Xiao Long Bao – Page 5

Road Trip: Giang Nan – Monterey Park(LA)

February 22, 2007 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

**** Giang Nan has closed

*** A short update can be found here.

Since we had managed to make it to Monterey Park during the eve of Chinese New Year, we decided to forgo the food stands at the Floral Street Fair, and take our chances at Giang Nan.

I say take our chances, mainly because we've never been able to get a table at Giang Nan, on every attempted visit there has been a wait list. Giang Nan resides in one of the hundreds of strip malls in the area, this time on Garfield Avenue. The restaurant is tucked away from the road at the rear of the parking lot perpendicular to the street. The restaurant itself is clean and well lit, though not very large. You've got to watch your step…not only are the tables close together, there are several inconspicuous steps that can cause you to stumble if you're not aware.

Looking over the menu, we started with the Roast Duck in Supreme Sauce($4.95):

The photo makes the dish look larger than it was. This was a single, chopped duck leg, roasted with a marinade that tasted much like a "red-cooked" Roast Duck, with that ubiquitous sweet-soy sauce flavor. I did enjoy the sticky salty sweetness.

Because we wanted a very light lunch we ordered the House Special Pork Knuckle(Pork Pump – $12.95) he-he-he:

In this case, the football sized pork shank that arrived was much, much larger than the photo suggests. From what I understand this pork shank(it is called "House Special De-Greased and Braised Pork Knuckle" on the menu) is first fried, than braised in a sauce of rock sugar and soy sauce. This shank was enough to feed six people! The meat was a bit on the tough side, though the fat was a heavenly melt in your mouth creamy, and the skin tasted great as well. We only had three slices before cholesterol remorse got the better of us.

While eating this, the Missus and I got into a interesting conversation:

"You know, you don't have an identity when it comes to New Year….."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you really don't celebrate the Western New Year, and even though you're Japanese, you mainly cook for me to celebrate the Japanese New Year, you go to the Tet Festival, and you have more fun celebrating Chinese New Year…you're obviously confused."
"Well….maybe I'm a man of all countries! Yeah, that's right, I'm a worldly person!"
"Yeah right….if you keep eating all that pork fat, you'll be worldly alright. Waaaay bigger at the equator than at the poles……"

You realize that we couldn't leave without some Xiao Long Bao, right? Here's the Pork and Crab Xiao Long Bao($4.95):

The wrappers were a bit thicker than those at Mei Long Village, and were very delicate in flavor. Unfortunately, a few of the XLB had lost their soup. I liked the ratio of soup to meat, though.

The Pork Xiao Long Bao($4.25):

These had an excellent ratio meat to soup, though I like the wrappers at Meilong Village better. Both the meat and the soup were perfect, and wonderful slightly sweet, rich, umami flavor. My favorite XLB so far. Well….. maybe now I'm not quite sure….perhaps I can talk Ed from Yuma into a XLB "crawl" this summer? Anyone game????

The prices at Giang Nan are very reasonable, the Pork XLB were only $4.25. We'll be back to try some other dishes like the Winded Chicken, The Lion's Head, Smoked Fish, and others…….

Giang Nan
306 N Garfield Avenue
Monterey Park, CA 91755

Road Trip: J & J Restaurant – San Gabriel(LA), and the San Gabriel Foot Fetish…….

January 24, 2007 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

**** J & J Restaurant has closed

Right before the New Year, on one of our road trips to LA, we were in the mood for some Xiao Long Bao(soup dumplings), but instead of Mei Long Village we decided to check out J & J Restaurant. We've always found it somewhat interesting that both J & J and Meilong Village occupy the same strip mall, and co-exist just a few doors down from each other.

On this day the tiny, simply furnished restaurant was hopping……

The Missus and I always appreciate servers who work with no wasted motion, and the two women working today were working with efficient precision. Containers for leftovers were brought to the table with the check, and tea was dropped off on one table as the server walked to the table directly next to it to take an order.

We looked over the menu even though we knew what we were going to order.

We started with the Xue Cai Rou Si Chao Nian Gao($5.25):

We didn't care for this much, the Chao Nian Gao(stir fried rice cake) had been over cooked and was mushy, the Xue Cai(mustard greens) had no flavor, and the dish had a sort of "fishy" aftertaste.

Of course we were here for Xiao Long Bao, and in case you think I needed any help in selected which XLB's to get…something like this will usually seal the deal. Crab being prepared for the XLB.

So of course we started with the Pork and Crab XLB's($5.95):

The 8 good sized XLB arrived perfectly steamed. I found the wrapper to be a tad thicker than the wrapper at Mei Long Village, the very tender filling had a mild flavor, that leaned a bit toward the sweeter end. I thought these were good except for one thing; the soup to meat ratio was way off…we both thought that the XLB had too little soup in them.

Not satisfied with one order of XLB, we also got the Pork XLB($4.95):

These come 10 to an order, and were steamed and served in perfect condition. The Pork XLB had a bit of a stronger flavor, that went well with the soy-vinegar-ginger dipping sauce. But the meat-soup ratio on these seemed to be a bit off as well. In the end, I guess we enjoy a bit more soup in our Xiao Long Baos.

Still, because of the close proximity of the two restaurants, and the very reasonable prices, you can probably do a XLB "crawl" and make up your own mind as to which XLB you prefer.

HC of LA and OC Foodventures has a nice post on J & J Restaurant.

J & J Restaurant
301 W. Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

An interesting observation…..

I don't know if anyone has noticed this….in fact I'm surprised that the ever observant Andy hasn't mentioned this on his blog, The ABC. After our meal at J & J we walked over to the snack shop in the strip mall next door, so the Missus could get Her shaved ice. While walking we simultaneously looked at each other and went…"what is the deal, with all of the Foot Massage places?"

So what is the deal? I decided to take photos of the Reflexology/Foot Massage shops we found just from walking from one strip mall to the next….less than a block. And here's what we found:

There's even a little price war going on in this strip mall……on one side of the mall, it's $20/hr:

Directly on the other side, it's $15/hr:

I know that with all the restaurants, and other businesses, that workers in the SGV are probably on their feet alot….but man, that's alot of tired feet.

Or maybe San Gabriel has a foot fetish??? We call it the San Gabriel Foot Fetish.

There must be over 30 Reflexology/Foot Massage studios on Valley Boulevard….for some reason we found that to be rather odd…….

A Few Updates

November 29, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

Recently, we’ve been making the rounds and have been revisiting a few restaurants. And here are a few updates.

Chin’s

**** This location of Chin’s has closed

We’ve been having brunch at Chin’s just about every weekend. Looking through my previous posts, I noticed I missed posting on a few of the better dishes at Chin’s.

The Wuxi Sparerib Noodle Soup:

This very tasty slightly sweet soup, with a nice portion of braised spareribs, along with some Shao Bing is probably my favorite…well next to the Five Spice Beef Shao Bing. The nice pork flavor really comes through, and though I still don’t care much for the noodles, I really enjoy the broth and of course the pork.

The Shanghai Chao Nian Gao:

Sliced rice cakes stir fried with pickled vegetables and pork. Perhaps a bit on the salty side, but the rice cake slices are always fried perfectly, and the slices are neither too mushy, nor hard and rubbery. The pickled vegetables and scallions add a nice flavor. I think someone had asked about this dish so I wanted to make sure to post.

Noble Chef – Under New Ownership

Last week we dropped by Noble Chef for our fried rice fix, and didn’t recognize any of the eight people scurrying about.

Upon inquiry we found out from the really nice young man manning the counter that the previous owners had decided to sell the restaurant. I quickly asked the young man if the menu would remain the same, at which point one of the young ladies standing behind the counter gave me a “dirty look”. But I was assured that the menu would remain the same. As this was the first day after the transfer of the restaurant thing were quite chaotic, but we did manage to place and get our orders.

The Shrimp with XO Sauce Fried Rice:

On the good side; there was twice the amount of shrimp. On the bad side…well, not enough XO sauce and not enough garlic or salt, the rice tasted like spicy fried rice. Also, I’m sure that the new chef will have to get adjusted to the wok stove, the rice was mushy and in clumps, I noticed that the chef never turned the heat up while making the fried rice, thus all the wonderful “wok hey”(the elusive essence of the wok) was missing.

The Chiu Chow Fried Rice:

Same story, lot’s of Char Siu, the portion size is about a third smaller. Rice clumpy and slightly mushy.

I’ll give Noble Chef a few months to get things in order and check in again. I’m hoping that I’m not losing one of my favorites.

Emerald

Made another visit to Emerald, and partook of all the usual suspects…pretty much the same as what I had on a previous visit. There were a few items that I hadn’t seen before, like the Xiao Long Bao:

Yes, soup dumplings! Unfortunately the wrappers were really, really thick, and there was no soup! Soup dumplings with no soup? The filling tasted like regular dumpling filling, not Xiao Long Bao.

The “Egg” Siu Mai fared much better. Basically a boiled quail egg lying on a bed of pork and shrimp, in a siu mai wrapper. A nice slightly rich and eggy bit of Dim Sum. My only complaint would be that the siu mai wrapper was welded to the plate, and everything fell apart as we tried, unsuccessfully, to pry the wrapper off the plate. Still we enjoyed a pretty good meal at Emerald.

For addresses and other info, click on the links to the original posts.

Finally, I’d like to thank Cathy. Her wonderful posts, has allowed me to spend a little more time revisiting restaurants. Thanks Cathy!

Chin’s Seafood and Grill – Part 1

September 4, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

***This location of Chin’s has closed

Recently, the Missus and I had brunch at a restaurant located adjacent to the Holiday Inn Select in Miramar Road.

Though it’s not quite what you may have in mind. The Restaurant is names Chin’s Seafood and Grill.

And yet, that still may not have you very interested, since there are 10 other locations of Chin’s Szechuan in the greater San Diego area, and most of the Chinese dishes served are very Westernized. As you enter the generic ‘B’ list hotel lounge-restaurant area, you’d still feel as if you haven’t come to the right place for Chinese Food. Though if you take a quick glance around the room you’ll notice that more than ninety percent of the customers are Chinese, and anyone who is not are accompanied by Chinese customers.

One quick look at the menu, will tell you why.

For brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 am to 230 pm, Chin’s has a special Chinese menu. Unfortunately, there is no English version of this menu. Some of the items are available on the regular menu, and I’ll try to indicate what those items are when possible. The prices reflect the special menu prices, not regular menu prices.

The Missus looked over the menu with a smile on Her face. She told me, that there are dishes on the menu that She has only heard off, and never tried, as well as some of Her favorites. The Missus started checking off items on the menu card, and the really nice Server came by to verify. As She and the Missus spoke in Mandarin, I thought She reminded me of someone…..I mentioned this, and the Missus says, “I think she reminds of my Mom.” And yes, she indeed had that friendly, sincere element about her. I had the Missus inquire about the style of food served here, and the Lady said a combination of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, basically Eastern Chinese(aka Shanghainese).

Soon enough the food started arriving.

As is almost routine, we started off with the Suzhou-style Smoked Fish($4.95):

The Missus said that this version, with the rather intense 5 spice and sweet flavor was fairly close to what She grew up eating, though maybe a bit mildly flavored. When we got home and looked over the map of Jiangsu, we were both surprised at how “close” Suzhou was to Shandong province(it’s all relative), which explained why Her Grandmother made this often while growing up. As usual this isn’t a “smoked” fish, it just appears to be so. This fish is first marinated; usually in a soy sauce, wine, and salt mixture. The fish slices are than deep fried in oil; and finally marinated again in a 5 spice and sugar mixture to “cure”. You could eat all the small bones on these slices.

Jiaxing Braised Duck(Chin’s Roasted Cold Duck – $4.95)

Almost like a duck version of the above. Quite tasty, nice duck flavor, but not nearly as flavorful as the fish. But still a pretty good cold duck dish.

Zhenjiang Style Pork(Chin’s Cured Pork – $4.95)

This was probably the “hit” of the meal. Neither the Missus, nor I had ever seen this before. The dish was a sum of tasty parts. The pork was cooked and shredded, and had a nice mild flavor. It was topped with a thick layer of aspic, much like what creates the broth for Xiao Long Bao. A really nice and mild, but not weak flavor. Here’s a better photo of a piece, and no, it’s not pork fat…..

Here’s a little secret……we took most of this home, and made a pot of rice. We scooped the rice steaming hot into a bowl a placed a few pieces of pork on top of the rice and let the aspic melt all over the rice….delici-yoso!!!

Shao Bing with Braised Beef($2.95)

I really enjoyed this version of Niu Rou Shao Bing; really crisp bread, flavorful thin slices of 5 spice beef, scallions, and a bit of Hoisin made for a a very well flavored and texturally interesting treat. The Missus though the Shao-Bing was too thin, and the amount of beef was on the skimpy side. And yet, I thought; “who cares about Banh Mi; give me this….”

Taiwanese Style Glutinous Rice($3.95)

This scoop of glutinous rice was mixed with chunks of pork and shredded dried shrimp(yum). A nice bit of “spicy ketchup” was added. Though the rice was a bit on the dry side, this was certainly not lacking in flavor. Not bad, but I think we’ll go in a different direction next time.

The Flakey Turnip Strip “Cake”(Shanghai Pastry – $3.95)

The Missus said that she has had better. I thought these were very moist, and the texture was very nice, but we’ve had better elsewhere. The taste was almost “buttery”.

Taiwanese Style Won Ton Soup($4.95)

Okay, our Server came by and told us we were ordering too “many dry items” and needed some soup. So we asked for a recommendation, and this was it. Really bland and uninspired.

No need for this……

Nanxiang Style Xiao Long Bao($5.95). Now if you know me; you can imagine how excited I was over these……

But these were not very good, at least for what I look for in XLB. I don’t know how they make the Xiao Long Bao in the city of Nanxiang, but if I were to make a guess based on this, I’d say it was with very thick wrappers and barely a scant amount of “soup”. We’ll take a pass on these…..

So, with full bellies, and being very satisfied, we left Chin’s, only to return. And in fact, the Missus noticed that I was tasting the food based on “SGV” standards, which is a good sign…..

Part 2 coming soon – some old “favorites” and some new……

Part 2 of this post can be found here.

Chin’s
9355 Kearny Mesa Rd.
San Diego, CA 92126

858-536-2300

168 Restaurant

August 7, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Taiwanese Food and Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

*** 168 Restaurant has closed

168 Restaurant, located in the shadow of the 99 Ranch Market sign, is a popular and inexpensive Taiwanese restaurant in the area.

The bare bones atmosphere, and "sticky" tables, along with the faint smell of vinegar in the air take me back to many of the Chinese "coffee shops" in the San Gabriel Valley. 168 specializes in homestyle Chinese and Taiwanese "grub" at very reasonable prices. Forget about atmosphere though, it doesn't exist at 168. We also ate with our "elbows up" and off of the sticky-tacky tables.

Many of the people during our visits were eating Fried Rice, Noodle Soup, or some other noodle dish.

We decided to try some menu items that we hadn't ordered before. Starting with the Smoked Chicken($3.75):

I really enjoyed this cold chicken dish, it had a mild smokey flavor, the meat had a slightly "cured" texture, and though it teetered on the edge of being too salty it was very satisfying on this very hot day.

Pan Fried Egg with Dried Radish($4.25):

This homestyle omelet had strips of dried radish in it. It is really nothing different from what I make at home. The eggs were very salty, though the radish added a nice crunch to the dish

Glutinous Rice in Bowl($3.25):

I enjoyed the gooey glutinous rice that surrounded a "filling" of chunks of pork and dried radish. Here's a look:

Slightly sweet, slightly salty, with a sauce with hints of……well, as the Missus put's it, "It's Five-Spice, okay, F-I-V-E Spice. None of this hints of anise stuff, it tastes like five spice". Okay??? This was not bad, I'd have it again.

I really don't know why I ordered the Xiao Long Bao($5.75), big mistake:

Really big mistake, the wrappers were a bit freezer burnt, and only two or three of the dumplings actually had "soup" in them.

A few weeks later, we found ourselves at 168 again. And in keeping with our previous meal, we decided to try items we'd never had here before.

Since we enjoyed the cold Smoked Chicken on our previous visit, we ordered the Wined Chicken($3.75):

The chicken tasted much better than it looked. The flavor of the chicken was neither too strong, nor totally bland like the version at Mei Long Village. The texture of the chicken was slightly dense and cured, with a slight salty-winey flavor. Not as strong in flavor as the version at Shanghai City, but still quite good.

Of course some Stinky Tofu(Cho Dofu – $5.25):

The Missus has a basic "rule" when it comes to Cho Dofu. If I can smell it, than eat it, it's probably not good. The usual foul, what I call a dark-deep-damp-acrid odor of decomposition was very tame and mild. In addition, the sauce was very mild and weak. I had 3 pieces of the Cho Dofu, which really tasted like fried tofu, with a slight acrid odor. So this brined than fermented tofu dish was not very good.

Goose Meat w/Bean Thread($5.25):

A light clear poultry based broth, had a nice quantity of slightly chewy bean thread. The broth was mild, and the julienned ginger added a very nice clean flavor to what would be a fairly weak soup. The "Goose Meat" tasted strangely like Duck Leg, it just wasn't as rich and gamey as goose is. We thought this was just okay.

Oyster w/"Thin Noodles" Soup($4.75):

This thickened soup was a strange mish-mash of conflicting flavors, and the lack of decent quality ingredients didn't help it in the least. I really like the slightly gooey soup, it had a nice assertive vinegar and white pepper flavor. The Missus thought it was too sour. I really enjoyed the chewy brown wheat based thin Taiwanese style noodles. There were 2 items that ruined the dish. First, the Oysters tasted very bad, like they had been starting to "break-down" with a fishy-bitter flavor. I fished all of them out of the bowl, no sense in spending the night sleeping the bathroom, if you know what I mean. The bamboo shoots had a metallic-sour flavor to them. I'm pretty sure that the bamboo shoots were old, and that when they were removed from the can, the shoots were not drained or rinsed. Too bad, I thought this soup had potential.

The menu at 168 is quite extensive, with everything from Squid Potage and 3 Cup Chicken(posted on he wall) to Fried Rice and Kung Pao Chicken. What 168 does best are Chinese Coffee shop and snack dishes. And those are still a "mixed bag" and quite inconsistent. The service is basic Chinese restaurant in style and quality, you usually need to ask for anything you need. Of course being open till almost midnight is a big plus.

168 Restaurant
7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Open 11am-1130pm Daily

Road Trip: Mei Long Village – San Gabriel(LA)

July 11, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Xiao Long Bao

We had to make a trip to Los Angeles this past weekend, and I just had to have some Xiao Long Bao(soup dumplings). Don't ask me why. I just had to have it. So we headed out to good old Valley Boulevard and Mei Long Village.

Mei Long Village is a Shanghainese Restaurant located on the boulevard of a thousand Chinese Restaurants(Valley Boulevard), and has survived. That says alot, since many restaurants, such as the next door "Homestyle Restaurant", serving Shenyang style cuisine is no longer there. We arrived at 2pm on this Saturday afternoon, and Mei Long Village was filled to the brim.

Not in the mood for for major entrees(like Pork Pump, or 3 Cup Chicken) we decided on some cold appetizers and Xiao Long Bao. We started off with the classic Smoked Fish($6.50):

This non-smoked, but marinated, than deep fried dish was really bad. Well, unless you consider a sweet aspic and mud flavored appetizer being good. Really very bad, I've had five versions of this dish, and this was the worst I've ever had.

The Wine Chicken($6.50):

Again a disappointment. A perfectly steamed/boiled chicken, with a flavorless, watery sauce poured over it. From what I know, true Wined Chicken should be have a slight cured flavor and texture. this was none of the above.

The Missus ordered the Radish Pan Cake($4.95):

These little flaky pastries contained moist strips of radish along with pieces of ham, which I enjoyed. The Missus thought they were too moist, and just ok.

Finally, the Crab and Pork Xiao Long Bao arrived ($5.95):

I thought these were really good, just the size of a soup spoon, with a wrapper just translucent enough to view the broth. Very nice!

The Xiao Long Bao(Shanghai Steamed Dumplings – $4.95):

For me, these were excellent. Let me explain. The wrapper was thin/thick enough to view the "soup", and yet retained the chewy, "al dente" texture that dumpling wrappers should have. In addition, the tops of the wrappers where the dumpling wrapper is turned upon itself is still tender, and not hard. The soup to meat ratio was also very good, with a very nice sweet-porky flavor. The Missus thought the XLB soup was too sweet for Her, but I enjoyed these XLB, with wrappers just right, thin enough to see the soup, and thick enough to stand up to the cooking process. And better yet, thick enough to be a part of dumpling, it's just not filling you are eating!

In the end, the Missus said She doesn't think she'll be back. So that means I'll have to sneak away for my Xiao Long Bao when I'm in LA…..

Mei Long Village
301 West Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776

Sun-Thurs 11am-930pm
Fri-Sat 1130am-10pm

Mandarin Garden

May 29, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

**** Mandarin Garden has closed

Right off of Mira Mesa Boulevard, and hidden away in a strip mall, is Mandarin Garden. Located in the interior of the mall, you'll never find it unless you're looking for it, or stumble across it while eating at maybe L&L Drive In.

In this location, and if doing a very cursory review of the menu, you'd think that Mandarin Garden is just a run-of-the-mill American-Chinese restaurant, with items like Egg Foo Young, Beef and Broccoli, and Chicken Chop Suey on the extensive 200+ item menu. The beyond the red doors lies a few surprises. Mandarin Garden has more then a few special Shanghainese specialties, and also features a special Saturday and Sunday lunch menu. So after putting our frozen Xiao Long Bao from SDCCI on ice, we decided to drop in on Mandarin Garden for "brunch", from 1130am to 230pm.

Now I understand Mandarin Garden has only been in this location for three years; but the decor screams 70's Chinese, so I'm thinking this must've been another Chinese restaurant before then, right? The lighting in Mandarin Garden is pretty dim, so please excuse the PWTSDS(Posts Where The Sun Don't Shine) quality photos.

We started off with a classic Shanghainese appetizer off the regular menu; Smoked Fish($6.95):

For those who've never had this; the fish isn't really smoked; it's first marinated, then deep fried, then marinated again, for a smokey color. The seasonings also give the fish a slightly smokey flavor. This example was fine, perhaps a bit heavy on the sugar and five spice which over-powered any soy or ginger flavor. The Missus also thought that the type of fish chosen was too "boney"; which left you so busy picking bones out, that distracted you from the flavor of the fish. Still at most Shanghainese restaurants it's either Smoked Fish or Wine Chicken to start.

Off of the weekend menu we chose Boiled Wonton in Hot Sauce($4.95):

Well what to say……The Wontons were fine, except the skin were on the "gummy" side. The sauce was really sad, too sweet, and not spicy in the least.

We also ordered the Niu Rou(stewed beef) Shao-Bing, one of the items written in Chinese(eighth item written only in Chinese – $4.95), I apologize for the photos, I just couldn't get it right:

There was nothing wrong with the taste of the Shao Bing(a toasted layered bread), it was crisp, and had a nice flavor; nor the marinated and shredded beef, which had a sweet, soy and five spice flavor. The only problem was with proportion; too much bread for too little meat. The bread overshadowed the meat filling.

Of course what would a visit be without Xiao Long Bao($5.45):

As the ginger-black vinegar sauce was placed at the table, I could hardly contain myself. But I must say, I was very disappointed. If you look at the photo above you'll notice, all the soup had leaked out of the "soup" dumplings during cooking, leaving just the meatball behind. So I had soupless, soup dumplings. This says that our dumplings were done very haphazardly, and with very little concern for us, the customer! I mean, I made my frozen Xiao Long Bao, and none of them burst……….

The last item we got was the Flakey Turnip Strip "Cake"($2.95), off of the Chinese only menu (fifth item down):

After the massacred Xiao Long Bao, I really was ready for a major let-down. But these little pastries made the visit worthwhile. Crisp and flaky pastry, crunchy strips of turnip, with strips of onion-ny, sweet-bitter-salty filling, made these most delici-yoso!

To think, the cheapest item we ordered was the best!

Even though our meal was a "mixed-bag", I wouldn't give up on Mandarin Garden. Among the Kung Pao Chicken, and Beef Chop Suey, are items like Lion's Head, and according to Candice Woo, the Smoked Duck is divine. Stephanie, who recommended the frozen Xiao Long Bao from SDCCI, also enjoys Mandarin Garden. I don't think we'll make a special trip to Mira Mesa, since we have Shanghai City, but I wouldn't discount Mandarin Garden.

Mandarin Garden
8242 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126
858-566-4720

Dumpling Inn

October 20, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Xiao Long Bao

In the comments section of my post on Shanghai City, Mabel was kind enough to remind me of Dumpling Inn. I really don't know why, but we hadn't been to Dumpling Inn in a couple of years:

Mabel had also reminded me that Dumpling Inn also served Xiao Long Bao; but it had been so long that I'd forgotten about them. So I decided to drop by on a nice sunny weekend morning.

Dumpling Inn is a little hole in the wall, that has very loyal following. The restaurant has but 10 tables, so it's best to come early if you plan on getting a table during the week:

I placed my order and checked out the sauces and found the basic ones to be present; that would be chili oil, soy sauce, sesame oil, and vinegar; though I wished that it was Chinkiang Black Vinegar, but this would do in a pinch.

The first dish I ordered was the Jellyfish ($5.95):

I had remembered how much I enjoyed this dish on a previous visit. Though the portion seemed smaller than I recall, the taste was still "right on". Julienned daikon radish, cucumber, and carrot, along with slices of Jellyfish, were combined with a vinegarette of sorts. The Jellyfish was prepared perfectly, not a hint of the astringent taste that is sometimes present, and the crunchy texture along with the taste of the vegetables was good. If anything, the sauce may have been a tad too sweet, but overall this was very refreshing.

Just as I was finishing up, my Xiao Long Bao arrived ($5.75):

In direct contrast to the Jellyfish, these Xiao Long Bao were larger than I remembered! They were brought via Spider-Thongs on a hot plate to the table. Slices of Julienned Ginger acoompanied the dish. But to my disappointment no Shangai Dumpling Dipping sauce was provided. So I had to improvise, and mixed up vinegar and soy…. I know that a comparison to the Xiao Long Bao at Shanghai City is in order. So I thought I'd just list my own subjective thoughts. The wrappers on these XLB were much better, doughy with some "pull", and a nice wheaty-doughy taste. The filling was quite large, much larger than Shanghai City, and there was less "soup", also the meat filling had a taste closer to that of regular Northern Chinese Baozi(round dumplings) than XLB, almost like regular Pork Dumplings. It was very tasty, and delici-yoso, but I don't know if these qualify as XLB. But hey, I'm not an expert, it still tasted good anyway.

On a recent afternoon the Missus and I decided to have lunch at Dumpling Inn, so we stopped by, and after a short (15 minute) wait, we were seated and placed our order. The Missus, for some reason decided to order the Kung Pao Seabass ($9.75):

Not really Northern Chinese, but she had a slight cold, so wanted something with a bit of taste and heat. First the good, the quality of fish was excellent, soft, tender, and moist. It was also cooked to a seared perfection. The peanuts added a nice contrast to the buttery texture of the fish, and the onions were delici-yoso! Now the not so good, the heat was very weak, the dish was more sweet then spicy. The portion size was also very small, I think you can tell by the picture. This dish would be an excellent one in an American Chinese restaurant.

I ordered the Spicy Niu Rou Mien ($7.50):

Yes, I'm a Niu Rou Mein addict. This was probably the most expensive NRM (thanks Dylan) I've ever seen, but I couldn't wait to order it. The broth was very light, though the seasoning and heat(spice) were perfect, the beef flavor was obviously lacking. To put it in the words of the Missus, "it's as if a piece of beef was waved over a pot of boiling water". The noodles were not so great, I could get better at 99 Ranch Market, you could have "Home Made Noodles" though you'd add another $1 to the dish making it a $8.50 bowl of NRM. The beef had a good flavor (thankfully it was beef shank), but was not cooked to a desired tenderness. Kind of disappointing as a whole, and much too expensive.

If you're wondering why we didn't order any Jiaozhi, please look here. The dumplings at Dumpling Inn are very good, but I get as good, or even better at home. But please do try the Shrimp & Chive Dumplings($7.25), or "Potstickers" at Dumpling Inn, they are excellent. The prices seem a bit high, though the quality is good. Many of the dishes look Americanized, and it looks like the formula is working well! Oh, and I was amazed to watch a Gentleman order Jiaozhi and ask for Colman's Mustard and proceed to cover each dumpling with a teaspoon of mustard and cover with soy sauce, and tell his dining partner how tasty the dumplings were! Please don't eat your dumplings that way…..

Dumpling Inn
4619 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Shanghai City Restaurant

October 2, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Niu Rou Mian, Xiao Long Bao

*** Update: Shanghai City has closed.

*** Updated posts on Shanghai City can be found here and here.

When I mention to people that I enjoy eating at Shanghai City, I get some weird stares. I guess it's because most think of the American Chinese Food on the menu, or the $5.99 Lunch Buffet. Not necessarily great Chinese Food, though I do enjoy the Buffet once in a while.

There are some "hidden treasures" on the menu, but the days to go to Shanghai City are between 10am and 3pm on weekends, where there's a menu with Chinese "specials" available:

Today we decided to order the Wine Marinated Chicken ($3.75):

In the most basic form, this cold dish is prepared by rubbing a chicken with salt and letting stand and drain for 6 hours or so. The chicken is then steamed, and cooled, and cut into large pieces which are marinated in a combination of chicken stock and Shao-sing wine overnight. This gives the meat a dense, brined texture, with a taste reminiscent of ham. Because of the wine, the first bite of this mild looking dish can really catch you off guard, but you'll soon be munching away at piece after piece of this dish.

The main reason we visit Shanghai City is the Niu Rou Mein ($4.25):

I'm positively addicted to Chinese Beef Noodle soup, there are several versions, but my favorite is the numbing-spicy Sichuan style soup. Unlike pho' this is a dark, beef broth, flavored with star anise, soy sauce, sugar, wine, chili pepper, garlic, among other things. The meat is usually a stewing cut like beef shank with some tendon and fat. When cooked well, the meat is tender and holds it's flavor. The soup is usually garnished with cilantro, green onions, and a green vegetable, in this case bok choy, though I use spinach in my homemade version. The broth here at Shanghai City can vary wildly, but the noodles are superb. The noodles have a great "handmade" texture, doughy with elasticity. A large portion of noodles is always included at Shanghai City. Today, the soup was good, not great, but mildly rich and beefy, really spicy, but the noodles were great as always. On a great day this dish is really delici-yoso!!!

We also usually order the Xiao Long Bao ($5.95), those ever popular "soup-dumplings".

Shanghai City is one of the few places where you can get XLB in San Diego. These dumplings are filled with a pork based filling, along with alot of "juice", thus the name soup dumplings. The way to eat them are to place some sauce in the spoon, then place the dumpling in the spoon (do not break the dumpling) and eat in one perfect bite. Today the wrappers on these were a bit on the "dry" side, though filled with delish slightly sweet, salty, "soup".

Shanghai City does a decent rendition of many dishes, like Smoked Fish (Su Shih Hsun Yuu – $4.75), not really smoked, but actually a fried than marinated dish, that gives the fish a smoked look, The Tea Smoked Duck here has also been good on occaision ($7.95). Most dishes are are between $4.75 to $8.95, so the prices here are not too bad.

Shanghai City
3860 Convoy St
San Diego,CA 92111
619-278-5883

Closed Tuesdays

We've done a revisit post on Shanghai City on 12/17/06, it can be found here.