mmm-yoso!!!

Niu Rou Mian from Zen Modern Asian Bistro (Sabre Springs)

In the comments section of my post on the Banh Mi Bo Kho from Pho Lucky, "FOY" Dereck mentioned the Beef Noodle Soup from Zen Modern. I found this interesting since Calvin had also mentioned enjoying the Niu Rou Mian from Zen Modern. So, I guess it was time to make my way to Sabre Springs to check things out. 

I found the location of the restaurant to be interesting, right next to the MTS parking lot, in a small strip mall with a tight parking lot, squeezed between a 7-11 and a location of March and Ash which was doing some major business.

As for the restaurant, well it was empty at a few minutes past eleven.

Once seated, I was handed a menu that had everything from Egg Rolls to Salt & Pepper Wings to Udon to Kimchi Fried Rice to Nigiri to a huge collection of "Rolls"....you kinda see why I hesitated in visiting. Both Dereck and Calvin advised me to only get the Beef Noodle Soup. Which I finally found on the menu below the Crispy Chicken Spring Roll and above the Chinese Chop Salad.

So, I placed my order for the Beef Noodle Soup ($19) and the default dining utensil was delivered to the table.....

Hmmm.....luckily there were packs of wooden disposable chopsticks in the container on the table. 

This is what the niu rou mian looked like.

    This was actually not bad. The soup could have used more anise and beef flavor for my taste, but it had a mild peppery spice, a balanced sodium content, good soy sauce tones, and was not bad at all. In fact, I've definitely had worse in the Convoy District and at a popular chain from Taiwan in Mira Mesa...this was definitely better in my opinion. The richness and texture of the soup was on par with what I've had in San Diego.

The noodles were slightly over cooked, thus they lacked a good "QQ" springiness but were fine.

The beef were a mixed bag, some really under cooked and tough pieces, while some bits were very tender and tasty.

Overall, I was rather pleasantly surprise considering the almost Americanized Asian Fast-Foodish looking shop and menu with dishes from all of East Asia. The price at nineteen bucks wasn't a bargain, but like I said, I've had worse in the "Asian districts" of San Diego. If Zen was in my 'hood, I'd probably have the NRM every once in a while.

Who knew; NRM in Sabre Springs!

Zen Modern Asian Bistro
13510 Sabre Springs Pkwy Suite 103
San Diego, CA 92128
Current Hours:
Mon - Thurs 10am - 9pm
Friday            10am - 10pm
Saturday       11am - 10pm
Sunday          11am - 9pm

Thanks for the recommendation Dereck!

Shanghai Alley (Clairemont) - Hidden in Plain Sight

I was driving along last week, minding my own business, when I noticed something. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but it looked like a folding restaurant sign, but not with the name of the place generally associated with the location.

Shanghai Alley? Well, that was a new one to me. I believed that I had a pretty good idea of all the restaurants in the area, but I guess I was mistaken? Upon returning home, I went and did that "Google thing". And yes indeed, there was a new restaurant named Shanghai Alley. The interesting thing is, this version of the restaurant does lunches, while the "original" place takes over in the evening. Can you guess where?

Well......

Yes, it's the location of King Bistro, which is in the location of what used to be our favorite restaurant in San Diego, Ba Ren. I'm not going to drone on about how we miss Ba Ren. And even though I had never visited King Bistro, Shanghai Alley had me interested. I noticed online that the place opens at 10am....and you know how I'm an "early lunch" kinda guy these days. So, I drove down and arrived the very next day right after 10am.

In the back of the sign is more info.

I walked in and immediately noticed a chalkboard menu leaning up against the counter.

The prices seemed very reasonable and the young lady working was very sweet and friendly. She told me that Shanghai Alley started business a month ago. She was going to hand me a paper menu, but I just went ahead and placed my order and had a seat.

Looking around I quickly noticed how worn the place looks.

The young woman quickly brought out black vinegar and chili oil for me.

And soon in enough, my Pork and Cabbage Jiaozi ($13.99) and Niu Rou Mian ($14.99) arrived.

The jiaozi was super hot!

   The wrappers were good when the dumplings were first delivered, fairly tender, but got brittle and chewier as the dumplings cooled off. The filling was tender, moist, nicely seasoned, and full of pork flavor. This was a pleasant surprise. The filling was more finely chopped than many versions I've had recently. I think this compares favorably with Ju Feng Yuan. And does have a definite "homestyle" edge to it.

I was not as fond of the Beef Noodle Soup.

  The pieces of beef were decently tender and nicely flavored, good anise tones, with a hint of sweetness. The soup was of the clear variety and had some five spice and white pepper seasoning going for it, but it lacked beefiness and decent richness. At least it wasn't overly salty. The noodles were overcooked for my taste and lacked the springiness I enjoy.

Overall, a pretty good meal. There was one item I wanted to try before doing a post. So, I returned a couple of days later; again at a bit past ten. This time a gentleman was working. I went ahead and ordered the Xiao Long Bao ($9.99). 

It did a take a while for the XLB to arrive, which was fine since I wasn't very hungry. I did notice on this visit that there were quite a few delivery orders being picked up during my meal.

Soon enough, the XLB arrived.

 There were 8 dumplings in all, enough for a light lunch. One of the XLB, the one on the bottom had, ahem, an incontinence leakage problem and all the soup had leaked out. The rest were fine. The wrappers, while on the thicker side were again decent, perhaps even better than the ones on the jiaozi. There was an abundance of tasty "soup", the filling was tender, moist, full of swiney goodness. And like the jiaozi, it does have a homemade feel to it.

I was pleasantly surprised with the XLB and the jiaozi here. The prices aren't bad. I'm hoping they'll expand their menu a bit. I'll definitely have the dumplings again and definitely try the intestine and pig feet noodle soups.

Just goes to show; you never know what's "hiding in plain sight".

Shanghai Alley (In King Bistro)
4957 Diane Ave.
San Diego, CA 92117
Current Hours:
Wed - Mon 10am - 3pm

Spicy Noodle (Kearny Mesa)

I really wasn't too interested in checking out Spicy Noodle when I first noticed the place back in September. The restaurant had been Sunny Noodle for what seemed to be a blink of an eye. I had thoughts that perhaps the place had just changed names and redirected the "ship" to another destination of sorts. But, while looking at some info on the place a few months back, I noticed that the place opened at 1030 am, which for me, not being too interested in crowds, seemed like a good time of the day. So, I decided to head on over to Mercury Village Shopping Center to check the place out.

It was a rainy day here in San Diego, so I thought it would be a perfect time to get some Niu Rou Mian.

The interior looks basically the same as when the shop was Sunny Noodle, except for the pictures of various dishes and the menu and ordering process is still QR code based. The woman working is quite friendly, at least to me.

I ordered my Beef Noodle Soup ($15). Soon enough it was delivered to my table.

 This was a fairly straight-forward bowl. The broth had a decent beefiness, hints of five spice, and was not as spicy as it looked. The broth was not very rich either.

There were five "chunks" of beef in the bowl, the beef was mildly flavored, though it was more tender than it looked. It could have used more flavoring and been simmered longer.

The big difference between what I'd had at Sunny Noodle and Spicy Noodle was...well, the noodles. These were thicker, with a decent "spring" and pull to them if a bit on the doughy side. Much better than what I'd had at "Sunny".

This was fine, if not outstanding. Of course I needed to return, but wasn't quite sure what I would order. Then the Missus and I drove past and I pointed to the shop. The Missus told me the name in Chinese is "Chongqing Spicy Noodle", so perhaps I needed to try that on my next visit. Of course, the Missus wasn't going to join me for that visit!

The woman remembered me from my previous visit and seemed happy to see me. I decided to try an appetizer as well as the Chongqing Xiao Mian. I was tempted to order the cucumber or kou shui ji, but those are more like "summertime" dishes for me. I decided to try the Spicy Crispy Pork ($9).

    Man, this as a mistake. The pork, which seemed like strips of super lean, pounded pork chop were really tough, almost hard and dry. The batter was on the chewy side as well. The strips were lightly seasoned and not particularly spicy. I ended up using the dried chilies and a big splash of chili oil to help me consume this. I had a ton of it left over.

I also got the Chongqing Spicy Noodle ($12) and added an egg ($2). 

 In retrospect, the egg was also a mistake, it was ice cold, the yolk severely overcooked and dry.

On the interesting end of things; I'm thinking that the pork sent some kind of telepathic message to this bowl of noodles as it was serious spicy! Not much in the "ma" (numbing) end of things, but definitely "la" (hot and spicy). Being that Chongqing Xiao Mian differs form the usual dan dan mian in having a broth, this got me sweating in no time. The woman working saw this and cracked up, bringing me an entire pitcher of H2O.

Not a fan of the ground pork mixture as it was mealy and kind of bland....in total contrast to the broth!

The noodles were the same as on the previous visit and did a great job of picking up the broth; to the detriment of my sweat glands!

Well, at this point I thought having two visits meant I'd get a post done. However, I noticed a dish ordered on the only other table occupied during my visit. It seemed like something I'd enjoy. So, a couple of weeks later I returned.

The Server, remembering my previous perspiration filled visit smiled and instantly brought me an entire pitcher of water! I guess I must now have a reputation, eh? I had actually brought a handkerchief this time and showed it to her which cracked her up.

On the previous visit, the bowl I had seen is called the Fat Intestine Noodle ($15), which is what I ordered.

    I don't know if they went easy on me, but this wasn't particularly spicy...I mean, it did have some heat, I actually enjoyed the funk induced broth, which was lightly permeated with the flavor of the "fat intestine". The broth edged on the salty side but was by far my favorite of the three visits. I enjoyed the offal-ly, funky, earthy pork bung. Yes, it was a bit chewy, but in a pleasant way.

The noodles seemed a bit different on this visit.

Thinner a straighter, lacking in the nice broth lifting springiness that I enjoyed. It was cooked adequately, but I would prefer something with a bit more pull and heft. I'm hoping if I order this again, I'll have the other noodles.

Yes, I said order this again. I'll probably return when the weather turns warmer to get some of the liang cai and perhaps a bowl of bung noodles...... I think Spicy Noodle is a definite improvement over Sunny Noodle.

Spicy Noodle
8046 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Daily 1030am - 230pm, 5pm - 9pm

Bafang Dumpling (Mira Mesa)

Man did Bafang Dumpling generate lot of buzz when they opened at the end of December. Folks that I know who went talked about crazy lines and 30-40 waits for food. Funny thing, we thought about checking out Bafang during our trip to Taiwan, but things never worked out. We even had considered going to the City of Industry location, but ended up having not so great guotie and XLB at Jiou Chou Dumplings instead.

But now it was nearing the end of January and the rain has left San Diego a soggy mess, Bafang opens at 10am, and it was Monday. Sounded like a good time to see if the place wasn't too crazy, so I drove on over with a plan B (turo turo) just in case. I needn't have worried. 

As the nice young lady opened the door telling me; "welcome, you're the first customer of the day".

Bafang is one of those fast-casual places, you order at the counter, pay, and are given a buzzer which will go off when your order is ready for pick up at the counter.

My coworker "CY" whose family is from Taiwan went to Bafang when they first opened (of course), I didn't want him to tell me what he thought of the food, so the only advice he gave me was "make sure to visit the sauce bar, it will come in handy".

Well, since I had ordered guotie and jiaozi black vinegar was a must. I also got the chili sauce and the garlic sauce.

Waiting for my order I had a little taste of each sauce, all of which I thought was terrible. The black vinegar tasted watered down, the garlic sauce had very little garlic flavor, at least to me and was overly sweet, and the chili sauce was quite weak as well. Before I had time to really wonder if this was an omen of what my meal was going to be like, the buzzer and bright lights went off.

One thing I did appreciate about Bafang was the ability to do half orders of pot stickers and dumplings, which meant I could try both without stuffing myself silly.

Because it is usually pan fried, I went for the guotie ($5.75 for 6) first.

Looking at the dumplings gave me pause. Look at the color; it's very "light", and as I thought, these hadn't been fried long enough and were hard and chewy, rather than crisp. The tops should be somewhat pliant with a slight pull to it. These were a bit on the brittle side. The filling was decently seasoned, but had too much napa cabbage for my taste.

Not very good.

One thing I really loved in Taiwan were the pork chops; like the Missus said, "In Taiwan you never met a pork chop you didn't like". So, of course I had to try the pork chop ($8).

These looked pretty good; but it was really chewy. While it had some five spice flavor to it; it needed more white pepper and salt. 

It wasn't particularly crisp either.

Looking at the jiaozi ($5.75 for 6), I shook my head. I really looked like it came out of a bag pulled from the freezer.

   This was pretty bad; the "skin" was hard and brittle. The filling seemed to be half cabbage, the pork mealy, dry, and was quite tasteless.

This wins the award for the worst jiaozi I've had in ages. I left shaking my head and thinking, "this is like college food court cuisine" and I'm probably not the target audience for this. Still, I needed to give the place another try. Another rainy Wednesday, meant another opportunity to not have to deal with crowds.

This time I went with the Niu Rou Mian (Beef noodle soup $16.75) and also the Spicy Fried Chicken ($8).

When I was summoned to the counter to pick my order up I was surprised at how large that bowl of NRM was! It took up an entire tray!

   So, I hunkered down and took a sip of the broth and shook my head. It was really thin, lacking in beefiness, with just a hint of metallic-anise tones. It was in need of more richness. At least it wasn't salty....but on second thought it could have used more sodium and white pepper.

The hunks of meat and daikon were huge. This meant the meat was on the drier and tougher side and lacking in flavor. The hunks of daikon had retained its flavor but were not cooked all the way thru.

The noodles were overcooked, mushy, and lacking in the springiness....in other words, instead of "QQ", this was more like "DoDo".....

Though if you're more into portion size, this might be the dish for you.

I was ready to be let down by the Spicy Fried Chicken ($8), but it ended up being the best item I had during my visits.

    I would skip the "chili sauce" which wasn't particularly spicy, just kinda oily.

The coating of the chicken was crunchy and there was enough white pepper and savory seasoning on this. Hallelujah!

The chicken was on the tougher side but was adequately moist.

Well, that made one-out-of-five here. This kinda makes me think there must be a huge difference between Bafang here and in Taiwan, right? I read that Bafang has almost a thousand locations in Taiwan. 

This sign made me laugh.

In my mind it didn't stand for Bafang Dumplings; I would use another word that starts with "B". But of course, that's just me. In all honesty, because Bafang opens at 10, I was hoping this would be a good place to add to my rotation, but as it is now, it's going to be a while before I return, if ever.

I'm hoping your visits to Bafang were better than mine; please tell me about them.

You can read Soo's post on Bafang here!

Bafang Dumplings
9690 Reagan Rd.
San Diego, CA 92126
Hours:
Daily 10am - 10pm

Hi! Dumplings

I know; you were probably expecting Bafang, right? I'm kinda waiting until all the grand opening craziness subsides a bit before visiting. So, I thought I'd go ahead and do a post on Hi Dumplings which took the place of the Mr. Spicy which Cathy posted on at the end of September last year.

Anyway, I had to take my car in for servicing in the area and getting out at just before eleven gave me the perfect chance to check the place out.

The interior is rather spartan, I was greeted by the really friendly young lady working. She was there on all three of my visits and was so nice.

I was handed a menu, which seemed to have everything from Xiao Long Bao to Niu Rou Mian, to La Zhi Ji and Orange Chicken, Chow Mien and Spring Rolls. 

I guess they're casting a wide net for customers since this isn't Convoy or Mira Mesa?

Anyway, I was in the mood for something with some spice, so I ordered the Kou Shui Ji (Mouthwatering Chicken - $8.99) a favorite dish of mine. What arrived took me by surprise.

Can you figure out what's missing? There was a base concoction of kou shui ji; sesame paste, vinegar, peanuts, garlic.....but where the heck was the chili oil? I asked the young lady and she apologized and brought me out a little dish of the chili oil.

Which wasn't enough and I asked for another. The chicken was really tough and the dish didn't make my "mouth water" in the least bit. This wasn't a very good version of the dish.

Of course, the sign says "Dumplings", right? And as I will usually do when trying out a jiaozi place I ordered the basic Pork and Cabbage Dumplings ($11.99). You can order this steamed or boiled, or even pan fried ($1 upcharge). The young lady suggested getting them steamed and I complied.

   These dumplings were fairly hefty in size. The wrapper of these steamed jiaozi was on the thicker side, chewy, and too brittle.

The filling was flavored well; though it was on the tougher end of things. Good light sesame oil-porkiness-salt and a bit of "juice" to boot. The black vinegar helped things along.

While this obviously seemed quite fresh I actually made wished that I'd ordered the basic boiled dumplings.

There was only one other table with customers during my entire meal; though they were doing some good takeout business. The table was having the XLB and it really didn't look very good.

Before I left, the friendly young lady and I had a short chat. I suddenly realized that I didn't know where the Chef as from. I was told Dongbei..... I should have asked before I placed my order. 

I was in the area a couple of weeks later and returned.

I was interested to see what the Signature Chicken Wings ($7.99) would be like. The ever friendly young lady told me that even though there was a chili pepper next to the dish on the menu; it wasn't very spicy. They had put it there after some young kids had the chicken and thought it too spicy for them. 

This was a bit strange for me; the skin was on the chewy side. It seems like these wings were skewered and grilled. The chicken was dry and tough. The seasoning was salty, but lacking in much else.

I was set on ordering some jiaozi boiled and decided on the Pork and Shrimp Dumplings ($12.99).

I don't know if it's just me; but I've noticed that Dongbei style jiaozi tends to have thicker and chewier wrappers. So this pretty much fits the bill. The boiled versions were a bit more tender. Another thing I noticed were how large these dumplings were.

Just for a comparison to the chicken wings.

Overall, I prefer the pork and cabbage filling to this. The filling was tough and chewy, the shrimp seemed undercooked and crunchy. The seasoning milder than the pork and cabbage version. So, I'd probably go with the pork and cabbage boiled.

And so, I figured that I'd had enough for a post. But then I found my self in the Grantville area again. It's been pretty cold by SoCal standards recently and a bowl of Niu Rou Mian sounded good. Plus, that young lady who works at Hi! Dumpling is always so nice and friendly, I thought I'd drop by and give the NRM a try.

Funny thing, the young lady remembered me. I got the Braised Beef Noodle Soup ($12.99).

  My first thought when the bowl hit the table? What the heck is broccoli doing in this soup? The beef looked tough, but was adequately tender. The broth had a good amount of anise flavor and apparently even a more hefty amount of msg as I kept on chugging water after my meal. The soup was on the thinner side, needed more richness and beef flavor. The noodles were on the mushy side for my taste as well.

I don't think I'd have this again.

It's kind of sad overall since the gal working here is so nice; but the food just doesn't give me a reason to return. On the good side, it seems like dumplings of all kinds are really coming into their own in San Diego!

Hi! Dumplings
6618 Mission Gorge Rd.
San Diego, CA 92120
Current Hours:
Wed - Mon 11am - 9pm
Closed on Tuesdays

Strasbourg - Exploring, Lamian Restaurant, and L'Atelier 116

One of the great things about being in Europe during the last of November until the end of the year are the Christmas Markets. We had really enjoyed the Christmas Markets in Strasbourg when we visited several years earlier. And the Missus just couldn't keep still for the two weeks we were in Paris, so I decided to book two nights in Strasbourg. It's less than a two hour train ride from Gare de l'Est. Because this was a rather last minute decision, I wasn't able to book anything on Grande Île. Instead, we stayed at the Hotel Tandem, which was quite comfortable right next to the train station.

It's quite convenient and just a short walk (or you take the tram) to the Grande Île. That first evening, we just wandered the Christmas Markets, which brought back wonderful memories and ate at the market. I'll do an out-of-sequence post on that when we get closer to Christmas.

The next morning, we had a light breakfast and coffee at the hotel and decided to do a bit of exploring. During our previous visit, we hadn't spent much time in the area known as "Petit France", a neighborhood which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with lovely cobblestone streets and half timbered houses. You might be thinking "wait, but this is France, right?" Well, Alsace is right on the border of France and Germany and thus, has changed hands many times. The area named Petit France is not named after it's nationality, but as I mentioned in an earlier post:

"the name "Petit France" is not named for its architecture, but because of a 16th century hospital that treated "zum Franzosel" (the French disease), aka syphilis while still a free city in the Holy Roman Empire. Apparently, the citizens of Strasbourg believed the disease was the fault of the French. Basically, the idea was to isolate those with the disease in a structure in this district."

There was one structure we saw on our earlier trip that we didn't visit. On the River Ill stands the Barrage Vauban a dam and bridge.

That passageway on the bridge is the Passage Georges Frankhauser. There's a terrace and crossing above the passage with what looked like a nice view so we decided to cross into Petit France that way.

What I hadn't read was about the passage itself.

Lining the passageway were gates that almost looked like jail cells. And within the "cells" were various sculptures and castings.

And the view from the roof was quite nice.

From here we crossed the Ponts Couverts.

And we were in Petit France.....

Love the charming houses and streets......

And the canals.....

If we hadn't already done it on our previous visit, we would have taken the canal tour.

We wandered thru more Christmas Markets.

Before ending up at Place Gutenberg and familiar territory.....

We grabbed a light lunch at one of the Christmas Markets and headed on back to the room. We took the ever popular Grand'Rue back to the Canal du Faux-Rempart to get back to the hotel.

Along the way, we passed a Boulangerie I had on my "list". The Missus wanted to get something to have with Her afternoon tea, so we stopped in.

Man, the place was super busy, but the line moved quickly and the Missus got Her treats.

She enjoyed these and we decided to head on back for some croissant and coffee before catching our train the next morning.

L'Atelier 116
116 Grand'Rue
67000 Strasbourg, France

We relaxed then once the sun set, headed on out to check out the markets and lights.....

Soon enough, it was time for dinner. The Missus had already had Her fill of Alsatian Christmas Market cuisine and because our trip was made at the last minute, I wasn't able to make reservations at any of the places I as interested in.

So, we decided on......well, Chinese of course! There was a noodle soup shop I had on my "list" and while the Missus was highly suspicious of my choice She went along. The shop was also along Rue du Fossé-des-Tanneurs, on the way back from Place Kléber. The name; Lamian.

The place was pretty busy when we arrived, but there was no wait for a table. There was one of the chefs working the "lamian" action for all to see.

So yes, they made their own hand pulled noodles here. Of course, we had to order that.

We started with a nice cold beer and some Cacahuetes au Vinaigre Pimente (3,5€/$3.75US), basically boiled peanuts with vinegar and chilies.

As for our noodle soup, we got the Soupe de Nouilles au Boeuf Braise - Legerement Pimente (14,9€/$16.35US), basically Beef Noodle Soup, slightly spicy.

  No, this wasn't cheap, but the meat, while being a tad more chewy than I prefer was quite beefy, the broth had a nice beefiness, was decently rich, with good five-spice tones, not overly salty, with a mild spice to it.

The noodles, were slippery and stretchy and quite good as well.

The boiled egg was overcooked, the yolk hard and dry.

We got the Canard Laque (5,5€/$6 US) - literally translated to "Peking Duck". This was not quite Beijing Kaoya, but the skin was fairly crisp, the flesh on the dry side, but the flavoring wasn't too bad.

And for the equivalent of six bucks US, this was perfectly fine. The version of "duck sauce" was terrible though.

We also ordered some Jiaozi, the Raviolis au Bouef et Celeri (5,5€/$6 US).

 The dumplings were quite large; the wrappers too brittle and chewy. The filling for the jiaozi were very beefy, with nice celeri tones, seasoned quite well, but quite tough. We were surprised that the black vinegar-soy dipping sauce was not half bad. This was our least favorite dish of the meal.

Half the fun was watching all the customers; about one-fourth were Asian, the rest were not. We got a kick watching the woman on the table next to us eat Her noodle dish. She used a fork to twirl the noodles, like you'd do with Italian pasta. She was really enjoying her meal and seemed to relish her Tsingtao! She ordered a second one, but wasn't able to finish. And at the end, she went and made sure to take some photos of the noodle maker.

Adorable! We had fun watching French folks eating Asian food on this trip; whether it was Jiaozi, Ramen, A Sando, Sichuan, hot pot, or yes, Niu Rou Mian, they seemed up for it!

There was quite a line when we left.

After all, what better on a chilly winter evening but some noodle soup, right? Even in Strasbourg.

Lamian Restaurant
20 Rue du Fossé-des-Tanneurs
67000 Strasbourg, France

We headed back to the hotel and had a nice night of sleep. The next day, we awoke our train back to Paris wasn't scheduled to leave until 1044, so we headed back to L'Atelier 116 to get some espresso and a croissant Au Buerre.

The croissant was nothing to write home about; the exterior was decently flaky, but it needed more butter and was too doughy. 

As we were enjoying ourselves, an interesting thing happened, the Missus heard someone call Her name! Oh my, it was one of Her coworkers! She was visiting Strasbourg with her parents to check out the Christmas Markets. The woman's parents were so much fun; they had just come from....well, Paris of course! And loved France. We had such a great time talking to them that we had to force ourselves to leave in time to check out and catch our train. Such a fun coincidence; running into the Missus's coworker and her parents, at a random Boulangerie....in Strasbourg! 

Life is amazing, huh?

Thanks for stopping by!

Taipei - Exploring Wanhua and Lunch at Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles

We decided to spend our first morning in Taipei exploring the historic Wanhua District, which includes the Ximending Pedestrian area.

We walked past Taipei Main Station, then took a left at the North Gate (Cheng'en Gate).

 One of five city gates in the city, it is the only one of the gates that still maintains its Qing-era appearance. 

As we walked down Yanping Road we quickly noticed that many shops, including coffee houses don't open until at least 11am in the area. It was interesting to see folks doing prep and cleaning work along the way.

We then headed to the Ximending area, called the Ximending Youth Shopping District, and often described as the Harajuku of Taipei. There's some interesting funkiness and fashion in the area. We passed an street that was totally given to tattoo and body piercing shops.

Though it wasn't very crowded; we believed that 9am was too early for the young and hip to be about; especially on a weekday (this was a Friday). Though we did see quite a few "influencers" along the way.

They were easy to identify; Taiwan seemed quite casual in dress and these folks dressed up quite a bit. They also seemed to have a small entourage with them and acted like they "owned" whatever area they were in. It really seemed that it was "all about them". We'd try to avoid them at all costs during our trip.

We decided to head on over to Longshan Temple and passed quite a few red brick buildings. These are said to be Qing-era structures.

We saw a sign that said "Bopilao Historical Block", so we decided to follow the sign, which lead us to a street lined with red brick and wooden buildings that have obviously been restored.

This is Bopilao Historical Block.

You can read more about it here.

We enjoyed checking out these historical buildings. The street was amazingly quiet.

Most of the buildings were closed, but we found one that was open and had some interesting history and photos of businesses that used to occupy the street.

The quiet was soon interrupted by the sound of chatter outside the building. We found Taiwan to be pretty quiet, at least in terms of folks talking. It was definitely more like Japan/France than China on that note. 

Well, guess what? A group of influencers and their entourage had taken over the street. 

There were actually eight of them in total. It was time to head on out.

 Longshan Temple was only about a block away. 

We hadn't really read up on religion in Taiwan and were surprised to see how religious people were here!

There's an interesting combination of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism called Chinese Folk Religion that is the most practiced in Taiwan.

The most popular hall seemed to be for the deity of Love and Marriage.

There's a park across from the temple, but it seemed occupied by homeless folk, which seemed, at least to us, quite a rarity in the city. I later found out that the area near here used to be the "red light district" of the city.

From here, we decided to head to our lunch destination. It was still a bit early so we stopped at a couple of other temples along the way.

This is Qingshan Temple.

Qingshui Temple. You can read about the "Nose Dropping Divine Progenitor".

 

Our last stop before lunch was at a square with this red brick building.

This is Nishi Honganji Square, once the site of the largest Japanese Buddhist Temple in Taiwan. A fire in 1975 destroyed the temple, leaving the Shuxin Hall and the Bell Tower.

We had decided to get some Niu Rou Mian for lunch. I looked at my "list" of places close by and we chose one. Of course finding it; even with Google Maps was interesting. By now, the Missus came to realize that folks in Taiwan were quite helpful and She asked a gentleman at one of the businesses close to where Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles was located. He quickly pointed into the doorway of the large building we were standing at and told the Missus it was downstairs in the basement. Apparently, the Wan Nian Building is a popular shopping mall and in the basement is a maze of eating establishments. We just did a circle until we found our destination.

Lao Shan Dong Homemade Noodles.

It was just about 1045, the place opens at 1030 and there was just one other party in the place when we arrived.

A table was pointed out and we sat. From our dinner the previous night, we knew to check off what we wanted from the ordering pad. Another wrinkle here was that there were side dishes in the fridge; you just head on over and pick out what you want.

This is what we chose.

Each one of these dishes is 40 NT$ ($1.30/US).

Man, this stuff was so good.

The cabbage was crunchy, yet nicely sour. We had quickly noticed that what we were eating here in Taiwan wasn't overly salty and this meal was no exception!

The Jellied Pork had a nice crunch and toothsomeness.

The young man whisked away the tofu and pidan and soon returned it to the table with a thick soy sauce drizzled on it.

Loved the beany tofu, the soy sauce had a nice umami, with a light sweetness. The Missus loved the pidan.

Based on the previous night's dinner, we also ordered some jiaozi, this time the pork and chive version.

My goodness! This was one of the best versions we've ever had. The wrappers were so tender, with a perfect "chew" to them. The filling had a nice, balanced pungent porkiness to it and was so tender and juicy. This resets the bar for what we now expect in restaurants.

And then it was the Niu Rou Mian.

So, first the good. The knife cut noodles are probably some of the best I've had, al dente, but tender, a wonderful texture. I now have a reference point for what the Taiwanese call "QQ". The beef is wonderfully tender and deeply flavored. Were this fell short for us was the broth. While it wasn't overly salty and the richness and tongue feel was excellent, it was kind of weak in the beefiness.

And since this place is a Michelin Bib Gourmet restaurant, we expected more.

Still, we loved the jiaozi and side dishes and the price for our lunch came out at 430 NT$, think $14/US...... Geez, it's really hard to complain, right?

Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles (in the Wan Nian Building)
108 Xining Rd.
Wanhua District, Taipei City, Taiwan

Taipei - We Arrive and 93 Tomato Beef Noodle

Our flight to Taipei was about a half hour late. Getting thru customs in Taoyuan Airport was amazingly efficient and since we only had carry-on luggage to deal with, finding the Airport MRT station was also quite easy, as was getting and loading up EasyCards, Taiwan's travel smartcard. Our Airport MRT train left on time and we arrived at Taipei Main Station in around 40 minutes. Now here's where it got interesting.......dealing with Taipei Main Station was crazy. All the floors, all the different lines; the MRT/Metro/HSR/TRA all leave from various tracks at Taipei Main Station. Even with the Missus being fluent in Mandarin it was a beast. We deal and have dealt with train/metro travel quite a bit, heck we even survived Shinjuku Station which claims to be the busiest in the world. But man, trying to find the MRT Blue Line to our hotel, well it just had us flummoxed. Maybe we're out of practice? 

Anyway, our hotel was just one stop over on the Blue Line, so we decided to take a cab. Which turned out to be great in several ways; first we discovered Cab Fare in Taiwan is very reasonable with a start at 85 NT ($2.60/US) and 5 NT every 200 meters or so. Cab fare to our hotel ended up being 95 NT, think $3.11. Second, we got our first taste of how friendly cab drivers (as a whole) were in Taiwan. They loved conversations. In fact, the Missus would make it a habit to get dining recommendations from Taxi Drivers during our stay in Taiwan.

We got to our hotel and checked in at around 830pm. The staff at the Resonance Hotel were very professional and accommodating. After freshening up, we decided to head on out to grab something light for dinner. This is when we noticed that many businesses seem to close fairly early. It was 845 and most restaurants in the area were closed. We also noticed that there seemed to be either a 7-11 or Family Mart on every corner. Even more than Japan!

After walking up and down a couple of streets, we settled on this place.

Which specialized in Tomato Beef Noodle Soup! The menu is posted on the wall, you are given a paper to check off your selections. The interior and dining is simple.

We ordered the Beef Tomato Soup and some jiaozi. The Missus had a view into the kitchen and quickly told me; "they are making the jiaozi to order!" And then, "he's cutting the noodles to order as well!" We'd find that this is the norm here in Taiwan.

Our Pork and Cabbage Jiaozi arrived hot to the table.

The Missus walked over to the condiment table and poured us some black vinegar. This jiaozi was very good, fluffy, tender wrappers, tender and nicely seasoned pork filling. Better than anything in San Diego...in fact, just about as good as anything in the SGV!

Then our noodle soup arrived.

 Man, the beef was so tender and beefy! The knife cut noodles were a bit thick for my taste, but the texture was very nice, good pull, not doughy or overly chewy. The broth was light on the beefiness and edged on being too sweet. We would have liked a bit more tangy-tomato flavor as well. Still this was quite enjoyable.

And then came my favorite item of the meal, the Fried Pork Chop.

Crisp, yet tender, we loved the porkiness. We'd come to enjoy the pork in Taiwan, it's definitely not "the other white meat here". In fact, the Missus would make fun of me after I enjoyed each pork chop saying; "Taiwan, the land where Kirk never found a pork chop he didn't like!" Which was true. This version was smothered in black and white pepper and we liked the sinus clearing effect of it.

This ended up being a nice, random first meal in Taiwan. And heck, it was just over nine bucks! 

93 Tomato Beef Noodle (93刀削麵館)
No. 3-2, Qingdao E Rd.
Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan

We had a nice night of sleep. I woke a bit early, had some tea and just looked out at our view of Taipei.

We decided to head on out and do some exploring. Walking out of the hotel straightened us out! We had left San Diego with temps in the 50's to 60's. Here in Taipei highs were in the 80's with some humidity to match.

We headed out on Zhongxiao East Road, one of the main thoroughfares in the city. 

With the sounds, the smells (is that chou doufu I smell?), the lively, yet mellow vibe hitting us. We were so happy to finally be here and couldn't wait to do some exploring!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunny Noodle

**** Sunny Noodle is now Spicy Noodle

Of course one of the first stops we made after returning from Hawaii was to Sizzling Pot King for takeout. While in the parking lot waiting, I noticed a newish restaurant in the strip mall named Sunny Noodle. I was a bit curious so I headed on over during a slow weekday to check the place out.

The place is spartan, though clean.

 I noticed that ordering here is done strictly with QR codes, something that I've gotten used to in my travels.

Looking over the menu and the condiments, I made this out to be more Northern style Chinese. Though the menu had a bunch of liang cai, sort of Sichuan cold dishes, and items like yang rou chuanr, lamb skewers, even xiao long bao, which made things confusing. The young lady was very friendly, but when I asked about the region of China where the owners/chef was from she acted a bit coy and said, "it's North, Northern China." I tried to get some clarification, but that's basically all the info I got out of her.

I had basically seen variations of noodle soup and a couple of items that interested me. So, I went with the "House" Beef Noodle Soup($14.99).

   The broth was clear and lacking in beefiness, was overly salty, and pretty "plain". The beef while a bit on the chewy side, had good flavor.

The noodle were hard rather than "springy".

Not quite what I enjoy in Beef Noodle Soup.

I had seen "Beef Wheat Cake" on the menu, which I took to be Xian Bing. When I asked if it was, the young lady seemed quite surprised. So, I ordered 2 at $1.50/piece. 

   You can tell one was pan fried a bit longer than the other. The crusts were hard and chewy; like a good amount of rice flour was used. The beef filling was very tasty though and a good dash of block vinegar helped things along. These were pretty small overall.

A couple of days after my meal, I heard that Candice had dropped by, so I sent her a text asking if she knew what region the owners were from. And to my surprise, it was Dōngběi! Well, maybe the lamb skewers.....but no suan cai, we still make several batches a year, and rice noodles for the soups, and what about the XLB? On the positive side, Candice identified two items she had eaten at Sunny Noodle and thought were decent. So I returned armed with that information.

Unfortunately, they were out of one of the recommended items, the Mixed Smoked Meat. They did however have the Spicy Beef Tripe ($8.99) which I would have never thought to have ordered in a Dongbei Cai restaurant.

This was by far the best item I had from Sunny Noodle. The tripe was light and crunchy, while it wasn't overly spicy. there was a nice refreshing component to the dish, along with all the wonderful cilantro that worked in perfect harmony.

In need of another dish, I went with the Leek-Pork-Shrimp Jiaozi. It's kind of funny, 12 dumplings for $14.99.....welcome to todays pricing where each dumpling costs almost a buck-and-a-quarter.

Actually, these were not bad, even though I got the Beef-onion instead of what I ordered.. The wrappers were a bit on the brittle side, in need of a bit more "pull". A couple of them had burst during the cooking process. This caused the fillings of the dumplings to become "waterlogged" during the boiling process.

The fillings, while a bit on the salty side were tender, juicy, and full of flavor if a bit on the salty side. The black vinegar helped balance everything out. Not bad.

My meals at Sunny Noodle were interesting; it's basically a hands-off business, you order via QR code, your food is dropped off along with the check, and then you pay. Actually, in these "days" of Covid, I don't mind that at all. I was the only customer in the shop during both of my visits, though there was a steady stream of takeout orders heading out the door.

I'm not sure if I'll return anytime soon, but it was nice trying someplace new for a change.

Sunny Noodle
8046 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Currrent Hours:
Daily 11am - 830pm

Crazy Duck

**** Crazy Duck has closed and is now Little Kitchen

Back at the end of May, I read about a new "fast-casual" concept restaurant specializing in Roast Duck opening in Poway named Crazy Duck. We really enjoy roast duck, but Poway, man, that's over 20 miles away and with gas prices and such..... Well, I wasn't sure. But then I read Soo's post on the place and decided to check them out. So, back in July I made the 45 minute drive to the mall in Poway. Nestled between the combo of Jamba Juice-Chipotle and Pizza Studio-Starbucks-Baskin Robbins is Crazy Duck. 

I saw several roast duck hanging in the typical case as I walked in.

The place is very clean and spacious, during my visits it was a cashless process. It does look very "fast-casual".

Though the prices for the roast duck were not. It was $19.99 for a half duck in July of last year which is what I got.

I made the 45 minute drive home and the Missus and I set about to sample the duck immediately.

Sadly, this was a bust. The skin was rubbery and measures to "resuscitate" said epidermis failed. The meat was dry and tasteless and there was no "jus" to help support things. After the drive, the gas, and time...well, to say I was disappointed is an understatement.

And there was no way the Missus wanted to make an effort to actually drive to Crazy Duck and dine in. And so the photos sat........there were several moments where I was just going to delete the photos, but somehow I didn't. This is one of those situations where I felt a second visit was necessary if I was going to actually do a post. And so, I basically just sat on those photos. Then, at the beginning of December, Calvin wanted to meet for lunch. And even though he'd also had rather mediocre duck from CD, he was a good enough sport to agree to have lunch there. The one condition? "Let's have some duck, but not order a whole or half."

As of this visit, a half duck was now $20.99.

And the menu had been really expanded with a some noodle dishes, dumplings, including xiao long bao, and other items. 

We were told that the noodles were hand made, so we decided to order a couple of noodle soups and some sides. And because we were dining in, we were told to help ourselves to the "soup bar".

We both got hot and sour soup, which was quite salty, gloppy, and too much white pepper, though it hit it on the head in terms of "fast food hot and sour soup".

Calvin and I got some extra bowls and split the noodle soups. The Spicy Beef Noodle Soup, while not being spicy was the better of the two.

While the beef was on the tough side, the broth had some good beefiness, soy, anise, and other spices. Plus, the sodium was under control here. It was a heck of a lot better than what I'd last had at Formoosa. The noodles were a bit on the brittle side, but was not bad. In this case, the broth is what made this NRM.

The Duck Noodle Soup was interesting.

  The noodles were the same as the NRM. The duck was much better this time around; you can tell by the color, there as much more five spice flavor and the meat, while on the tough side had taste. The skin was still a bit rubbery for my taste, but the fat had been rendered nicely. This was a definite improvement.

The broth was almost a watery tonkotsu-like bone broth that really lacked flavor or richness. It was a bit of a "head scratcher" for the both of us.

We also got the version of Smacked Cucumbers.

Which had a good amount of garlic and a nice crunch, but was pretty mild overall.

We also got the Spicy Won Tons.

We both enjoyed the won tons, the wrappers had that nice balance of "pull" and tenderness and the pork filling was well seasoned. The "sauce" was on the "gravyish" side, not very spicy, but super salty. Those won tons were good though!

So, overall it seems that the duck is getting better, though the food is mixed bag. I do like this ownerships other restaurant Taste of Hunan, but it's a totally different style of Chinese cuisine. Perhaps if/when gas prices come down, I'll make the trek out to Poway again.

Crazy Duck
13487 Poway Rd.
Poway, CA 92064
Current Hours:
Sun - Tues, Thurs 11am - 8pm
Fri - Sat 11am - 9pm
Closed on Wednesday

You can read Soo's post here.