China Max

*** Additional posts on China Max can be found here, and here.

After a brief phone discussion Ed from Yuma and I decided on China Max Seafood Restaurant for Dinner.

Located on Convoy Street in the Clairemont Mesa area, China Max has replaced Emerald as my favorite Hong Kong Style Chinese Restaurant, for everything except Dim Sum.

Though a bit pricey, the quality of the food has always been excellent, and the service very friendly and accommodating. The restaurant is bright and clean, though the noise level can be quite high. Even though typical Cantonese fare is available, this has become more of a splurge (within reason) type of restaurant for us.

As I exited my car, Ed pulled up alongside, and we entered and were seated immediately. Though reservations are probably recommended we had no problem getting a table. Ed also mentioned that he had never eaten here for dinner! Though the lunch specials are good (approx $7.75), you've never really experienced China Max until you've had the Peking Duck - two courses. Since it was the two of us, we ordered the Fresh Spotted Prawns (market price - 26.95/lb for our meal), Crab Cakes, and of course the Peking Duck two ways.

The first item to arrive was the Spotted Prawns, large (U-8), moist, and cooked perfectly this dish was served with the requisite soy-based dipping sauce, except that strips of ginger and some jalapenos were added. Mild in flavor, with hints of the sea, we first tried this without the dipping sauce, than with, and found that just a touch of sauce balanced the taste of this dish out. By the way, if you love "sucking heads" you'd be in heaven here.

Next up was the Pan Fried Crab Meat Cake ($8.00). 4 moist, rich Cakes were served and when we bit into it there was a hint of Wasabi. This dish went well with tea .

As we were finishing up, the waitress started wheeling a cart toward us, on top of which sat two platters, one empty, and one with a whole Peking Duck. Peking Duck - two courses ($32), is served cart style and carved at your table. Makes quite a show. The waitress, or waiter first carves all the skin and some meat off the duck (watch all those juices - mmm-yoso!!!!), than prepares the "buns" by first spreading some hoisin, than placing a slice of cucumber on the bottom, than covering with the slice of duck, than placing the other bun on top creating a neat little sandwich.

The taste? Sublime...... The cucumber provided a nice palate cleansing effect, and the amount of hoisin is perfect. The duck is mild, yet rich, creating a nice balance.

Once the plating is complete, the waitress returned the duck to the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with the second dish. The duck is minced and stir fried with water chestnuts and served in lettuce cups. This was very flavorful, moist, and cooked perfectly. We were too busy chowing down on this that we forgot all about the rice that was brought out with this!

Though our meal was on the expensive side ($65), it was well worth it. China Max also serves Dim Sum off the menu for lunch (though I still think Emerald is better), has lunch and late supper specials priced at about $7.75. Though I've been told that the Peking Duck - two courses has to be ordered a day in advance, I've always ordered it straight off the menu with no problem.

China Max Seafood Restaurant - 4698 Convoy Street #C101
(858)-650-3333
Open 11-11 Daily

China Max Chinese Restaurant

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Comments

[elmomonster]

Love China Max too. I had their bacon wrapped shrimp and thought that if I were to die from a heart attack, it was worth it to eat this cholesterol bomb.

You're right though, Emerald is still the best for dim sum in SD.

[Kirk]

Hey Elmo - Thanks for your comments. When we ate the Dim Sum at China Max it seemed liked the tastes were much too mild, could be our fault, we had a bunch of other dishes and that could've made the dim sum fade into the background. If you're ever here in SD again - try Ba Ren, I'll write up soon, former chef at Chung King in LA is there.

[Susan Lai Hipp]

Muchos Mahalos. I'm in San Diego on business, and after 2 weeks, I need some rice already! I've four weeks to go, and you've helped to make them mo' ono!

[Kirk]

Hi Susan - thanks for stopping by and commenting. I hope this blog has been of some help. If you have any specific questions/requests please feel free to Email me.

[Chris Danielson]

I belong to a food club consisting of about 25 members. Last night, we went all out trying a wide assortment of dishes. The food was just "ok" (par for the course with China Max). As we were about to pay our huge bill we began running the math. Things were not adding up. We had ordered 17 bottles of beer, but China Max was charging us for 25 bottles. We discussed with the waiter and then proceeded to discuss the issue with the manager. The manager told us we were completely wrong and that was that. We incessantly argued with the manager for about 3 minutes. Basically, we were forced to pay for 8 bottles of beer that we never drank. Needless to say, it was a frustrating issue and a horrible experience. No one within our group was drunk, we each only had 1 beer to go with the meal. I would not recommmend China Max based on my experience with them last evening.

[Kirk]

Hi Chris - That's terrible, you can report China Max to the BBB - I've done that in the past. Actually, I think that the Hong Kong style Seafood(based on cooking technique & freshness of ingredients over very strong flavors ala Sichuan/Hunan and the like) served at China Max is good by San Diego standards, and though except for one minor incident, I've never had problems at China Max in at least 8-9 visits since this post, in fact service has always been pretty good.

[sheila]

I thought Peking duck is supposed to be served with won ton wrappers to wrap up your treat like a little burrito. What's with the "buns"?

[Kirk]

Hi Sheila - Won ton wrappers? Traditionally, Peking Duck is served with thin "pancakes"(maybe that's why you thought won ton wrappers?), but I've found that in most Guangdong/Cantonese/Hong Kong style restaurants it is served with steamed buns.