauce though.

Man, this was quite a large portion.

Perhaps this might be better for a late night meal with a couple of beers. Not too bad, but I think Bei Yuan is a bit better. Still, I appreciated the recommendation Franklin. It’s great to get out of my “comfort zone” and revisit those places I hadn’t been to in ages.

Facing East
4647 Convoy St Suite 101C
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Monday 12pm – 4pm, 5pm – 930pm
Wed – Thurs 3pm – 930pm
Friday 12pm – 4pm, 5pm – 1030pm
Saturday 12pm -1030pm
Sunday 12pm – 930pm
Closed on Tuesdays

And I’m still looking for “that bowl” of Lu Rou Fan!

Niu Rou Mian from Mein St Asian Kitchen

Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

Back in my post on the Niu Rou Mian from Zen Modern Asian Bistro, “FOY” Dereck mentioned that the NRM from the “original” location of Zen was still quite good. So, during one of our local sessions of “May Gray“, I decided to check out the restaurant that had replaced Zen; called Mein St Asian Kitchen. Which, I believe had moved from the Little Italy Food Hall? Since it was a Sunday, the restaurant wasn’t open until 11am….they open at 10 during the week and I was somewhat concerned with finding parking. But much to my surprise, the parking lot was qutie empty at five to eleven. Heck, that location of March & Ash always seemed busy to me!

When that “open” sign lit up, I walked on in. While the furnishings look much the same as before; the place seemed a little more worn with “stuffs” stacked everywhere.

The nice older gentleman handed me the menu. While Mein Street has everything from Kimchi Fried Rice, Sushi, to ABC (American Born Chinese) Dishes on the menu, I immediately located what I wanted.

I was here for the NRM, while $19 for a bowl of noodle soup seems kinda steep, the version at Zen is $22 (+ $1 for suan cai), so this was quite a bit cheaper. So, I placed my order.

Soon enough, the absolutely steaming, molten bowl of NRM arrived.

Strong anise fragrance danced in the air! Trying not to singe my tongue, I cautiously took a sip of the broth.

Huh…..pretty light in terms of richness and beefiness, though the flavors of soy sauce, the aromatics, white pepper, and a bit of spice came through quite cleanly. Making the broth acceptable.

Like what I’d had at Zen, the noodles weren’t very springy, a bit overcooked, and the relative thinness of the broth made it not coat the noodles very well.

The highlight of this bowl was the beef….and there was quite a bit of it.

It had been nicely prepared. Tender, but not falling to shreds, it had been cooked well and had retained a wonderful beefiness and some of the aromatic tones as well. It was delicious.

This was the one category where I think Mein St was better than what I’d had at the new Zen location. Though I think the version I’d had at the “old Zen” was better than this.

The two folks working were nice; especially the woman working who quickly told me she “didn’t speak English”…she was so sweet and using Google translate I managed to let her know my wife is from China; but I only know “bad words” in Mandarin. She cracked up! I then busted out “Kuài diǎn, kuài diǎn” (hurry up, hurry up) and “Bì zuǐ” (shut up) and she really laughed.

To put things into perspective, I do think that Mein’s NRM is better than the versions I’ve had on Convoy or Mira Mesa. Though with gas prices these days….I need to take the 45 mile round trip (Zen is “only” 26 miles) into consideration when thinking about future visits!

Mein St Asian Kitchen
13510 Sabre Springs Pkwy Suite 103
San Diego, CA 92128
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 10am – 9pm
Friday 10am – 10pm
Saturday 11am – 10pm
Sunday 11am – 9pm

Thanks for reminding me about this location Dereck! Hope you get to try the NRM at Zen’s new location to compare!

Joyee Noodle House Opens in Renaissance Towne Center

Chinese Restaurants, Dog Friendly, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

During my revisit to Chicago Fire Grill, I noticed a fairly large turnover of eateries at Renaissance Towne Center. I had Boker Kitchen on my “list”, but never made it before they closed. It’s now going to be a location of Mr Moto’s Pizza. The place that did catch my eye was the business that replaced the Rubio’s in the strip mall. A location of Joyee….which I would not be too interested in; but instead of being Joyee Dumpling House, this is a Joyee Noodle House. I’d actually been to the former location in 99 Ranch Market, which I visited once and had some really bad Jiaozi and Baozi…it was a one-and-done, so I never did a post on the place….though you can read about Cathy’s visit here. Eventually that location closed, with most locations located further North. I was actually going to do a visit to the Poway location, but was stopped dead in my tracks…..you can see why looking at the first photo of this post.

What I did notice is that this location had some outdoor seating and also that they opened at 9am from Friday thru Sunday. This parking lot can get kinda nuts, so that gave me the chance of easily finding parking.

So, I returned on a Sunday morning at around 10am with JJ and easily found parking. I walked over to the doorway and a nice young man greeted me. I pointed to JJ and a table and he smiled and gave me the thumbs up! And soon brought me the menu and some treats for JJ! Talk about getting started on the “right foot”, huh?

There’s an interesting Breakfast Menu which skews toward Taiwanese style, with Dan Bing and the like on the menu. But, this is Joyee “Noodle House”……

So, I ordered the “Signature” Beef Noodle Soup ($15.99). This is a clear broth version.

Which is known for having slices of daikon in it!

Awesome amount of cilantro, which helped since the broth didn’t have much anise – five spice tones. It was also not very beefy. Decent fat content, but super high on the sodium scale…..overly salty for my taste.

It looked like beef shank was used; the proper cut for this type of beef noodle soup, but unlike other versions I’ve had, the slices of beef was tough and dry.

The noodles were run-of-the-mill…seemed like something out of a package; lacking in “body” and texture.

I didn’t care for this much……

But, it was a good thing I ordered another dish; which I’d seen on the menu of other Joyee, but never ordered; the Salt and Smoked Duck ($19.99). I’m thinking that because of the name; this is more of a typical Taiwanese style smoked duck which is salted and rubbed with Shaoxing and other seasonings and held overnight.

While the skin wasn’t crisp and this was a bit on the saltier side; I enjoyed the winey-anise-slightly sweet tones along with the light smokey flavor. You can even see a sort of smoke ring on the meat.

Even though it looked dry; I enjoyed the toothsome texture. And when crisped up a bit in the air fryer…with the fat rendering slightly…well, the Missus really enjoyed the leftovers.

They also were so nice to JJ!

So, a week later, the Missus sent me a text asking me to pick up some duck on the way home. I went and got a couple of other dishes.

I’m glad we did takeout; you’ll find out below.

The Duck this time was even better. Deeper flavor; not as salty, more moist as well.

I saw that Popcorn Chicken was just $11.99. So I ordered it. The portion was quite large for the price.

I opened and took a look and a taste in the car…..while there flavor was fairly spot on; white pepper, a hint of spice, anise tones, perfect amount of salt….the texture was gummy and the coating lacked crispness. I was happy we were doing takeout, because I could fix the texture….you know how, right?

Yep, I removed all the fried basil and it went into the air fryer. Looks much better, huh? Much more crisp-crunchy and for some reason it seemed more moist as well. While not as good as the version at Soup du Jour, it’s cheaper and there’s that duck too.

I had also gotten the Bamboo with Pork ($16.99), which was another generous portion.

But was nothing special. While the julienned slices of pork were decently velveted, there were some pieces of the bamboo that were really hard and fibrous. The seasoning was a basic soy sauce based stir fry, it could have used more overall flavor.

Still, the Missus enjoyed that duck and I’ve figured out how to heat that popcorn chicken, The prices are quite reasonable as well. Though, I’m still not sure if I should retry the jiaozi? What do you think?

Joyee Noodle House(UTC)
8935 Towne Centre Drive
San Diego, CA 92122
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 11am-9pm
Fri – Sun 9am-9pm

Bei Yuan Tea & Boba – Lu Rou Fan, Reader Recs

Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

In my post on Zen Modern Asian Bistro, “FOY” RD inquired about Lu Rou Fan. And “FOY” Jess mentioned Bei Yuan! Now this is why I love our little “community”. I get so many recommendations and it keeps me inspired! I realized that I have a couple of other Reader Recs visits….I just did one today, so I better get hoppin’ on these.

And so I dropped by at the 1130 opening time. Not quite knowing the drill, I kinda just milled around until the young man working saw me and led me to one side of the restaurant to a table.

Looking at the menu, I noticed the Lu Rou Fan….$16.80 lunch special with a drink is fairly reasonable these days.

My Lu Rou Fan appeared like magic within a few minutes!

It was quite a bit of food and of course I wasn’t expecting anything close to what we had at Jin Feng Braised Pork Rice (金峰魯肉飯) in Taipei or even on Xindian Road.

This was quite interesting. Just tasting the pork by itself….well, it was just one bite…it was super salty, tough, lacking in the velvety fatty-beauty and anise-spice tones of what I consider LRF. It wasn’t bad mind you, just a bit much.

I did think the seasoned egg was pretty good, the yolk wasn’t overly dry and overcooked like what seems to be the norm these days.

I quickly poured it over the perfectly cooked rice and mixed with the veggies…though the edamame was ice cold.

I did enjoy the free drink which in this case was the Passion Green Tea, light sugar which was so refreshing and reinvigorating balancing out the saltiness of the dish.

The dish did much better mixed together, but was still on the high sodium end of the scale.

Still, I think it was much better than what I’d had at Bopomofo and Soup du Jour.

I think “Jess” had it right when she wrote “It’s more fast food-y but Bei Yuan has Lou rou fan. Is it the best? No but it’ll hit the spot.”

While I don’t think I’ll have this again; I’m glad to have tried it. Such is the blessing of having all you “FOYs” out there! Now RD, what did you think of the LRF here?

Bei Yuan Tea & Boba
7315 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 1130am – Midnight

You can also check out Cathy’s post on Bei Yuan here.

Soup du Jour – What’s in a name?

Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chicken Wings, Chinese Restaurants, Dog Friendly, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

In my revisit post for Ju Feng Yuan, I mentioned my current favorite popcorn chicken was from Soup du Jour. Now, I honestly thought I had posted on the place. But as I looked to create a link for the post, I discovered I had not! WTH??? So, I set out to correct that mistake. And went searching for photos and than did a couple of revisits.

I came across the place after returning from Taiwan in 2023. I was looking for some Taiwanese food and along with the usual, not-so-good suspects, Soup du Jour appeared. So, I decided to head on over. Soup du Jour was a very odd name and the location is in the Corsair Apartment complex on Aero Drive.

Looks familiar? Well, this was the former location of Carve Modern Deli & Beer on Aero Drive. Way back when, my office was located on Aero Drive, this place would have been in walking distance!

Parking is fairly limited and the restaurant’s interior looks basically the same, if a bit more packed with “stuffs”.

Anyway, when I first started visiting, I tried a whole of items from the very “diverse” menu. This is what it looked like back then.

Everything from Rotiserie Chicken to Congee to Ribeye Steak to Youtiao to ????

And I tried a whole bunch of stuff that, well…to put it honestly I didn’t care for. Like the Lu Rou Fan….the photo of which I couldn’t find! But here’s a few other one and dones….

The Daikon Soup….

The Asian “Meatball” Soup.

I was going to basically give up, but decided to do one more visit….because the owner, whose name was Claire was so nice!

And she was from Chiayi, one of our favorite little cities in Taiwan. We chatted about Taiwan while waiting for my food to go, so I finally asked her for some recommendations and she told me to try the Street Chicken, which she said was Taiwan style Popcorn Chicken and the Honey Glazed Spareribs, both of which were winnahs!

These are photos from several takeout meals I ordered that were supposed to be part of that non-existent post.

Loved the legit fried basil…which seemed to be missing in this box; but was actually underneath the chicken.

And the spareibs, were nice, looked tough, but quite moist with a touch of sweetness, smokiness, and Asian touches in flavor.

Though I’ve never been able to resign myself to those roasted veggies……

And so, I thought I did my post???? I did do some additional visits; the Missus also enjoys the chicken and ribs.

And then we got JJ. I recalled that Soup du Jour had a nice patio area, so I took JJ over for lunch!

By this time, I noticed that the menu had changed and also instead of Claire, a young guy and lady were running the place. The menu had also expanded.

And I saw Jiaozi on the menu, plus I’d always wanted to try the Salt & Pepper Wings ($14) to go with my Pork and Cabbage Dumplings ($13.99).

The jiaozi was a non-starter; the wrapper was really think and very chewy. The sauce had a weird sweetness to it.

The filling was a coarse cut; something I prefer to overly minced fillings, but this was also a bit on the chewy side; though the flavor, porky-sesame wasn’t too bad if a bit mild.

As for the chicken wings; the were seven in an order. I had them put it into a take out box for me in case I couldn’t finish.

Like the jiaozi; this didn’t quite hit the spot. I like a nice garlic topping, but this was burnt and bitter. The batter was uneven and soggy. Decent saltiness with a hint of pepper and spice, but nothing special.

The flesh was fine, a bit overcooked. All in all, this could have come from Panda Express…..

And then I did the JFY post and realized I missed the boat on doing a SdJ one! Unless maybe I did actually do a post…..which took place in another dimension? Anyway, the Missus was wanting the Street Chicken, which was now $15. So I did a takeout order.

This travels well. The batter is more on the crunchy side. The Missus is especially fond of the white pepper tones, five spice, saltiness, and that fried basil. It heats up well in the air fryer too.

Pretty moist, decent toothsomeness, also hints of other pungent spices, with a very mild hint of sweetness. It is by far our favorite version in San Diego. You hear that Bopomofo? Though I still need to check some other places. Let me know if you have a recommendation!

Deciding that I needed to at least try those Honey Glazed Spareribs again, I drove over for lunch with JJ.

Now priced at $17.50, you also add brown rice for 50 cents more; which is what I did. Good nuttiness from the brown rice which wasn’t overly chewy.

I’m still not the biggest fan of the roasted veggies that come with this as it just seems out of place.

Still, I was here for the ribs, which were moist, falling off the bone, and had a nice sweet-savory flavor, with a hint of smokiness.

The Missus actually enjoys these as leftovers. She enjoys the flavor and prefers it much firmer. It was good to know that it was still a dish we enjoyed.

Though I did not see Claire on this visit either; so I asked the young lady working and was told that Claire had sold the business to them a while back! Bummer; I hope she’s doing well! I always enjoyed chatting with her. I was happy to note that the dishes we enjoyed were still good.

And so, I was finally ready for a post, right? Well, I was until I saw this sign posted.

Well, I guess I needed to make one more visit…..

I’m guessing the new ownership are adding items to the menu. It’s good to see that.

The Hainan Chicken Rice was just $13.99.

I ignored the sweet-soy dressing and stayed with what I’m used to with this dish.

First off; I did not like the rice which was super dry and hard.

In spite of the color; it lacked that rich chicken flavor I expect in the rice with this dish.

The chicken itself was not bad. Quite moist, but very mild in poultry-ness.

The typical sauce, lacked scallions, had a bit too much garlic for my taste, and was starting to discolor.

I also think it needed a bit more oil for texture.

Not a terrible Hainan Chicken Rice, especially for the price, but I know I can get much better here.

Still, I know I’ll be returning when the Missus wants Her fix…..

So here you go…..finally got this done. Soup du Jour….what’s in a name???

Soup du Jour
8583 Aero Dr.
San Diego, CA 92123
Current Hours:
Mon – Sat 11am – 8pm
Closed on Sunday

Zen Modern Asian Bistro – Now at the Del Mar Highlands Sky Deck

Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

I’m not sure which “FOY” mentioned that Zen Modern Asian Bistro had moved from Sabre Springs to the Del Mar Highlands Sky Deck…perhaps it was Dereck or RD?

Anyway, after my rather unsatisfying bowl of NRM from Dao Xiang, along with the cooler weather; I thought it would be a great time to make the drive up the 5 and check out the Sky Deck, which Cathy has been to…but I’ve only visited the Jimbo’s in this mall.

It’s a large if rather dark space; very hip in that “you know it’s Del Mar” kinda way…..

Zen is just to the left of the entrance.

It’s got a bit of a sports bar look to it along with a dining area. It’s interesting to see that the doors to the kitchen area are automatic ones.

The young man brought me the menu; though I already knew what I was going to order.

And oh my, the NRM is now $22 and adding the suan cai is another $1!

And soon enough my order arrived. That bowl of NRM was quite large!

In many ways; it’s basically the same as I had at the previous location.

Not overly salty, mild beefiness, light soysauce, light richness, in need for more aggressive anise-beefiness for my taste.

In what was an improvement over what I’d had before was that the beef was nice and tender and full of savory-beefiness. And there was quite a lot of meat!

The noodles still lacked springiness and also didn’t do a great job of “picking up” the broth.

There’s a good amount of bok choy….in case you’re worried about getting some “veggies”!

As Dereck and RD both indicated; the must have item is the suan cai, the pickled greens.

There’s a bracing sour-tanginess to it. And while it may be slightly on the sweeter end of the spectrum to me, it really boosted the overall flavor of the broth when I dumped it into the bowl.

Overall not bad….better than many other versions in San Diego. And while it may be better than other versions, I’m not sure the price tag and the drive is worth it for me. Still, I’m glad to have tried the NRM here at the new location of Zen

Zen Modern Asian Bistro (In the Sky Deck at Del Mar Highlands Town Center)
12841 El Camino Real Suite 206
San Diego, CA 92130
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 10am – 9pm
Friday 10am – 10pm
Saturday 11am – 10pm
Sunday 11am – 9pm

Me Sen Thai Noodle House and Sizzling House & Noodle Revisited

Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

Here are a couple of revisits to places that have recently opened. One was a revisit to try a dish they were out of on previous visits; the other a couple of coworkers wanted to check out.

Sizzling House & Noodle:

**** Sizzling House has closed

So, Calvin and Richard wanted to meet up for lunch. After going thru some of the newer places in the Convoy area; they decided to meet up at Sizzling House & Noodle.

Sizzling House Rev 01

Well, one thing was for sure….I wasn’t going to have the A5 Wagyu again! I had fully intended on getting the rice with pepper sauce and shrimp. But, I ended getting what Calvin and Richard ordered; the basic beef with pepper sauce. ($17.99) I did get it with udon to see how the noodles held up and of course an egg ($1.99 upcharge).

Of course, the friendly neighborhood robot delivered our plates.

Sizzling House Rev 02

Which were “shielded” by the cardboard crown to prevent splatter.

Sizzling House Rev 03  Sizzling House Rev 04 First off, I actually thought the basic “wagyu” (heavy on the quotes) beef, while rather scarce was cut thinner, thus seemingly more tender. I liked the thin slices of oyster mushroom, which added a nice sweet-earthiness to the plate. To me, that egg is a must.

The standard gravy boat of pepper sauce was provided. For some reason, it seemed sweeter than on my previous visit. To me, the tangy-sweet flavors overpower the pepperiness.

As for the udon, well, the texture was decent, good pull, mild chewiness, though some of the noodles were stuck to the pan, which I guess wasn’t “oiled” enough.

Sizzling House Rev 05

And like before, there just didn’t seem to be enough sauce to coat the starch…at least to satisfy me.

Well, at least I got to try this place out again, without spending over $40. I’m kind of done with this “fad” for now.

Sizzling House & Noodle
4698 Convoy St. Suite 107
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 930pm
Friday            11am – 3pm, 5pm – 10pm
Saturday       11am – 10pm
Sunday         11am – 930pm

Me Sen Thai Noodle House:

I found myself at 99 Ranch Market on Clairemont at around 945 or so and once I’d finished shopping, I looked over to Me Sen, which was still quite empty, and decided to see if they had the dish that they had been out of on my visit back in April.

Me Sen Rev 01

And yes, they had the Khao Mun Gai ($13.95) available. So, I took a seat and placed my order to the very nice woman working.

It was a short wait, but soon enough my Khao Mun Gai arrived.

Me Sen Rev 02  Me Sen Rev 03 Which smelled heavenly. It came with a bowl of broth that had decent cilantro – white pepper tones, but was quite salty. And the dipping sauce, which did have a bit of spice was not my favorite as I prefer the Hainanese style white, ginger-garlic, pungent style sauce.

My favorite part of the dish was the rice, which was so fowl-ly delicious, as if it had stolen the soul of that chicken! It had just the right amount of salt and was cooked perfectly. The portion of rice was rather large, which I actually appreciated in this case.

Me Sen Rev 04  Me Sen Rev 05  As for the chicken; well it was deboned, making it easy to eat, while being very moist and tender. It was a bit on the milder side in terms of flavor though. Again, if I had that ginger-garlic based sauce, I’d have been really happy. I ended up making sure I had some  “chicken soul stealing” rice and chicken in each bite.

To me, it’s hard finding a good Khao Mun Gai/Hainan Chicken Rice in San Diego and this comes pretty close. Along with the friendly service…..even in the face of some kinda rude “typical 99 Ranch” customers, and the decent price, I’ll definitely return for this, and even the noodle soups I’d had here before.

Me Sen Rev 02

Me Sen Thai Noodle Shop
7300 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 10am – 9pm

A5 Wagyu Beef Rice from Sizzling House & Noodle

Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Japanese Restaurants, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

**** Sizzling House has closed

**** I did a revisit, you can read that post here.

One of the other victims of the China Max fire in 2020 was the Convoy location of Tasty Pot. The place was repaired with the same owners in place; but I’m guessing with all the hot pot restaurants dotting the area the proprietors decided to go in a different direction, deciding on a sizzling plate/pepper lunch concept named Sizzling House which opened in December.

I’d been trying to talk the Missus into visiting, but She didn’t seem to enthusiastic about “feeding another fad”, but She finally encouraged me to check the place out on my own.

Sizzling House 01

So, I decided to head on over; arriving right after 11 on a weekday. The spacious restaurant had but one table occupied when I arrived and just two when I left.

Sizzling House 02

As is the trend with many restaurants these days; ordering is done via QR code. Though I found the folks working to be quite attentive, which is probably pretty easy with just two tables occupied.

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Funny thing; as I was looking thru the menu; the Missus sent me a text encouraging me to order the Japanese A5 Wagyu. When I said I thought it was waaaay too expensive, She kept insisting! Perhaps She was just feigning Her distinerest?

I finally relented and ordered the Japanese A5 Wagyu rice, meat medium rare, with an egg (of course) which had a $1.99 upcharge. This wasn’t cheap by any means.

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Though you did get a free green tea, with or without hot or cold, with or without sugar.

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My plate came out, with a cardboard “crown” to protect the innocent fairly quickly. It was sizzling quite nicely.

Sizzling House 06 Sizzling House 07  The portion of rice was quite large there was corn and edamame scattered about the hot plate. The beef, supposedly four ounces was topped with a small scoop of butter, which I thought wasn’t necessary.

The pepper sauce came in a small gravy boat. I tasted the sauce; which was interesting as it was much spicier than the usual Taiwanese Black Pepper sauce. The sauce was rather rich in texture with some decent tangy tones, a mild sweetness, and a savory component. I think this kind of overpowered the black pepper component. For some reason, I thought it would go great with shrimp?

The beef was a rather thinly sliced and I got to moving it quickly so it wouldn’t overcook.

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With the beef sidelined to prevent overcooking; I worked on mixing the rice, other stuffs, and sauce to get things nicely coated. In some ways, I almost wished this was in a dolsot as some caramelization and crispy bits would add to texture and flavor.

As a whole, the sauce overpowered the beef which I’m glad I moved to the side and ate without contact with the sauce. You could cut it with the fork, but I don’t think I’d get this again. As much as I thought that there was a good amount of sauce, I think I could have used even more! Though the rice did taste pretty good; and the corn added some sweetness and in combination with the edamame more textural contrast.

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Then again, I’m not going to spent forty bucks for a “funky fried rice”; though, like I mentioned above, I do think I’ll return to try with the chicken or perhaps have another sauce, mushroom and Japanese curry are offered.

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The Missus didn’t care for the leftovers as it was too “rich” for Her. Though I’m glad I tried Sizzling House out; as I thought it was better than expected. Service was very nice as well.

Sizzling House & Noodle
4698 Convoy St. Suite 107
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 930pm
Friday            11am – 3pm, 5pm – 10pm
Saturday       11am – 10pm
Sunday         11am – 930pm

Niu Rou Mian from Zen Modern Asian Bistro (Sabre Springs)

Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants

In the comments section of my post on the Banh Mi Bo Kho from Pho Lucky, "FOY" Dereck mentioned the Beef Noodle Soup from Zen Modern. I found this interesting since Calvin had also mentioned enjoying the Niu Rou Mian from Zen Modern. So, I guess it was time to make my way to Sabre Springs to check things out. 

I found the location of the restaurant to be interesting, right next to the MTS parking lot, in a small strip mall with a tight parking lot, squeezed between a 7-11 and a location of March and Ash which was doing some major business.

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As for the restaurant, well it was empty at a few minutes past eleven.

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Once seated, I was handed a menu that had everything from Egg Rolls to Salt & Pepper Wings to Udon to Kimchi Fried Rice to Nigiri to a huge collection of "Rolls"….you kinda see why I hesitated in visiting. Both Dereck and Calvin advised me to only get the Beef Noodle Soup. Which I finally found on the menu below the Crispy Chicken Spring Roll and above the Chinese Chop Salad.

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So, I placed my order for the Beef Noodle Soup ($19) and the default dining utensil was delivered to the table…..

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Hmmm…..luckily there were packs of wooden disposable chopsticks in the container on the table. 

This is what the niu rou mian looked like.

Zen Modern NRM 04  Zen Modern NRM 05  This was actually not bad. The soup could have used more anise and beef flavor for my taste, but it had a mild peppery spice, a balanced sodium content, good soy sauce tones, and was not bad at all. In fact, I've definitely had worse in the Convoy District and at a popular chain from Taiwan in Mira Mesa…this was definitely better in my opinion. The richness and texture of the soup was on par with what I've had in San Diego.

The noodles were slightly over cooked, thus they lacked a good "QQ" springiness but were fine.

The beef were a mixed bag, some really under cooked and tough pieces, while some bits were very tender and tasty.

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Overall, I was rather pleasantly surprise considering the almost Americanized Asian Fast-Foodish looking shop and menu with dishes from all of East Asia. The price at nineteen bucks wasn't a bargain, but like I said, I've had worse in the "Asian districts" of San Diego. If Zen was in my 'hood, I'd probably have the NRM every once in a while.

Zen Modern NRM 07

Who knew; NRM in Sabre Springs!

Zen Modern Asian Bistro
13510 Sabre Springs Pkwy Suite 103
San Diego, CA 92128
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 10am – 9pm
Friday            10am – 10pm
Saturday       11am – 10pm
Sunday          11am – 9pm

Thanks for the recommendation Dereck!