Bei Jing Kao Ya (北京烤鸭 - Peking Duck) From Yummy House

In the comments section of my most recent Village Kitchen post; "Elle" asked me if I had been to Yummy House, which had just opened in the former Nolbu and Soho spot on Convoy. I'd seen the spot; but wasn't quite sure what this place was. A quick text to "FOY" Candice and things got more interesting as she mentioned Bei Jing Kao Ya....aka Peking Duck. so I decided to escape for an early lunch down to that little parking lot. The place was empty when I arrived; the Servers seemed really nice, but somewhat "green" and unorganized. But still, they were friendly.

The menu was kind of all over the place and I tried to get a bead on where the owner and chefs were from. All I got was "Northern China"...so immediately, the Hunan and Sichuan dishes were ruled out. And of course there was the Peking Duck on the menu.....two courses for $45.98...….not cheap by any means and you had to order one hour ahead of time.

I decided to order a couple of things.

Starting with the Sauteed Green Beans; which was decently pan fried, somewhat wrinkly, really mild in seasoning, but the green beans were fresh and crisp, so I didn't need too much in terms of seasoning. Though how this was flavored seemed quite "Shandong".

I also ordered the Crisp Intestine with Pancakes. The pancakes were fairly thin, with a bit of stretch and weren't bad at all. The intestine wasn't crisp enough, being more gummy and chewy, but was quite funky in flavor and barely seasoned.

The best item by far was the Suan Cai Yang Rou.

While the suan cai; the "fermented" cabbage was really mild, much too mild for our taste, the lamb was quite tender, and nice and gamey. The broth was also mild and in my opinion in need of star anise and more white pepper; though it did have frozen tofu. This wasn't bad at all. Needless to say; when I brought this home, the Missus stated how mild it was in flavor.

A few minutes into my meal and I felt a tap on my shoulder....good lord; it was Candice! Great minds think alike I guess? It was nice chatting and catching up on things a bit; I gave her a taste of what I was eating. I had to get back to the office so I soon left. Candice did mention that the best item they had was the Beef Tendon Hot Pot; so I returned to try that.

This was by far the best item I had on my visits. The tendon was so tender and buttery, the beef shank tender and full of wonderful beefiness, the tomato based broth was thick, rich, and tangy, with just enough white pepper tones. This was a good, rustic dish....full of that "aaah" affect.

The really nice young lady working recommended I have the gailan which she said was fresh. It was fresh, though a bit under-cooked and under-seasoned.

A few weeks back a couple of the folks I'm really close to at work; "YZ", "SJP", and Calvin decided that it had been a while since we'd had lunch together. We decided to check out Yummy House and try the Peking Duck. "YZ" called the day before and made reservations and ordered the duck.

We arrived right past eleven am......there was some confusion about the duck but it got straightened out....we were told the duck; even though we had ordered ahead and our time was set at 11 was going to take a while. And then we tried ordering......well.....they were out of the Tendon Hot Pot....no Ong Choy, no Spicy Clam....no Hot Tea!!!! Say what?

We ordered a couple of items including the Green Beans and rice.....to find out; they didn't have any rice?!?!?! Did somebody forget to press the "button" on the rice cooker? When was the last time you went to a Chinese Restaurant in San Diego and they were out of rice? The poor woman who was serving us felt so bad and embarrassed. So; it was going to be a "lower carb" lunch then we had planned on. The green beans were fine....soon enough the duck made its way to the table.

The legs of the duck were served separately and were actually the best thing about this dish. The dan bing; the pancakes were decent; thin enough with a light stretch. The second best thing about this dish was the cucumbers....because that duck meat was so bland and dry; the duck skin wasn't crisp enough and didn't have much flavor....I mean, I wasn't expecting it to compare to Quan Ju De or even any number of now defunct and still open places in LA/OC....but good lord; I was expecting better than China Max!

The soup that arrived was also disappointing.

Shades of Seolleongtang; while the tongue feel of the broth was decent with a mild duck flavor, this really needed some salt, white pepper, star anise...… "YZ" also quickly noticed that it seems the tofu hadn't been drained properly as it had no flavor. It's really sad; because I believe I can do better with a leftover duck carcass. Sad.....forty-six bucks worth of sad.

We laos ordered one of the few items actually available; the "Dong Po" Pork Hock.

"YZ" who is from Shanghai and I mentioned that the chef is definitely from the North since this had no sweet tones; like dong po rou. The brown sauce was gloppy and glue like, the skin was fairly decent as it had a bit of stretch and the connective tissue was somewhat buttery in texture; but in a good pork hock, the meat under the skin will be quite tender; this was fairly dry and flavorless. This could have used more saltiness and savory tones as well.

In the end I felt really bad for our Server and somewhat embarrassed for suggesting lunch here. Though we did have fun time catching up on things other than work. Still; how can you not have rice or tea? I was tempted to run over to Chopstix and buy some rice. Actually; if the folks running the place actually had some sense; they'd send the tall young man who was just standing behind the bar to purchase some rice for their customers.

My understanding is that the owner/cooks are from either Shandong or Dongbei; depending on who you ask. They really need to work on a whole lot of things here......without even considering the food; there are many gaps to close. And it seems there's a severe lack of restaurant experience and common sense.

Yummy House
4633 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours
Mon -Fri  11am - 230pm, 5pm - 10pm
Sat - Sun 11am - 10pm

Comments

[Mary Beth Abate]

Darn, I had high hopes for this place.

[Jason]

No rice?!?!? That's like a mexican restaurant with no tortillas, italian restaurant with no pasta... we could go on forever. That tendon hot pot sure looks good though, should call ahead for that instead of the duck.

[Kirbie]

That's too bad about the duck. I was intrigued but didn't have high hopes after talking to the staff about it.

[kat]

:(

[Cathy]

Well. This is crossed off my list.

[Kirk]

Hi Mary Beth - I think things will be better in a few months....I hope. But right now the place is a hot mess.

Yes, no rice, no tea, and out of the first four things (other than the duck) we tried to order Jason.

It was pretty bland Kirbie.

That last visit was terrible Kat!

Maybe try them in a couple of months Cathy.

[Faye]

Oh noooo. I've had this place marked for weeks as I want to try the peking duck but couldn't coordinate enough ppl to get together to split the $46. What day of the week did you go when they had no rice/tea? I guess it's advisable to call ahead of time to make sure they have both (with pre order of duck as well).

[Soo]

This place doesn't sound that yummy...

[Kirk]

I went on Tuesday Faye......I don't think the day of the week mattered....they just didn't have their act together.

There's potential Soo......but so far it's untapped and they need to get things straightened out.

[Junichi]

Sounds like someone didn't show up in the kitchen that day. I was curious but will stay away for now.

[RedDevil]

Well they haven’t been open long so hopefully that explains some of what you guys experienced. Guess I’ll wait a bit before trying them though.

[Kirk]

Or the kitchen messed up Junichi....based on the yelling I heard coming from the kitchen...I think it's the latter.

We'll see RD.....I'll wait a few months....

[Elle]

I'm sorry to hear it wasn't a good experience :(. I also tried going here recently on a weekend night, but the 3 waiters didn't acknowledged us as we waited inside since they were busy attending to seated customers. It seems like a few people on Yelp also said the same. We ended going to Friend's House instead.

[Kirk]

Wow, that's terrible Elle....this place has a long way to go......

[caninecologne]

Sucky all around.

[Kirk]

Yes CC. This was pretty bad