You Want Excellent Chinese Food, Manch?

Patience my friend. Just hop over to Ranch 99 or eat their mediocre congee while you wait :slight_smile:

Back to re-watching Star Wars VIIIā€¦

Had dinner with big group of relatives at Ling Ling in Portola tonight. Pretty alright. Good wok power, something @dioworld would appreciate. Parking is a bitch though.

Most of the good, unique menu is in handwritten Chinese pasted on the walls. Make sure you go with someone who reads Chineseā€¦

When my family moved to that neigbhorhood in the 80s, we were pretty much the only Chinese family on the entire street. There was not one Chinese storeā€¦ :thinking:

We went to SSFā€™s Night Market based on @aaljā€™s recommendation. Solid! :+1: The atmosphere is pretty awesome there. Feels young and hip again. Should have ordered a beer or two. They have some random Hong Kong street scenes projected onto a wall and made me very homesickā€¦ :cry:

Anyway, about the food. We had the Cart Noodles (車仔éŗµ) and Mixed Dry Noodles (ꒈéŗµ) with pork knuckles. Both pretty alright and price very reasonable. Actually all the food are alright, but pricing a bit weird. The skewers only had 3 pieces of meat and cost $3. They taste good but felt like a ripoff. Beef tripe tasted good but expensive for the small portion. The only miss is the invitation fin soup (ē¢—ä»”ēæ…). Will not order again.

The dessert was pretty good too. We had the pudding cakes (ē µä»”ē³•) and sesame paste soup (芝éŗ»ē³Š). We like the sesame paste so much we ordered one more. Price very reasonable.

Oh, we had the fried smelt fish (å¤šę˜„é­š) because I remember @aalj mentioned it. They are excellent! And cheap too!

I have a feeling germaphobes like @harriet will have some difficulty thereā€¦ But we will definitely go again. They have a big menu.

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If Hong Kong is so great, why do you leave? :crazy_face:

By the way they also have Hainan chicken rice. I am so jaded by all the failed chicken rice in Bay Area I didnā€™t bother to try. Most probably no good.

He ignored youā€¦ :laughing:

Uh oh here comes trap #1ā€¦

@aalj and my friend said itā€™s no good. Also who says I am a germophobe!? I ate street foods all the time back in the dayā€¦

Perfect! Glad you enjoyed it. You have a good sense - donā€™t waste your time with Night Marketā€™s HCR. It is not a bad tasting dish, but what they serve is not exactly HCR.

On my end on @manchā€™s recommendation I went to Joyful Kitchen on Ocean St in SF. Twice. Yum. What a gem. I had the Pork Liver Congee, which was quite good. The first time the liver was actually overcooked, so the second time I asked them to ensure that the liver was cooked properly, and it was indeed, soft, supple, and slightly bouncy. Yum.

As well, the rice noodle rolls were hot and fresh - this one was beef. Later on I realized that one can add eggs to them, so I did that as well - what a tasty mini-meal.

Also I ate the 5-flavor-duck ļ¼ˆäŗ”味é“Øļ¼‰. I wasnā€™t too sure what to expect b/c Iā€™ve never had this dish before. Its pretty tasty. Not fatty and redolent of that gamey duck taste. Lots of meat. And I usually avoid ordering roast duck at most places because I find these days that it is just too much grease for me these days. My only criticism is that it came out a little cold for my taste (about room temp), but heating it up in my ridiculously hot boiling cauldron of jook (somehow they have found a way to boil this above 212F) served both to cool the jook and warm the duck.

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Weā€™ve been to night market as well and the atmosphere is awesome. The music they play brings back memories.

BTW, the Hainan chicken at Saigon is one of the best in the bay area.

There should be a sticky thread with all the great suggestions! Still looking for a good HK Cafe, good ę²¹ę¢ and good 叉ē‡’ in the bay area.

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Duck is much better rareā€¦en Francias ā€¦bleu

https://www.addictedtofrance.com/tag/ordering-meat-in-france/

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I prefer duck breast done the western way as you point out - duck breast seared to med rare or so.

However when it comes to the leg, I prefer it the eastern way - western confit of leg is not for me.

And in all fairness, for me, the Peking preparation style of the whole duck reigns supreme.

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I love Peking duck ā€¦My favorite restaurant in Tahoe is Evansā€¦They have Foie Gras served with pineapple and curry ice creamā€¦amazingā€¦can get duck breast rare with the leg confitā€¦very nice

When I was in Orange, France I was looking forward to duck a lā€™Orangeā€¦settled for a Vietnamese place that had duck with pineapple, was very goodā€¦Duck works very well with a sweet sauceā€¦I cook often be would never cook duck myselfā€¦too much work

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Chef Zhao has good ę²¹ę¢. Their ē²¢é£Æ is excellent :slight_smile:

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Shanghaiese shop?

Yes but itā€™s all the way out in Palo Alto. And frankly thatā€™s the only item I like there. Everything else is too greasy, but then again Shanghainese food is oily to begin with.

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Actually the Chinese donuts in San Brunoā€™s Hing Lung is not bad. But itā€™s a small shop and wait can be long in rush hours.

Thanks, will try that. I like Chef Zhao for all their shanghainese food, but have not considered ordering ę²¹ę¢ from there. Its probably a weekend morning only kind of thing.

The Mecca of the Dan Tatā€¦

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/destinations/a-lucky-visit-to-one-of-san-francisco-s-most-popular-bakeries.html

golden gate bakery is overrated.

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