**** Sizzling Pot King is now Zhang Liang Malatang
So, after a recent road trip, I really didn't feel like making dinner….I mean, an almost 6 hour drive back? Well, I must say, JJ was in much better shape than I was. So, we ended up doing something we hadn't done since the trips we made at the end of the pandemic; we decided to do takeout from Sizzling Pot King, which had been a regular stop for take out when we were too tired to go out; until prices got too high and portions smaller and they removed items from the menu. It had been two-and-a-half years since our last visit.
I drove over and was surprised to find that even more items were off the menu; no more tripe, no more tendon…so I went with our usual pork intestine with lamb and of course some frozen tofu. All said this came out to $45….which I gotta say does not seem so bad for these days.
While waiting, I decided to get the Missus a treat from Yiko Yiko…which even though we thought was seriously over priced, the Missus had enjoyed.
So, while walking over, the young lady from Sizzling Pot King actually chased me down. I stopped wondering what was going on. And she said "sorry, you ordered frozen tofu….most of our Korean customers order fried tofu…I want to make sure!" Lol! I had to crack up…..and also, I appreciated the effort. Though I did tell her that I'm Japanese not Korean, which kind of embarrassed her….but also mentioned that my wife is Chinese and She is the one who instructs me to order. I also told her that I really appreciated the effort she made to get the order right!
As before there was major sticker shock when looking at the offerings at Yiko Yiko. And after perusing what was in the case, I decided on the Durian Basque Cheesecake. In spite of the price – $14.35 a slice. Ouch!
The Missus did actually enjoy this. The young lady took the slice back and had it "torched"; though it was so lightly done that didn't really create a great crisp – burnt top like a typical Basque Cheesecake.
Still, the Missus said it was creamy, light, and there was a faint flavor of durian. Though once I told Her the price I was instructed not to get this again!
Yiko Yiko
8008 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
I walked back to Sizzling Pot King and my order was ready. Like I said earlier, $45 these days doesn't seem so expensive and the portion size was much larger than on our last visit or two.
Decent ma-la; there's a lot less veggies; especially broccoli than there used to be. The intestine was nice and "bungy" though the Missus didn't think it paired well with the lamb. There was quite a bit of sliced lamb….way more than the veggies. Which got me to wonder if we're living in a time when vegetables are now more expensive than meat???
This was fine for two meals for us…which now makes the $45 price seem more reasonable.
Sizzling Pot King
8058 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
This got me wondering…..for all you "FOYs" out there; what your experiences with places on your takeout rotation have been like recently?
The eggs were again nice and runny; no oof flavors. The polenta cake nice and crisp, good mild corn flavor. The carnitas a bit on the mild side in terms of flavor and also slightly stringy and dry, but not bad. The Mozzarella was fine, though the tomato added some good acidity to the dish. The "salsa" was also on the milder side in terms of spice and acidity. Still, this was not bad.
And we learned something from our meals with JJ. There's a definite difference in "Dog Friendly" versus "Dogs Allowed". This was simply dogs allowed. They are just ignored by the staff. Perfectly fine with us. It's been interesting finding places to dine with JJ!
There were some things I quickly noticed. The liner was very wet, so I started turning over the XLB and guess what? Four of the six had wrappers on the bottom that were cracked and all the "soup" had leaked out. This will also tell you what I thought of the wrappers; too thick, brittle, lacking the slight delicate texture I enjoy. I'm truly not expected anything like I had at 
Looks like lunchwagon tonkatsu, eh? It had been over fried, the breading hard, as was the dried out pork. It could have used some flavor; you know, five spice, soy sauce, a good pre-breading marinade. If it was brined or marinated, I couldn't tell. 
The bread was very crusty…it was indeed quite fresh, though it didn’t hold up real well because there was a bit too much mayo. The menu said the banh mi has pate in it; but I could not find, nor taste any. There was a good amount of pork, in chunks, fairly chewy, but decently savory-sweet-salty.
I had noticed that it was toasted, which was a clue that the folks here weren’t using Shokupan, the classic Japanese Milk Bread; a must for a egg salad sando, which this was definitely not. I missed the light, fluffy texture and the slight sweetness that the proper bread brings to the sando.
Which was quite interesting as the papaya was sliced into wider strips and I loved the appropriate use of Lao Eggplant; slices of the small green orbs of goodness. This was nice and pungent so it was obvious they used a good amount of fermented crab and fish sauce. I ordered it just medium spicy…which was still pretty hot! I then noticed that there was a combination of two chilies in the salad. Both Thai bird and another. When I inquired the gal laughed and said; "yes, it's more spicy because the chef also uses dried chilies as well!" 
And while the rice was on the dry side and the sauce for the chicken was a bit heavy in the oil department, this was pretty good overall. The skin while a bit on the chewy side had nice flavor and as a while the chicken had been nicely poached as the flesh was quite tender and there were hints of winey-gingery-“fowlness”. One positive for having a rather oil heavy sauce was that it clung nicely to the chicken.
Well, in her comments Ayaka describes it as "perfect flaky crust outside, right amount of butter to have moist and chewy texture with light and airy layers." Almost sounds like our 
