Revisiting the Rotation: Chinese Breakfast at Chin's Miramar

**** This location of Chin's is no longer.

I usually update our "rotation page" a couple of times a year, and thought this would be a good chance to do so. So over the course of this week, I'll post a few revisits and come up with a revised page at the end of the week. 

I thought I'd start with"Chinese breakfast" at Chin's, since there are a couple of changes. First, service now starts at 930 am on Saturdays and Sundays, something I posted on here. Secondly, there's the English translation of the menu, which has been in place for a while. It does seem that the menu is missing a few items though...... oh, and prices have gone up a bit, 20 to 50 cents per dish. We are, of course waiting for Chin's on Convoy to open up.....

And yes, the interior still looks like it was once a Marie Callendar, or some other corporate restaurant:

 
The "backbone" of our order does seem to revolve around the same items, like the Suzhou Smoked Fish, which my MIL tells me tastes just like China:

The Shao Bing with Five Spice Beef, a dish of which FOY "YY" tells me, "I would eat breakfast more often if I could have this all the time....":

And one of my other favorites, the Steamed Bun with Pickled Mustard Greens and Mushroom:

It's not always steamed perfectly, but when it's on, it's quite good. Hot and fluffy, the filling a melange of sweet, savory, and a pleasant mild bitterness that just hits all the right spots for me.

Enough of the reruns, here's the third newish thing about this location of Chin's; a seasonal specials menu:

I'm not sure about the seven bucks for shaved ice, but we did order the Da Bing with Smoked Meat ($6.25 - the first item on the menu):

I probably would have enjoyed this much more if I hadn't had a wonderful version of this at Northern Restaurant in Rosemead. The smoked meat was very mild, and somewhat artificial in flavor, almost like the stuff you'd buy at 99 Ranch Market, and instead of a hearty and savory pork and fermented bean dipping sauce, this was straight up hoisin. The Da Bing was good, if a bit on the oily side, but it was actually the best part of the dish. I did consume all of it, because, well, I'm a sucker for these type of dishes. Overall, decent and I'll take that in a pinch.

A bit later while talking about this meal, the Missus told me that the second item on the specials menu was Tea Smoked Chicken Leg. Of course I exclaimed, "why didn't you tell me?" To which She replied, "I really didn't like you much at breakfast!" She had a point, getting paged at 1am in the morning will do that to me.... But to add insult to injury, instead of Tea Smoked Chicken, I got Kaufu (wheat gluten)!

How does that saying go; "there hath no fury like a woman scorned....."

Chin's Seafood & Grill
9355 Kearny Mesa Rd
San Diego, CA 92126

Chinese breakfast served 930 am to 2pm Saturdays and Sundays.
 

Comments

[Dennis]

Omg, you made me look up Shao Bing and I think it's going to be my new obsession.. I would wake up early on the weekends for that!

[nhbilly]

That last dish is not a looker but for some reason I love wheat glutton its so gooooood

[Kirk]

Hey Dennis - You've never had Shao Bing??? Chin's does a decent job, and you can get even get Youtiao Shao Bing....bread within bread if you will.

Hi Billy - Kaufu is okay, but I'd take Tea Smoked Chicken any day of the week! ;o)

[Faye]

I recently went there too and also had a so-so experience.

Have you tried their hot sweet soy milk w/ the chinese donut?

The Shao Bing looks good! I'll have to try that one next time.

OH! And i think the place did use to be a Marie Calender!! It is a strange interior.

Thanks for the post!

[kirbie]

Oh a seasonal special menu. I need to try some of those items. Your Missus story was funny. hehe. I've never tried the steamed bun with pickled mustard greens. I'll need to order it next time.

[foodhoe]

I love reading your posts about these dishes that either don't make it to the english menu, or I just don't know what they are! It makes me more adventurous...those bings look delicious.

[kat]

7 something for shaved ice would be bad.

[Sandy]

Yes, this location used to be a Marie Callendars; can you picture pies in that display case? It was also a Bread Basket like the one in Alpine; they had these little flags on each table that you could pull up when you needed service.

Can you ask the Missus to translate the rest of the seasonal menu?

[Dennis]

Hi Kirk, for some reason I think I would prefer the version of Shao Bing with some kind of meat! haha. Commenting from the Apple Store, wee. (Your site looks great btw.)

[Kirk]

Hi Faye - I'm not big on soy milk. There are some pretty good stuff at Chin's, but the offerings are so diverse that it's impossible to do it all well.

Hi Kirbie - I think that along with the five spice beef is one of the better things at Chin's.

Hi FH - I'm sure you can find these where you're at.

Hi Kat - $7.95 to be exact...ouch!

Hi Sandy - The $5.50 item is the Tea Smoked Chicken Leg, the $2.50 is basically Jin Dui, the $4.95 is pumpkin Jian Bing. The next four items are variations of shaved ice. The $12.95 is ong choy.

Hey Dennis - The Apple Store.... you sure do get around.

[Lillian]

Hi Kirk,

Have you had the five spice beef wrapped in the green onion pancake? My husband and I like this even more than the beef in the shaobing. We fight over every last bite of this dish. Next time, we should just order two.

We also love the hot pumpkin pastry stuffed with red bean and the wasabi flavored celery.

Thanks for putting this place on our radar!

~Lillian

[Kirk]

Hi Lilian - I'm not a fan of the Niu Rou Chuan at Chin's, it's much too greasy...they don't seem to be able to make it right on the consistent basis. I'm glad you enjoy Chin's, it is pretty unique for San Diego.

[yummieyummy]

OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH Shao Bing w/ 5 Spices Beef yummmmmm

[Kirk]

Hi YY - Oh yes, I remember that you really like that!

[Cal S]

I was first addicted to NiuRou/WuXiang ShaoBing 16 years ago when I first tasted it in the SF bay area, so I can relate to your fondness of it. I see you have a few posts on Chinese foods in LA, but I haven't yet discovered a theme to your LA posts. Are there any restaurants in SGV/LA that have foods similar to Miramar Chin's Breakfast/Brunch menu? Where is an area of good Chinese restaurants currently? We tried W and E Valley Blvd. It was ok. (We liked the sweets from
"Phoenix". Your missus is from China? My parents are from Southern China, so we are used to a lot of kinds of sweet soups, sweet custards/puddings, and "Phoenix" has some of them. Since they do not yet have the modern, cold, mango, chocolate, etc. mooncakes in SoCal, the puddings/custards are the next best things. Hong Kong has whole shops devoted to just sweet soups and the likes. San Diego doesn't seem to have such a thing.)

[Kirk]

Hi Cal - There are quite a few places that have similar food in the SGV. Most Shanghainese places have many of these dishes. The Missus is from QingDao and went to High School and College in Beijing. Our tastes with regards to Chinese cuisine is pretty vast, so I guess you could say there's really "no theme" when it comes to styles.