mmm-yoso!!!

Dim Sum Lunch inside Vinh Hung Supermarket

Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy, as well as a few others write on this blog, mmm-yoso!!!  Today, Cathy is talking about another interesting lunch she had. You can enjoy it, too.  Vicariously at least.

Hi.  A few weeks ago, Mr. C sent me an email asking if we could meet for lunch.  Of course I could. So we did. Kirk blogged about his lunch here about 2.5 years ago so I figure I can talk about my experience here.
You enter the supermarket (formerly movie theater-Mr. C said he could not believe this was where he saw "The Matrix" so many years ago)and walk to the right- past the steam trays.  We were told to "sit by the window" and so we did. This was our view of the steam trays (which *obviously* used to be the movie theater snack area).

They serve Hong Kong style Dim Sum here.  Mr. C knew what he wanted to order and so I let him.  (You order from a menu here, no steam carts.  Items range from $1.80 to $3.20 for the most part)  I only told him I did not want chicken feet.   

 

Top left- Har Gao- Shrimp dumpling, in a delicate thin wrapper (moist, good flavor) Top right- Siu Mai (pork and mushroom in egg wrapper).  Front  - Haam sui gok-sometimes called a salty pastry...wonderful oval shaped rice flour items filled with pieces of pork and a thick 'gravy', crispy fried on the outside and sticky/rice like on the inside.   

The roast pork (it was almost $10 per pound, kind of high compared to other places; we shared 1/2 lb).  It was *really* good. The skin was crispy but not tough, the layer of fat was just right and melted in my mouth.   Oh.  The pork meat had a very rich flavor also.

The baked cha siu bao (buns filled with BBQ pork) were very fresh, light and the sweetness of the pork balanced with the saltiness of the bun.  Of course we had to have egg tart as dessert. Even though everything was excellent, my most favorite item was the Congee (porridge) with roast duck. Deeply rich with chopped pieces of duck with still crispy skin and that luscious layer of fat.

Mr. C said that this is one of few places that serve the porridge with duck.  He also said it was the best he has ever had. I never looked before, but I
will now...you know, so I can compare... 

Forgot my token condiment photo and to mention the rice in lotus leaf...  

Hong Kong Style Dim Sum, inside Vinh Hung Supermarket 10550 Camino Ruiz (SW corner at Mira Mesa Blvd) San Diego 92126 Opens at 9 am 7 days

 

Yum Cha Cafe

As promised in this post, I've gotten my act together and put together my jumbo-sized Yum Cha Cafe Post. Since Yum Cha Cafe opened, we've been back a few times, during different times of the day. 

 

The set-up is fast, and the ladies behind the counter smile and quickly wave you up to the counters.

 

There's the Chinese BBQ station, with the requisite items hanging.

 

The fried Dim Sum station, with the various offerings radiating the glow of the heat lamps.

 

And of course, the steamed items.

 

And here is where we start running into some of the little quirks about this location of Dim Sum Cafe. First it is a free-for-all, unlike the San Gabriel location where you pull numbers.(*** An update for 02/09/09 - guess what I saw today on my visit? They now have a number dispenser. But of course everyone was just ingoring the thing and walking straight up to the counter to order!) So during prime time, get those shin guards and flak jackets on. As FOY "PaulL" noted in an email to me, "Not to be rude but what a fire drill." It is not a real big problem during slow times, but man, some of those older ladies "take no prisoners". Still, the women behind the counters (and there is an army of 'em) are very nice and helpful, which leads us to point two; depending on who you get, you may have some problems if you speak neither Cantonese or Vietnamese. So for many of us, it is a point to get what you want, which is not a big deal. OK, you got your steamed dumplings, and the fried stuff looks mighty good, so let's get some. This is point three, fried is fried, and steamed is steamed, and never the twain shall meet. In other words, this is another station, with another crew, and there may, or may not be a "hand-off". Same with the Chinese BBQ. Say you survive, you've got everything you wanted all piled on one of those bright orange trays. Point four, the cashier is a separate station! During certain times, there may be a bit of chaotic bottleneck of sorts. Even though there are three registers, only one may be open. Once, when only one register was open, a huge mass of humanity, was gathered in front of the harried, but still cheerful cashier, who, with orange trays lined from one end of the counter to the other, on both sides, started just holding trays up for folks to identify, step up, and pay! Sometime during the chaos, someone else purchased my chicken feet, et al. Another time, my Hainan Chicken Rice left the building without me, I'm assuming incognito, or perhaps under cover of darkness...... Still, more often than naught, you'll leave the building, or sit at one of the tables, which have already hit a level of "San Gabriel stickiness" in just a little over a week (they must bottle the stuff now), and munch away.

You may be asking yourself, if this is worth all the aggravation. Depending on your timing, and/or mind set, it can be kinda fun....in the "wow, that was somewhat invigorating, so long I don't have to it everyday" kind of way. One other key point, once you've experienced and understand the (fire) drill, you can get out of the place in a matter of minutes. Oh, and did I mentioned the prices? Dim Sum is broken into 2 price categories, category 'A' goes for $1.39, 'B' for $1.79. Put into those terms.....

OK, enough with all the details, let's have some Dim Sum. This version of Chaozou dumpling ($1.79), was bleh. Lousy wrappers, and tough pork. Though I can say, I've had worse at a few Dim Sum places in San Diego.

 

The "Pan Fried" Chicken Dumplings ($1.79), however.....

 

  Were a bit of a surprise. These looked like really bad "buffet style" dumplings, and indeed the wrapper was a bit hard, but the filling was very tasty.

Chicken and Sticky Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf ($1.79). Man this was quite a bit of food. Decent lotus leaf flavor, a bit on the dry side, but passable. One good thing about Yum Cha Cafe is that almost everything is quite hot when you get it.

 

This monstrosity is called the House Special Bun ($1.39).

 

It is pretty large, and is filled with several large pieces of Lap Cheong (Chinese sausage), and a slice of boiled egg. The Missus thought the bun was much too sweet, and the bottom of the steamed bun was a bit soggy.

The Missus likes the Chicken Feet ($1.39), I think it's Her favorite item from Yum Cha Cafe. On this occasion they were piping hot, plump, moist, with a decent flavor.

 

The Shrimp Siu Mai ($1.39), was pretty good on this occasion. Nice shrimp flavor, still hot, decent texture.

 

But on another occasion, the filling had a strong cornstarch flavor to it.

Steamed shrimp dumplings ($1.79). These were very good. I got them early on a Sunday morning. They were hot, and full of shrimp flavor.

 

I also bought some Shrimp and Chive steamed dumplings ($1.79).

 

And though I thought the wrapper to be a bit too chewy, the flavor was right on the button. As you can see by the photo to the right, there was a good amount of shrimp in these.

The Stuffed Tofu($1.79) was pretty blah.

 

The Steam Chicken Bun ($1.39).

 

Had but a smear of filling, which was on the bland side, and the bottom of the steamed bun was a soggy mess.

The Missus managed to snag some Cheong Fun with Dried Shrimp ($1.79). And it was surprisingly good.

 

As you can tell, it was missing the sauce. But here's another surprise, it's not soy sauce in those bottles, it's the sauce for the Cheong Fun! Nice surprise here.....

I had been hesitant to try any of the deep fried stuff....heat lamps, and sitting around does not make for great stuff. But I had been itching to try the "Golden Seaweed Roll" ($1.79).

 

And texture wise it was just as I thought, pretty limp and soggy. I did however, really like the shrimp filling, which was well flavored. If these come out of the fryer when you visit, it may be worth a try.

On another visit, I tried the Char Siu Bao ($1.39). And proving that timing is everything, this was perfectly steamed, no sogginess. Perhaps a bit short on the filling, and yes, the bun is maybe a tad too sweet. Still not bad.

 

I also tried the Pork Siu Mai ($1.39), which had just come out, and it was good. The Har Gow($1.39) suffered from wrappers that were too thick and chewy. Sorry, no photos, by this time my trigger finger was pretty fatigued.

Still have doubts about trying this place out? How about this. You can purchase all of the dim sum mentioned above, including the Siu Mai and Har Gow, for $24.05 without tax! That's fifteen servings of dim sum. I could make you really depressed and say it would cost you just $18.05 in San Gabriel, but why go there.

 

I realize this post is approaching the herniation point, but just a few more things.

 

There's a door to Thuan Phat Market conveniently located to one side of the restaurant. Nice, except that later in the afternoon, some of the more unpleasant fragrances makes its way into Yum Cha Cafe. It doesn't bother me much, but I thought I'd mention that. Also, I've found that the various dishes are much better in the mornings most of the time.

 

On one of my visits, I noticed a Caucasian Woman standing in the corner looking a bit distressed. She was a bit overwhelmed by the craziness (it was very busy that morning). Feeling bad for her, I stopped by and told her, to just "go for it, and get in there. You might have some fun." And so might you....

Yum Cha Cafe
6933 Linda Vista Road
San Diego, CA 92111

Open Daily: 8am-8pm

View Larger Map

Jasmine Seafood-Dim Sum on a lazy Sunday

Welcome back to mmm-yoso, the blog about food.  Again Cathy is blogging about a meal she and her Mister had during their "seven days of feasting"-meals out between their birthdays.  The other people who blog here apparently haven't had anything to eat lately.

So, anyhow, The Mister and I were awake early on Sunday and were hungry.  Jasmine opens at 9:30 and we were in the parking lot before 10 a.m., avoiding the waiting throngs who are lined up by 10:30.  Kirk has blogged about dim sum many times, yet I've eaten here many, many times and never blogged about it.  Until now.

We usually order eight items, which seems to be just about the correct amount of food for us.  This time, the jasmine tea counts as one of the items.  They do charge $1 per person for the tea here, but it is a very high quality loose tea and even on the third refill of hot water, the flavor is still deep. I didn't take a photo.  Sorry.

  The first, noisy, steam cart rolled by. I pointed. -Har Gao- translucent rice dumplings filled with shrimp appearred on the table. You get four and, well...at least I sort of got a photo.  Price was Group C ($4.20)

The steamed bean curd roll- this one filled with pork, bamboo, cloud ear mushrooms and in a *very* flavorful broth. Also priced as Group C.  There were two of these pieces, cut to make 4 pieces total.

Wonton soup ( Group D-$4.50) came rolling on its own cart. Four shrimp wontons, Chinese broccoli, some scallions and a nice, warm broth. Never had this before. Excellent to share.

Shrimp Shu mai. (Group B $3.90) Always wonderful. Pretty much solid chopped shrimp.

Pork Shu Mai (Group A, $2.70), apparently ordered because we were not too adventurous...the tripe cart had just passed us..and the chee fee just didn't look all that good today.

Cross section of the Taro Gok (Group A), filled with a pork and preserved vegetable mixture that was just the right amount of juicy and salty for the light mashed taro...the crispy fried shredded exterior added just the right amount of crunch without being oily. Three on the plate.

Custard tarts, three on the plate, Group A, the perfect dessert...warm, eggy custard, flaky warm crust...mmm!

Jasmine Seafood 4609 Convoy San Diego 92111 (858)268-0888 website

The Missus's Latest Feet-ish.....

Just a short post tonight.....today was jury duty day, and it's amazing how sitting around for 8-9 hours just saps your energy......

So what is, or more precisely was (She has since moved on....) the Missus's obsession?

Feet, umm feast your eyes on this:

How the Missus could just wake up one morning, turn to me, and tell me, "I want some chicken feet"....for some reason that just sounds wrong. So, over the past 2 weeks, She's been feeting feasting on chicken feet, usually getting them 2 orders at a time. So here's how the Missus rates the chicken feet, which my Filipino friends call "adidas", from the various Dim Sum restaurants in the Convoy area.

1 - Jasmine.

The Missus's favorite by a mile...to quote, "plump, juicy, nice skin, nice gelatin, lots of black bean.....on the oily/greasy side."

2 - Emerald

"Ok, not as greasy as Jasmine, lots of skin, but not much flavor..."

3 - China Max(photo top of post)

"Bland, not enough black bean, tough.....the toes felt hard like I was eating giant toenails...."

So there you go, more than you ever wanted to know about the Missus's preferences when it comes to chicken feet. There is one major upside for me.....having the Missus concentrating on Her chicken feet, means more of this stuff for me:

Next time I want Dim Sum all to myself I know what to do....just wave some chicken feet in front of the Missus!

Jasmine Seafood Restaurant
4609 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Emerald Seafood Restaurant
3709 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

China Max Seafood Restaurant
4698 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111

I'll be back with a new restaurant post tomorrow!

Road Trip: Elite Restaurant - Monterey Park(LA)

The Missus and I have a tradition, during the Sunday of a time change, we attempt to make the best of the extra hour, by celebrating and having brunch. When we wind the clocks back...well, we celebrate by having brunch! However, on this day we decided to shake things up a bit, and have some Dim Sum. Why? Well, this year the time change occurred a week later, causing mild discombobulation. But more importantly, it seems that the Missus and I have a black cloud following us around to brunch. Last year, we had brunch at one of our favorites, The Red Lion Hanalei Hotel, one month later the brunch was closed, and the Red Lion became a Crowne Plaza Hotel. This past March, we enjoyed our time change brunch at European Bistro, and wouldn't you know it, a few months later, Chef Axel had stopped serving brunch. I've heard the change is temporary, but last time I checked, they are still not serving brunch. Now the Missus and I had become concerned that if this pattern were to continue, Jim, the Sunday Brunchmaster might start hunting us down...... And we wouldn't want that! So, what to do? Dim Sum seemed like a good solution, but we wanted something a bit different, not the usual stuff. One of the places on my "list" was Elite Restaurant. In it's former incarnation Elite was called New Concept, and I had been waiting to eat there, but never had the chance. I was a bit disappointed, but after reading Dylan's post  on his meal at Elite, on his wonderful blog, Eat, Drink, & Be Merry, I couldn't wait. So what's so special about Elite? Well much like Happy Harbor, Sea Harbor, and Mission 261, Elite represents the "New Wave" of Dim Sum service, that would be menu service(no cart here), and interesting, sometimes innovative, creations. I couldn't wait.....

One other item. On weekends Elite opens at 9am, which meant that we could take advantage of our "extra hour". Alas, due to some minor timing issues we arrived at 915 am, and were amazed at how packed the place was!

Elite was much different from the "usual" image of Dim Sum Houses. The restaurant was not the typical cavernous, giant Dim Sum restaurant. It became quite clear that there was no way this restaurant could ever accommodate carts without removing half the tables. Also, tasteful colors, decor, and lighting, replaced much of the faux Chinese ornamentation. Since we had just "missed the boat" we knew there would be a wait ahead of us, which gave us time to peruse the menu, and "people watch". It was pretty amazing how many people tried different strategies for getting ahead in line, from hovering around, to aggressiveness, to applying pressure. I'm wondering how many times the Chinese equivalent of  the LA-ish "do you know who I am" was used! Seated customers who knew people waiting would welcome them to their table, moving and adding chairs, suddenly a two-top became a very cramped 5 top. Very nice for their friends, bad for increasing the wait of others...... 50 minutes later, we were seated in a nice quiet corner in one of the side banquet rooms, ready to order after going through the menu. We decided to have some "interesting" items, and a few standards.

Off we go. Baked Durian Pie($2.98):

This was wonderful. Think of it as a Durian Cream Puff. The very light, melt in your mouth Choux-like pastry is filled with Durian Cream. Perhaps the filling was a tad on the sweet side, but we both thought that the best aspects of durian were presented in the custardy-slightly nutty flavor, with very little of the cheesy-old socks scent. Having a bite of this pastry, followed by a sip of tea, was a combination made in heaven.

Macau Egg Custard($2.98):

One of those Dim Sum staples. This version had a nice and light crust. The custard was also light, though also a bit too sweet for me.

For the Missus, one of Her hallmark dishes, is the Taro Gok(Fried Taro Dumplings/Balls). There is a fine balance between oily, and light and crisp, and the flavor can tend to the bitter side if the balance of filling ingredients is not right. We ordered this from the server since it isn't on the menu.

When it arrived, I wasn't too impressed at the very light color. But one taste of the crisp, light as a feather, dumplings, with a perfectly balanced filling, I knew I had met the best version of this I've had in a while. The addition of preserved vegetable was a nice touch, both in flavor and texture.

Thai Style Papaya with Goose Feet($5.98). sounds really interesting, doesn't it?

Think of deboned Goose Feet and sliced green papaya flavored like Chinese spicy pickles(like Kimchee). This was a nice refreshing change of pace. The flavor teetered on the edge of being too sweet. The spiciness was on the mild side. In fact, I added a good amount of chili paste to this. Goose feet won't be everyone's cup of tea, the texture consists of several levels of crunchy, from the leg portion which is chewy and tender, to the webbed portion which can be pretty hard.

Home Style Pork Legs w/Peanut in Special Sauce($5.98):

This was a hearty five-spice flavored broth, very rustic and home style. The pig's feet were tender, with a good amount of gelatin. The boiled peanuts added nice flavor and texture contrast. The only thing we didn't care for were the super hard and tough bamboo shoots. I was also wishing for a nice bowl of rice...........

The Macau Roasted Pork($5.98):

This was the dish I saw on Dylan's post that had me adding Elite to my list. And it delivered as promised, 12 Andes Mint sized slices of the most perfectly roasted pork belly, served in perfect proportion of velvety and sweet fat, a thin layer of light and crisp skin, and a layer of meat made this an excellent dish. Served with salt and hoisin, which were not needed. Very rich, we(ahem, I) only finished 4 slices.

Bamboo Pith Fungus & Sea Cucumber Wrap($2.98):

First let me say, I'm not a big fan of of Bamboo Pith Fungus (zhu sun - 竹荪). In fact, every time I've tried it, I hated it. I think it has a strong, earthy-muddy-bitter flavor that tastes like medicine. The Bamboo Pith Fungus in this dish was fabulous, with a delicate earthiness to it. The rest of the dumpling was problematic. It was so large, dominated by the shrimp cake, that you really couldn't taste anything else. We took it apart to sample the different flavors. Proportionally, not very good, I'd like something smaller with better balance.

The Scallop Steamed Rice Noodle(Cheong Fun - $2.98):

The Cheong Fun was sadly, a disappointment. Though it looked beautifully lacquered, and a had a good amount of scallop in it, the noodle was tough, and without a nice pull and elasticity. The scallops were flavorless, and the sauce tasted like almost pure soy sauce.

Shark's Fin Dumpling in Supreme Soup Stock ($5.08)

For us, this was all about the broth, rich, with sweet-peppery tones. The huge dumpling residing in the middle was full of various seafood and pork, most of which were bland and tasteless. The dumpling wrapper was terrible, gummy and tough. That broth though..........

Shark Fin & Red Clam Dumplings($3.98):

A trio of very large steamed dumplings. Again on the bland side with the flavor of the masago dominating. The Red Clam (aka Surf Clam/Hokigai) was basically a garnish for the rest of the dumpling. Another case of out of proportion flavors.

Sticky Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf($2.98). One of the Missus's favorite. Compared to the enormous dumplings these looked positively dainty.

The Missus said that these were good, nice flavor, and hot. There's a piece of abalone in the center of the rice, but it was super over cooked, tough, and flavorless. The Missus was satisfied, though.

And overall, so was I. We didn't eat too much.....I know that you're thinking we went insane here, but we've got a frig loaded with leftovers. The total damage, including tea was $51, less than what we'd usually spend at a good Buffet Brunch. I think the "super-sized" dumplings may appeal to some, but it really knocks the flavors out of balance. Also, I've also considered dumplings at Dim Sum service to be nice and delicate, full of flavor. Service was very good, considering the restaurant was stuffed to the gills. The Missus still preferred the flavors at Happy Harbor....but that pork......

Prices:

Small - $1.98

Medium - $2.98

Large -  $3.98

Special - $5.08

E Special - $5.98

No not cheap, but some of the dishes are a notch above!

Elite Restaurant 名流山莊
700 S Altantic Blvd
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Hours:

Mon - Fri 10am-3pm, 5pm-10pm
Sat-Sun  9am-3pm, 5pm-10pm

This is what the crowd outside the restaurant looked like when we left.

Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum - A quick Dim Sum Survey

A little over a month ago "LoriA" sent an email asking about the Dim Sum at Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum, a little restaurant located inside of Vinh Hung Market in Mira Mesa. She was looking for take-out Dim Sum for an event and asked if I'd ever had a chance to sample the Dim Sum. In my reply I mentioned that we had attempted to eat there once, but let's just say that the Market was not having a "good day". It was a pretty hot summer day, and we were met with some very strong "fragrances" emanating from the meat department, which proceeded to snuff out any appetite we had. Since that day, just the mention of this restaurant would send waves of nausea pulsing through the Missus. So it looked as if I'd never get a chance to check out Hong Kong BBQ and Dim Sum.

Finally, overcome with curiosity, I decided to do a quick Dim Sum breakfast at HK BBQ. Solo, of course. My apologies to Lori, for taking so long, as I fear that the date of your event has passed.

I've been told that Vinh Hung Market had once been a movie theater, and you can tell by the set-up, that the restaurant has been built over the structure of a theater snack bar...right down to the lights!

 

Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum opens at 9am every day, and it seemed that most of the business is of the take-out/steam table variety. The Dim Sum is stacked in a metal tray on the steam table as well, not a promising sign.

I grabbed a seat, and after a few minutes, the harried Young Man that was working both the steam table and waiting tables handed me a fairly large menu (200+ items), and a Dim Sum card. The Dim Sum prices were the same whether you did take out or ate at the tables, and ranged from $1.95 to $2.95. There was a category for "Weekend Special", but when I asked I was told, "no, there are no specials", even though it was the weekend.

Right after placing my order, the Server walked up behind the counter and placed 2 metal containers on a tray and grabbed some Wu Gok with his bare hands, (which kinda grossed me out since he had just been handling money) laying them on a plate and pretty much dumped them on my table.

Pork Siu Mai:

Not only were these cold, but they were pretty tasteless as well. Also, all those greasy yellow spots looked like the Siu Mai in the containers above these were draining on the Siu Mai below.

Har Gow:

The Har Gow were pretty good, nice shrimp flavor, but the wrappers were a bit dried out, again from just lying in the metal pans without adequate heat and steam to keep them moist.

While I was deciding whether I could manage to eat a second Siu Mai, my Beef Tripe arrived:

This was by far the best item of the day, crisp tripe with a nice ginger-green onion-chile pepper flavor. Pretty good.

Wu Gok (Deep Fried Taro Balls)

As you can tell by the blistered appearance, these have not been fried properly and tended to crumble very easily. However, the filling of the Wu Gok was very moist, but very bland, and lacking in flavor(after further thought, I'm thinking it's the pork). I could only bring myself to eat half of one, and took the rest home. The Missus took one bite and said, "this has no taste", and proceeded to return said item to the container, never again to see the light of day......

The service at Hong Kong BBQ was indifferent, but efficient to be honest, the poor guy was running like crazy. As you can tell the prices are on the inexpensive side(total damage, around $11 with tea), but the Dim Sum seems to be very uneven. The roast duck did look pretty good, so maybe....maybe I'll try the Chinese BBQ next time...maybe.

Lori, if you did purchase Dim Sum from Hong Kong BBQ, I hope you had better luck than I did. And in what I though was the Coup de Grace, they couldn't even spell "Dim Sum" correctly on the sign!

Hong Kong BBQ & Dim Sum
10550 Camino Ruiz(Inside of Vinh Hung Market)
San Diego, CA 92126

Sun-Thurs 9am-9pm
Fri-Sat   9am-930pm

Tea Houses- Boba- Snacks? Why has this been kept secret?

mmm-yoso is not on vacation.  That is the name of the blog, silly. Cathy is a-blogging and Kirk is taking a much needed rest, and really is on vacation.

Oh, I am sooo the White Girl on this blog...I had no idea exactly how Caucasian I was.  Sure, I had the whole "chee fee" incident, and I didn't know sago were the same as boba and...well, I didn't know much about boba...and, I had seen "tea houses" and "tapioca drinks" and figured 'eh, Asian Starbucks wanna-be's'.  Really.  I figured those 'tea' places served hot tea and those silly boba drinks.  Lots of young Asian kids hang out there; I saw some drinks coming out in plastic cups and also figured well...you do know the signs say "Starbucks Coffee", right? So it must be the same- tea and those boba  drinks and Starbucks makes coffee and all those frou frou drinks.  No big deal.

ANYHOW...Years ago, from the place inside 99 Ranch, I got a tea and milk and 'pearl' drink and it was good tasting, although I thought chewing on the giant boba (tapioca pearls) was kind of like chewing on snot, albeit flavorless snot, but the boba part held not much fascination to me...I love tapioca pudding, but the actual boba in a beverage...eh.  Well, I liked the tea part, then the milk and there was a lot a lot of liquid sugar...and I don't like sweet.

Then there was an epiphany.  I was having lunch with Mr.  C, at Bolsa on Mira Mesa.

and we had our 'standard' Pho stuff:  

and we started talking about boba drinks. In my mind I was thinking, 'oh yeah, sweet stuff with snot chewies on the bottom'. However Mr. C has never steered me wrong, and he started telling me that the place in the same mall as Bolsa, Tapioca Heaven, had the *best* milk tea boba of anywhere. So, I was polite.  I had the milk tea at Tapioca Heaven and it was *wonderful*.  It tasted like ...tea...with milk...and there was a choice of boba  to put in it- regular brown, small brown, green and strawberry. You could ask for no sweetener.  Who knew?

The most fascinating thing I noticed at first inside of Tapioca Heaven was that they had free wi-fi.  Hello!

Then I noticed something else, much more important- they have snacks.  Fried snacks.  Inexpensive fried snacks. But Mr. C and I had just finished a nice lunch at Bolsa and I didn't want to eat any more, even a snack.

and so, I wrote Kirk a note. "Why haven't I heard of these places that sell boba drinks with snacks?" I asked.  "They are wonderful- so much more fun than a Starbucks, which does fascinating high calorie coffee based beverages and sells some 'meh' tasting sweets and sandwiches, but by no means sell fried goodies".

The reply, from The Missus, was "Oh boba, that is so last century". 

Ahem.

So anyhow, I was on a quest.   Since Mr. C had told me that  the boba milk tea at Tapioca Heaven was the best, I decided to make that my standard...to see if any tasted better anywhere else.  Of course, I needed to try snacks also.

So The Mister and I went to Tapioca Express. See, it used to be next to Bolsaa-on Convoy.  Bolsaa isn't there any more, so you won't be confused. It is going to become some Cajun-y place in the summer.

When you walk into Tapioca Express, the wall is lined with the menu of beverage choices.   At the register, where you order and pay, were two typewritten pieces of paper with a menu.  The Mister and I had to try a bit of everything.

Chicken nuggets, chicken wings, fried squid, all with a choice of no spice, medium or hot. (we tried all three,the no spice was great and the medium was good too, the hot was just a little too much in the sense that you couldn't taste the chicken as well as with the medium spice).  Steamed pork dumplings and also fried donut holes with both whipped cream and also a vanilla cream dipping sauce.  Each of these snacks were less than $4 each. This is wonderful snacking- or a meal.  I saw one guy with something that looked like loco moco and I will go back to try that.

Next we went to K Sandwiches, got a boba milk tea, hot milk coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice.

Also, since we were at K...I got a pate chaud; its only $1 and so flaky and fresh and filled with a wonderful pork pate mixture.  A friend, who  was born in France and is working out here,  said it is very authentic and good.

We also got a BBQ pork Bahn Mi  ( think it is Number 9 on the menu) for $3.69.  Here is a cross section view of both.

Snacks, free wi fi and boba drinks.  Fascination. 

So, the other day The Mister and I went to the Tea Station on Clairmont Mesa.  Its in the same mall as Lolita's and Teri Cafe and that Pho place everyone says they go to.

They have sit down service inside, and a menu .

We sat down and were waited on! At the other places you would walk up and pay and wait for your drink, kind of like Starbucks.    

We tried the tea flavored dumplings ($6.50)

The flavors were different between the green ones and white ones both the dumpling and the filling, but you can see in the second photo (click- all the photos enlarge) a cross section and that the dumplings were quite meaty and full, very fresh and I believe one was chicken and the other pork.  They were delici-yoso!

We also had to try the fried spicy chicken ($4.50)

Lightly crispy, nice spice (you can tell them the level of spice you want).  Fresh.  Great.  Gosh, it's adult chicken nuggets!

Tea flavored spiced pork slices ($6.50), served with 3 side dishes, it says...either they figured we could not count because we were White, or rice is one of the sides.  Whatever.  Plenty of food.

Oh, and we got beverages...

So, anyhow, the secret is out.  Tea, milk tea, boba, not Starbucks...all with free wi fi and snacks...fried snacks.

We have now gone to many of the tea places around town, not always with a camera...and we try the fried chicken at least.  Nothing has been bad or disappointing.   

Some of the beverages are unusual- sesame, lavender, rose, yogurt..just about everything Starbucks doesn't have.  { Snow ice, or snow bubbles are merely finely *fine* shaved ice with flavoring-kind of a Slushee®, for the White folks out there.}

Tapioca Heaven definitely had the most tea-tasting milk tea, but getting any of the beverages without sweetener helps.

Oh, and now I kind of enjoy chewing on those tapioca snot-like things....it's part of the whole "boba experience"

Tapioca Heaven Cafe 9225 Mira Mesa Boulevard Suite 115 San Diego 92126

Tapioca Express 4646 Convoy, #106B San Diego 92111 (858) 363-9889 website

Tea Station 7315 Clairmont Mesa Boulevard San Diego 92111 (858)268-8198website

"Dude, Like Where's All the Asian Food...."

So sayeth an email I received yesterday. You gotta love those emails...... Funny thing is, the writer of the email is correct; just by coincidence it does seem that Cathy and I have done a little role-reversal! I've been doing burgers and tacos, and Cathy has been doing Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino food! How odd......

I'd just like to say, that the Missus and I are still eating up a storm, and I've got the photographic evidence to prove it. These are all revisits, so I won't bore you...I'll keep the writing to a minimum. So let's get started, shall we.

Dim Sum at China Max:

I've done posts on the Dim Sum at China Max before, just like to say, that on this visit the Dim Sum was not quite as good. As noted before, Dim Sum here is served "menu style".

The filling for the Sharkfin Dumplings was on the tough side, and the sides of the wrappers were soft and mushy, probably due to improper steaming.

The Pan Fried Shrimp and Chive Dumplings were probably the best items we had.

The contrast between the crunchy fried portion and the chewy pull of the remainder of the wrapper was excellent.

The filling of Shrimp Dumplings were fine, but the wrapper was tough and dry.

The Dried Shrimp Cheong Fun tasted a bit "off", and overly fishy, like the dried shrimp wasn't prepared properly.

We ended with simple Soy Sauce Noodles, one of my childhood favorites.

No complaints about this...so simple, but so good.....

My previous posts on China Max can be found here, here, and here. I'm pretty sure that this is just a little blip on the radar screen.

I'd also like to dedicate this post to Captain Jack, for only reasons he knows.....

China Max
4698 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111

Palabok from Tita's Kitchenette:

This Missus had a craving for some Pancit Palabok, those wonderful seafood flavored noodles. Tita's Kitchenette makes Her favorite version, so I picked some up on a recent morning.

I'm not quite sure what happened, but these tasted really "flat", lacking any flavor. I dunno, any ideas?

Tita's Kitchenette
2720 East Plaza Boulevard
National City, CA 91950

Pho Dac Biet and Hu Tieu from Lucky Pho:

Every once in a while I need to recheck and verify...so when we were in the Mira Mesa area recently, I decided to grab a bowl of Pho from Lucky Pho. And I was again reminded of why I really enjoy the Pho here.

It's mostly about the broth, which is to my taste with hints of different herbs and seasonings. The Missus, not a big fan of Pho even had a taste, and said it was pretty good.

She ordered the Seafood Hu Tieu(Rice Noodles)

Nothing to write home about, really........

My previous post on Lucky Pho can be found here. Along with a Pho retrospective.

Lucky Pho' in Lucky Seafood Supermarket
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

A Quick Meal at Luong Hai Ky:

On this visit, I had the Missus in tow. I wanted Her to try the Won Ton and Dumpling Soup.

She enjoyed the broth, and agreed with me, that there was a hint of seafood flavor in it, though it's always been denied when I ask.

I tried out the Beef Sate Noodle Soup, and really didn't think much of it.

Nice bit of spice, but very weak in flavor overall. I rather have the version at Tan Ky Mi Gia. Still, as with most of these Vietnamese-Chinese Noodle Soup restaurants, the prices are very reasonable.

Here's my previous post on Luong Hai Ky.

Luong Hai Ky Restaurant
4633 Convoy St Ste 107
San Diego, CA 92111

You Gotta Love Filipino Parties!

A few months back we attended a party at a friend's house. It was a combination Birthday(two of us) and House Warming, Karaoke party. You can imagine the fun.

Here are some photos I took.

We brought a combination tray from Da' Kitchen half Teriyaki Chicken, half Korean Chicken.

Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings are required at these types of parties. Though this one was not from Royal Mandarin, Golden Chopsticks, or Mandarin Canton. Of course any Salt and Pepper chicken wing aficionado could tell you this by just looking at those wings.

Where is it from....stay tuned!!!

Of course you need Lumpia:

The Missus's favorite, Filipino style Empanadas. She enjoys these the best. She ate at least 5 of them....

And you must have Pancit Bihon.

There was much more food, but about that time it was my turn to sing my really, really, bad version of Love Potion Number 9. And after that, I totally forgot to take any more photos.....but you get the picture, right?

Last, but not least:

Here's something that will warm the coldest pork lover's heart:

What is it? It's a dish called Golden City Roast Pork($10.95), and it's made with Pork Belly. How can you resist?

I think I already have too many posts on Golden City, so I'll stop here.

So to answer your question Eric; "Dude, all that Asian food is like in my stomach!" LOL!

One final item(I promise). We'll be off on vacation for a few days, trying to complete our aborted vacation, I hope we make it this time. I may pop in, for a bit, but otherwise mmm-yoso is in the fine hands of our favorite "Chee-Fee" eater, Cathy. See you in a week or so!

Midweek Dim Sum-mary....

We recently had a hankering for Dim Sum, and during the course of one week revisited a few places we've posted on before. So I'll keep the verbage to a minimum.

Silver Ark

I recently received an email from "TerryY" telling me that Silver Ark had a new Dim Sum Chef, and that the prices had been lowered for some items. I recently had a weekday off, and we happened to be in the area. Like a previous visit we arrived on the late side(130pm), so I took that into consideration while eating.

Due to our late arrival there was only one cart, and a fairly limited selection. One lady wanted Char Siu Bao, and was told it would be a 15 minute wait.

Here's what we got. The Shrimp and Chive Har Gow:

Unfortunately, these were cold, and the wrappers too thick. Nice flavor, though.

Bean Curd Roll.

This was served piping hot, and overall was probably one of the better items we had. Nice flavor, moist, great textures.

Shrimp and green onion dumpling.

This was also pretty cold, the wrapper was too brittle, though again the flavors were decent.

Shrimp Cheong Fun(this was a "special" $1.99 - thanks for the recommendation Terry).

Noodle a bit too thick and gummy, very large shrimp, sauce too watery, but not too bad.

We tried finding something else we liked, but the selection was on the scarce side, so we finished up with Har Gow:

Not bad, at least these were hot. Nice plump shrimp, wrappers were a bit too thick.

Still, all of this came out to just $13, with tea. Not bad at all! To be fair, the room is on the smaller side, and we arrived a bit late in the day, so I think a revisit on a weekend is in order. The service at Silver Ark, has always been very nice and accommodating, and that's one of the reasons we'll keep coming back.

Silver Ark
8993 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

Jasmine

For some reason, that same weekend the Missus had a craving for Dim Sum......and wanted to go back to Jasmine again. On this Saturday morning, we decided it to give it a go mainly because it was early enough (10am) to beat the crowds. As we entered, Jasmine was fairly empty, and we were whisked away to our table without a word, and water and hot tea were silently delivered(this will be interesting later on). Soon enough the carts arrived, and though the selection was not as large as during peak periods, the Cart Ladies were in a good mood, smiling and even somewhat chatty. And we started on our way.

The Tripe.

Possibly the best item of the day. The tripe was crunchy, yet not hard, the flavor was a nice  condensed chicken and mild ginger. I usually enjoy a little chili in my tripe, but this was very good.

Shrimp Cheong Fun.

The Cheong Fun was excellent, neither too thick, nor too thin, soft and velvety. The shrimp may have been on the small side, but the sauce was just about perfect, not too sweet, not too salty. Good stuff, best I've had in a long time.

The Pei Dan Jook(Congee with Duck Egg).

Singularly, the most bland, boring, and thin Jook I've had in a long time. Very, very runny, with hardly any preserved duck egg in it.

The Dried Scallop Jook with Xiao Long Bao.

If there was something even blander than the previous dish, this was it. It was not as thin and runny, though there was barely a whisper of scallop flavor. And when will I learn...never order Xiao Long Bao in a Dim Sum restaurant? Barely any soup, the filling tasted like regular pork dumpling filling.

Chicken Feet.

These "jumbo size 13 chicken feet" were well flavored, with just a touch of chili. The skin was soft, and perfect for sucking all the good connective tissue and such. The size of these made me wonder if they are now raising specially bred chickens just for their feet!

About this time it started getting a bit more crowded, and you could start to feel a palpable tension in the air. The Cart Ladies had also started getting a bit more testy, as in, when asked about a certain dumpling, they'd reply...."it seafood, it all seafood, okay!!!"

Well the Bean Curd Roll was "not" seafood.

The broth was fabulous, but the bean curd was on the hard side. It was also falling apart, and a bit messy.

The Shrimp and Chive Dumpling.

Dry wrapper, but very nicely flavored filling.

The Shrimp Dumpling.

The shrimp in these were very large, and the flavor excellent. But just as on our last visit the wrappers were really gummy and stuck to every thing. Hey, isn't this where I came in last time?

All in all, not bad. The damage? $33. Here's an interesting tidbit, I noticed that every table had tea delivered to it whether it was ordered or not. We had tea and ice water delivered without asking, it just arrived. Now we would have ordered tea, but I thought that was interesting, mainly because most Dim Sum restaurants in San Diego would ask if you wanted tea. Even more interesting was an automatic $1 charge per person for tea. So tea is automatically delivered, and you automatically pay. I have no problem paying for tea, mind you, I expect to be charged. In this day and age, not everyone has tea with Dim Sum, so I've always noticed that Dim Sum restaurants in San Diego ask if you want tea, or even better what kind of tea you want with your meal. Or maybe this is just the first time I've noticed?

Service was professional, if a bit curt, but I expect that from Jasmine.

Jasmine Seafood Restaurant
4609 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

My previous post on Jasmine can be found here.

Road Trip: Little Saigon & Meeting the OC Food Bloggers.....

Last Saturday, I had an appointment with a group of very important people. The meeting place had been predetermined...the location of this chowdown?

Yes, the destination; Little Saigon, Westminster, California. Luckily, I arrived an hour and a half early. I enjoy arriving a bit early as it gives me time to check out the locale, get myself oriented, and breathe in the atmosphere. More importantly, I was able to find a parking spot in Asian Village Center with relative ease.

In Little Saigon you never know what you'll run into....like a Lion Dance!

Maybe not the most artistic Lion Dance I've ever seen; but what was lacking in technique was made up in enthusiasm.

And of course you need a little noise to go with the Lion Dance:

Whoa, that's my car nearby..........

Having some spare time I was able to take a stroll across the street to the Asian Garden Mall across the street. Well, not exactly a stroll, man does that traffic light change fast.....

I didn't expect much since it was 9am on a Saturday morning. But of course Asian Garden Mall is no regular mall! The Food Court was alive and buzzing.

From this view, this could almost be any food court in any mall.

You won't find your local Sbarro's Pizza here...but if you're in the mood for a Banh Mi(Vietnamese Sandwich), you'll find Lee's Sandwiches.

And instead of the usual stands selling the same chicken with a different sauce, you'll find dishes such as Bun Mam, Bo Kho(Vietnamese Beef Stew), and Banh Canh.

I was tempted, but stayed the course, and did not give in to temptation......

An entire wing of Asian Garden Mall consists of jewelry stores! I walked to the end of the wing and took this photo:

At the very end is a security kiosk. One of the security guards noticed I was taking photos, and started following me around....thinking perhaps that I was "casing the joint????" At that point I decided to leave. After all I didn't want to irritate security personnel, and I especially didn't want to anger these fellows.

Asian Garden Mall
9200 Bolsa Avenue
Westminster, California 92683

I crossed back over to Asian Village Center which was now becoming a never ending circling stream of automobiles. There was an almost constant cacophony of horns blaring....I figured it was just a matter of time until I saw the latest installment of Battle of the SUV's...... In spite of the mass of metal and humanity in this mall, I knew there was a little oasis of peace in this mall. Having read Wandering Chopsticks fantastic Virtual Tour of Little Saigon, I knew that there existed a Cultural Court in the back of Asian Village Center with statues of Confucius and His Disciples.

Which gave me a nice break. Soon enough it was time to meet the OC Food Bloggers so I walked over, past Duong Son BBQ:

Where I made a mental note to pick up a little something for Da' Boyz...which I then immediately forgot.

Maybe next time!

I made my way to Dragon Phoenix Palace Chinese Seafood Restaurant, sheesh talk about a mouthful. When the Missus heard the name of this restaurant, She cracked up and said, "all you need is to add, New Golden, to the front, and include Panda after Phoenix, and you'd have the ultimate Chinese restaurant name!"

There's always a bit of nervousness when meeting a "new" group of people, but all apprehension melted away after meeting everyone; the one and only Chubby Panda, the Epicurious Wanderer, Christian Z of Orange County Mexican Restaurants, Wandering Chopsticks, Deb from Dinner at Six, Elmo of Monster Munching, and Elonweiss who posts on OC Food Blogs, and Her Brother. Joy also made an appearance, but unfortunately Her SO, was caught in one of the inner circles of Dante's parking hell, endlessly circling the parking lot, and had to leave.

The restaurant itself was the usual bustling Dim Sum restaurant.

I only took two photos of the food. Wandering Chopsticks did a more comprehensive post, which you can read here.

Much of my attention was diverted to the conversation, which ranged from food(what else do you think we'd talk about), to Chubby Panda's "cheek technique" for taking photos(it's not what you think). In what was a somewhat novel event, we had most of our language bases covered, from Cantonese(Elonweiss), to Mandarin(CP), to Vietnamese(WC)...I don't think my Pidgin would have been of much use here.

And two hours went by in a flash. As I got into my car, and somehow made it back to Bolsa Avenue, I couldn't help but think what a nice group of people these OC Food Bloggers are.....

Thanks again for including me, I am both touched and so appreciative.

And don't forget to read OC Food Blogs!