Cam Ky Chinese BBQ

On a recent Monday, in the mood for Banh Mi. I took a quick drive to the strip mall on the corner of Marlborough and University, the taste of Banh Mi on my lips.....only to find the place closed. And though Cafe Dore sounded good, I decided to try something new. The little Chinese BBQ restaurant in the mall, Cam Ky.

Check out "little neon piggy" sign, can you guess what Cam Ky does? The little restaurant has about nine tables, a Chinese BBQ counter, and that's about it.

I had a seat, and was given a menu by the serious and quiet lady. The menu wasn't very large, but I saw something that I wanted to try.....

In spite of the heat, I ordered the Goat Egg Noodle Soup($6.50):

A medium sized bowl of dark soup arrived in a few minutes, topped with some crisp fried Yuba, imitating fried goat skin, a nice touch. There was a large portion of stewed goat meat, which was very tender, if a bit short on flavor. Though the soup looked dark and rich, it was thin and also on the very mild side, with just the ever-so-mild essence of 5 spice. The egg noodles were still crunchy, and the addition of watercress gave the soup some life. Overall, this was not bad considering the generous portion of goat meat, but it's not something I'd order here again.

I figured this would be a "one and done", except something from the BBQ counter kept calling to me:

I know you can't really see it, but that side of roast pork looked sooooo good. I got a half pound ($3.75) to go.

I just had a few bites(3 pieces) and shared the rest of it with the people at work. From the texture standpoint this was very good, velvety fat, nice moist meat, very crisp, but not hard skin. The flavor was (again) on the mild side. Not perfect, but better than most.

Which meant that I'd be back......fast forward to a few days later. This time the lady was much more friendly. She asked me if I spoke Mandarin, I told her that I didn't. She had thought that I was Taiwanese....which is probably an insult to Taiwanese everywhere.

On this visit, I decided to go for the gusto, and ordered the 3 roast meats with rice($6.50). The meal started with a soup with stewed pork shank.

Man this was good. The broth had a good pork flavor, without being too salty. The meat, while not falling off the bone, was more than adequately soft. The photo speaks for itself......I wanted some rice!

After the broth, the rest of the meal was pretty anti-climatic.

This was quite a bit of food, I was ready for a major nap after eating all of this. Over a generous amount of rice was some BBQ Pork, which was just ok, the fatty pieces had some nice flavor, and was fairly tender, but the leaner pieces were tough, and lacked the sweet, rich flavor. The Roast Duck while nicely flavored with 5 spice, was on the lean side, and quite tough. The Roast Pork was the same as my previous visit, and for my money is the way to go here with regards to roast meats. Still, you get quite a bit of food here.

While eating, I noticed many men in "white T-shirts" and "paper hats" coming in to buy duck and pork. I'm guessing that several Mi Gia places get their roast meats from Cam Ky. By the time I left, the roast pork was gone.

The menu at Cam Ky ranges from Hu Tieu(Rice Noodle) and Mi(Egg Noodle) Soups, Fried Rice, and various items on rice. In keeping with the theme of the "neon pig" , while I was paying at the register I noticed a photo of a whole roast pig on the wall. cam Ky sells whole roast pig, ranging in price from $150-$190. Oink-oink...

Cam Ky Chinese BBQ
4141 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105

Closed on Tuesdays

Comments

[ed (from Yuma)]

I feel like taking a nap after just looking at all that meat.

So you still think Golden City does the best roast duck in SD?

[Kathy]

Goat egg noodle soup?! never had! the fried yuba is a really nice touch, I'm so used to eating mixed with other veggies over rice. Oh dear, I probably shouldn't be reading your post so close to lunch time, hehe :)

[nhbilly]

Nice find.....BBQ looks good!

[Candice]

I think we need to find an occasion to share a whole roast pig!

[Kirk]

Hi Ed - I think Golden City has good roast duck for the price.

Hi Kathy - A few of the Mi Gia places here do Goat Noodle Soup, this one had a lot of meat, but the flavor was a bit "weak".

Hi Billy - Roast Pork is the way to go here.

Hi Candice - I think we need to find enough people to finish a whole roast pig on that occasion! ;o)

[Carol]

Hey Kirk, I think there's enough fans and friends of mmm-yoso to finish a whole roast pig! A company I used to work for would roast a whole pig once a year in the parking lot. I think one year, we have about 100 people. No pig left after the feast. This was on top of all the other food we had. I think we can do, no?

[Kirk]

Hi Carol - I don't think I know 100 people! There would have to be some major appetites.....