mmm-yoso!!!

Roadtrip - Jiou Chu Dumplings (Rowland Heights)

So, the Missus's new favorite restaurant is Mountain House. And since that meal we've been back three more times, I'll combine that into one post later! And we've stayed overnight on each visit. On the first revisit, we dined at places I'd posted on before, so I'll do that in a COMC post. The third time we did a bit of a longer road trip, that'll be coming up. This was the second revisit. We were looking for a place for lunch. On our previous trip, I'd read about a new dumpling shop opening in Yes Plaza. Aaaah, Yes Plaza, I'd posted on our "history" with Yes Plaza before and my has the place changed. Anyway, after having dinner at Mountain House on the previous trip, we took a drive to the strip mall. It was 730pm and at that time Jiou Chu Dumplings was only open from 5pm to 830 pm and there was still a line of folks waiting outside! The Missus looked at Her Instagram and wouldn't you know it, so many influencers showing off! Of course, often times it's all about the "content" and attention than the actual food.

The week before we left for Rowland Heights, Jiou Chou started opening at 11am. We decided to go for lunch and arrived at around 1040. The place was empty, there was no line, so we headed off to Hong Kong Market to buy some snacks and returned. It was just after 11am when we parked and noticed that there was a line!

Notice the 85° logo on the signage? Well Jiou Chu is owned by 85C and has two restaurants in Taichung, where we had just been a couple of months prior! This is the first location of the dumpling restaurant in the U.S.!

 There was a sign posted saying that the place wasn't doing takeout orders on this day. I guess they were anticipating a major lunch rush? By the way, this was a weekday. One thing we noticed, that is usually a positive sign were that most of the customers were older folk, which to us is usually a pretty good sign.

We were led to a table and seated. The restaurant was pretty sizeable.

Folks just kept on coming in and within fifteen minutes of being seated we noticed that the place was full!

Listening in, the Missus noticed that folks were placing orders to dine in and additional orders to go! I guess that's how they got around "no to go orders" for the day?  Several of the parties around us had apparently been here before. Ordering was done, at least by us, using the QR code. We noticed that many of the older folks struggled a bit and had their orders taken by the very accommodating staff.

Of course we started with the Pork Xiao Long Bao ($11.99). We quickly noticed that the prices were pretty good, perhaps that's why all the folks were coming out?

    These were not very good. The wrapper was chewy and brittle, there was some "soup" in the XLB but it was very bland. The filling was tough and chewy and also pretty much tasteless.

Kinda sad overall.

Next up were the two versions of Pork Chops. When we were in Taiwan the Missus said several times that I "didn't meet a pork chop that I didn't enjoy".

The Fried Pork Cutlet ($8.49) had a nice black pepper flavor, decently salty, but was over fried, tough, and dry.

The best item of the meal was the Fried Pork Strips ($8.49).

Think of this as a pork version of the typical Taiwanese "popcorn chicken". It was crisp-crunchy, moist, with a good amount of five-spice, white pepper, and salt.

We had wanted to order some Guotie since the photos looked quite good. They were out of several versions so we ended up getting the Kimchi-Pork version ($11.49). Good lord, this was a mistake.

The wrappers were gummy, the filling was weird, the "kimchi" lacked flavor as did the pork which was chewy. The menu warned that these dumplings contained hot soup, but that was a false alarm as there was none. This was our least favorite item of the meal.

Well, this meal was a fail. Unlike Taiwan where "lines don't lie", here in the states things can get over run by hype it seems. That's too bad as we were kind of excited about eating here. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

At least we tried it......and we'd be headed to Mountain House for dinner.

Jiou Chu Dumplings
18156 Colima Rd.
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Ju Feng Yuan Dumpling Cafe

Ju Feng Yuan Dumpling opened back in January and created a bit of a buzz. I know that "FOYs" SDJulie and RD both highly recommended the place. And Calvin, who lives fairly close by also liked the place, though he said that the Xiao Long Bao weren't always available. So, I decided to wait past the soft opening period before driving up to Scripps Poway Parkway in search of Ju Feng Yuan.

When I arrived, I cracked up, just a short while back this was Rooster Rice & Noodles! Well, they didn't last too long did they?

I had heard that the place gets a bit busy so I told Calvin to meet me there right when they opened. I arrived ten minutes before opening and Calvin parked and walked on over a few minutes later.

Except for the center seating area, the interior is fairly austere and simple....they also filled up fast.

The menu and ordering is done by QR code. The menu is a mish mash of various regional dishes ranging from la zi ji to niu rou chuan, as well "ABCDE" type favorites like fried rice and orange chicken!

I had really wanted to try the Jiaozi, but Calvin was looking forward to the XLB, so I figured I'd get that on my next visit.

We started with the Shrimp and Pork Wonton in Chili Oil.

I liked the wrappers, which had a nice pull, but as still tender. I also enjoyed the large pieces of shrimp on the won ton; you could really make out the flavor of the shrimp. The filling was moist with a bit heft to it. The "chili oil" was short on chili and too heavy handed in the black vinegar department....it's usually the opposite way around, but here, it was way too sour.

After trying out those colorful multiflavored XLB at places like Dian Shui Lou in Taipei I'm of the mind that it's kind of a gimmick, Just give me good Pork XLB any day of the week.

    Of course we're talking about good pork XLB. This was basically, meh.... The wrappers were too thick, there wasn't enough "soup" in the dumplings, and the pork filling was tough.

I sent my friend "YZ" who is from Shanghai and is even more picky about XLB then I am and she basically said "that looks too dry, the wrappers too thick, I bet it doesn't have enough soup?" Correct on all counts.

My two favorite dishes were not the dumplings.

I enjoyed the String Beans.

Nicely stir fried, with a pleasant mild crunch, a bit of fermented black bean and garlic to add savory-pungent tones. This was quite good.

And the Garlic Spareribs, which were more like a good Salt and Pepper Spareribs.

Nice black pepper, perfectly seasoned, hints of garlic, crisp outside, fairly moist meat, great for gnawing on the bones.

Overall, this was a nice lunch. It was interesting to see what folks were getting....from the young Asian hipsters with the signature XLB and tomato beef noodle soup, to the folks who looked like they worked in the area getting won ton soup, orange chicken, and what looked like pineapple fried rice?

I of course had to return to try the jiaozi.....but, I guess because of the distance, it took a couple of months before I returned. Again, I got to the shop before they opened and just sauntered in when that sign lit up. I was alone this time so ordering was easy....except, when I placed my order, they were out of the Pork and Cabbage Jiaozi. Even though I like to have the baseline standard, it was easy enough to order the Shrimp, Pork, and Chive version. Finding out that my next three choices were also out (no niu rou chuan!!!! no smacked cucumbers!!!) was kind of a bummer, but I found something to order. 

As for the jiaozi.

    It was good. I liked the wrapper, which was tender, with a bit of heft, and a nice al dente pull to it. The filling was also nicely seasoned, more of a course chop with large pieces of tender, briny-sweet shrimp. There were perhaps a bit too much Chinese chives in this, but overall no complaints. I did not care for the dipping sauce that came with the jiaozi, it had sweet tones I didn't care for. I just ended up using the black vinegar provided on the table.

As for my other dish. Well, I chose the Eggplant with Garlic Sauce.

Well, the eggplant was nicely cooked, initially firm, but then giving way to molten melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. The sauce however, was overly sweet, overpowering every other flavor and there was a certain gloppiness to the dish I didn't care for. I could only finish a couple of bites.

Still, it was great to finally have some decent jiaozi in the area. The problem being the distance from home. I wish it was closer to work/home Still, I finally have a place that I can take the Missus to for Jiaozi, if She'll let me.

Ju Feng Yuan Dumpling Cafe
12265 Scripps Poway Pkwy Suite B109
Poway, CA 92064

Ju Feng Yuan Dumpling Cafe
12265 Scripps Poway Pkwy Suite B109
Poway, CA 92064
Current Hours:
Mon, Wed - Fri 1130am - 3pm, 5pm - 830pm
Sat - Sun 1130am - 330pm, 430pm - 9pm

Thanks for the recommendations RD and Julie!

 

Taichung - Yizhong Night Market, Revisiting Miyahara (Twice), and Doing Some Shopping

This is a pretty long post, so I'm going to try to keep the verbiage to a minimum.

After our late lunch at Taichung Rou Yuan we took the short walk back to our hotel and took a break. For dinner, we decided to visit another night market. We didn't feel like getting a cab to Fengxia Night Market, which is said to be the largest in Taiwan. Instead, we decided to take the 20-30 minute walk to the Yizhong Street Night Market instead.

Along the way we strolled thru Taichung Park, which has a large man-made lake.

Folks in Taiwan really know how to relax and seem to be very social.

As we crossed Jingwu Road onto Yizhong Street, things didn't look too busy.

But one block further down....well, man it was super packed.

It was just overwhelming to say the least.

Some of the lines were crazy. We walked from one end of the road to the other end.  Not only were the stands busy, but the shops that line the street with everything from food, to cosmetics, gifts, clothes, and knickknacks were as well. As we hit the far end of the street, things calmed down a bit, the crowd seemed a bit older and there was even some seating.....

From here we took a quick loop around the stands again and found our places.

This booth made Rou Jia Mo, which looked good. It wasn't the typical Shaanxi style rou jia mo like we had in Xi'an, but featured and light and almost flaky bread, not like the typical "baijimo" (flatbread). This was very tasty.

This booth was selling XLB like dumplings.

Which were being made on the spot.

You placed your order, was given a number. When your order was ready it was called out.

These were pretty darn good...so porky!

Because we'd had a huge breakfast and a late lunch; this was enough for us. Plus, even though this was a bit of fun; the crowds were getting to us.

We took a quieter, roundabout way back to where our hotel was located.

On the way back, we decided to drop by Miyahara again.

As I mentioned in that earlier post; Miyahara is owned by Dawncake whose main store we visited earlier. This place has all kinds of "stuffs" that you never knew you needed.

While this fanciful, "Harry Potterish" shop used to be an ophthalmology clinic, it's now known for all their stuffs and the ice cream served here is super popular. We loved this "punny" sign.

After all the walking we'd done, we slept quite soundly.

The next morning we woke refreshed.

And availed ourselves of the nice and huge buffet breakfast.

The variety was impressive.

Our train to Chiayi was not leaving until 120pm, so we packed and stored our luggage at the front desk and headed out to do some additional Pineapple Cake shopping for my MIL. On Ziyou Road we found several shops selling pineapple cake, after having tastes, two of them past muster and we bought some.

I thought that the Pineapple Cake from this shop was the best I tasted during our entire trip.

Of course, I don't have much of a sweet tooth, and I've had my fill of Pineapple Cake so don't even ask me to taste any......

We saw a location of Ten Ren Tea and having visited the SF location many times were curious. We walked in and were greeted by the sweetest woman.

The Missus loved one of the Oolong Tea's and was told it's a limited crop and is only sold in this area and is not exported so the Missus got it.

While chatting with the woman, the Missus was constantly cracking up. Later She told me that the woman was dissing other tea producers, but doing it in the most "sweetest" way that She couldn't help but crack up!

We did a bit more exploring.

And took our required tea break.

And even headed back to Miyahara.....

Before heading back to the hotel, picking up our bags and making the short Taichung Station. We weren't catching the HSR, so we could leave from the station in the city.

The original Taichung Station has become a historical park and the structure along with the very modern station next to it makes quite the juxtaposition of buildings.

The old rails have been converted to sitting and dining areas....

And of course, there was yet another craft market going on!

Of course we had a train to catch and did not have much time to dally, so my wallet was left unscathed!

And soon enough we were off to our next stop! Chiayi!

Thanks for stopping by!

Taipei - The National Palace Museum and Lunch at Dian Shui Lou

Our next destination in Taiwan was to be Taichung. Usually, I'd arrange for transportation and time our arrival to close to check in time at our destination. This time though, there was a little problem. Apparently, there a holiday Qingming Jie (清明节 - "Tomb Sweeping Day") which is big deal in Taiwan. Traditionally, during this period  families visit the gravesites of their ancestors and clean (thus the "sweeping") the sites and present offerings. This was a Saturday and the start of a 5 day holiday weekend where it seems everyone travels. Well, I had a heck of a time arranging transportation and in the end we'd juggle the HSR (High Speed Rail), TRA (Standard Rail), and Private Car hire to get us to our destinations. There were no HSR nor TRA tickets available during regular hours. I finally managed to get us a high speed rail ticket form Taipei to Taichung that left at 545 pm. And our hotel was nice enough to hold our luggage.

So, this gave us more time to explore Taipei. We really wanted to visit the National Palace Museum. There was one item we really wanted to see, the Jadeite Cabbage, dating from the Qing Dynasty, it is probably the most popular item in the museum. In fact, folks I know from Taiwan have called it the "Mona Lisa" of Taiwan!

Initially, the Missus wanted to walk the 5 1/2 miles to the museum! But I was kinda bushed from the 12 miles plus we'd walked the previous day and taxis were so reasonable in Taiwan, so I talked Her into getting a cab. Which turned out to be fun. The Missus got some good dining tips from our drivers and some input on the place we had lined up for lunch!

We arrived and paid admission, then headed to where the main treasure(s) of the museum are, only to find that the Jadeite Cabbage was on loan! Oh well, at least got to see this.

Can you guess what it is?

It's called the "Meat Shaped Stone" aka the "Dongpo Rou". Sure does look like it, yeah? Here's the version we had in Hangzhou....

Man, do the Taiwanese have a thing about food or what? So, while we missed the "Mona Lisa" of Taiwan, I' dubbed the "Dong Po Rou" the "Venus de Milo of Taiwan"!

All kidding aside, the collection here was amazing.

We were especially impressed with all the jade carvings and vessels. Some were so tiny and of course in keeping with the food theme, see the "eggplant" snuff bottles?

The carvings and designs were so intricate.

There's quite a bit too see here, but we enjoyed the ceramics and jade collection the best.

 Of course, in typical fashion, when there's just too much to see, like when visiting the Louvre, we called it after about 3 hours.

I think the next time we visit, we might arrange for a private or small group tour to get the most out of our visit. After all, we gotta see that Jadeite Cabbage right?

It was time to head off to lunch. During our walk the previous day, we passed a location of Dian Shui Lou, a restaurant that specializes in Jiangsu and Zhejiang style dishes and also serves Xiao Long Bao. According to the Missus, the poster outside the restaurant indicated that DSL had beaten DTF for best XLB in Taiwan! So, we decided to head off there for lunch.

In the basement of the museum is info desk and the friendly folks there will call taxis for you. When the woman asked where we were headed, the Missus replied "Dian Shui Lou, Huaining Street." The friendly woman told the Missus that her family often goes there for celebration dinners! 

A cab was called for us and we were given the Taxi's number, clearly visible on the vehicle, and instructed where to wait.

Our Taxi Driver this time around was super chatty and was quite enthusiastic about food. In fact, he made a recommendation for Taichung, his daughter lives there, and for a place we'd visit later in the trip. He said he preferred DTF over DSL though.

The restaurant wasn't very busy when we arrived, though it filled up quickly thereafter. I believe folks with reservations were guided upstairs. The decor is quite upscale.

Of course, after seeing "Venus de Milo" we had to order the Dong Po Rou.

 The fat on this was quite velvety, but the meat kind of dry. The flavor was a lot milder, lacking in the sweet-soy, ginger, and slightly pungent tones I'd used to in this dish. It also had a bit too much of a greasy mouthfeel for us as well.

We also ordered the Crab Meat Rice with Egg Yolk.

Lovely looking dish, but the rice seemed to have the texture close to congee which we didn't care for. Not much "crabiness" to this as well. The egg yolk added a touch of velvetiness.

We also ordered the combination Xiao Long Bao. Which in retrospect might have been a mistake.

It's because our favorite was the traditional pork version. First off, the wrappers were too doughy for us, second, some of the dumplings, especially the versions with basil and the shrimp and gourd were really bland. Of course, there was the "19 folds make it better thing"......but as far as we're concerned, you can have 30 folds....if there's a lack of flavor and "soup" and the texture is not to your liking it doesn't really matter, does it? I could go on in detail about each flavor, i.e. the shrimp and gourd didn't have enough "soup" and was really bland, etc......but I won't. I'll only say this wasn't as bad as what we've had here in San Diego. Still, we weren't particularly impressed.

Our favorite dish of the meal was the Bittermelon with Salted Egg.

Nice puckery-astringent taste with the savory-salty flavor of preserved egg. This was quite interesting and satisfying.

We also ordered the Chou Doufu here.

But while being nicely fried; crisp exterior, creamy interior, this was not especially savory and funky.

As a whole this meal was our biggest disappointment of the trip. Still, in terms of damage, at least from the US point of view; at $60 this wasn't too bad.

Dian Shui Lou (Huaning)
No.64 Huaining St
Zhongzheng District, Taipei 100 Taiwan 

And we got to see what I call the "Venus de Milo" of  Taiwan.....

TJ Dumplings - Almost Gou Bu Li (and no "TJ" does not stand for Tijuana)

**** TJ Dumplings has been replaced by Tenkatori.

It's been a busy couple of weeks, so not much time to have lunch. I headed out to grab a sandwich and noticed a new business in the former location of Lai Chen and BT Chinese Kitchen, so I headed into the parking lot.

TJ Dumplings????? Even though the sign said they open at 1130; it was 11 and the place was open, so I decided to head in.

The menu was quite small; Xiao Long Bao, Baozi, Guotie, Jiaozi, and stuff like Pineapple Fried Rice and Kung Pao Chicken? No Chinese, all in English.

I asked the nice gentleman behind the counter about the name and was told; "it's our hometown". To which I asked "Tianjin?" He immediately brightened up and let out a sigh; "I know, we didn't think when we named the place....people think we mean Tijuana!" I was also told that they had just opened two weeks prior.

I immediately asked if the steamed bun was "Gou Bu Li" (the famous baozi of Tianjin)  and he smiled and said; "it is based on Guo Bu Li; even the amount of folds!" So, of course, how could I resist. I got an order of the steamed buns and potstickers to go. I liked that the baozi took about 15-20 minutes, it meant they were steamed to order. I was happy that they packed Chinese black vinegar with my order.

When I got back to the office, I noticed that Calvin had finished his lunch, but still seemed hungry, so I shared some of this with him. It was too much for me. The bun was decent; it was slightly fragrant and fluffy, the filling by the book; moist, porky, good savory tones (slight ginger/scallion), fairly tender. Not bad at all.....no, it's not the best I've had, but perfectly fine for lunch.

The baozi had 15-18 folds which puts it in gou bu li territory.

I didn't enjoy the guotie much though.

It was mostly about the wrapper and cooking technique than the filling; which was basically the same as the baozi. The wrapper was too thick; chewy, and it had a certain greasiness to it that I didn't particularly care for. Call me spoiled by QingDao Guotie....yes, I've been indoctrinated.

Still; those baozi were pretty good. So, on one of the days where I was able to get away and Calvin had a meeting running thru noon, I headed back over to TJ Dumplings for baozi. Upon entering I quickly noticed all the "Peach" insulated bags on the tables and seats.

So, I guess delivered food is a big part of the business here.

I got the baozi, jiaozi, and Calvin was really curious about the Xiao Long Bao, so I ordered that as well.

First things first; the baozi on this visit was better than on my previous visit. The dough fluffier, though it also had a bit of sweetness this time; not sure if they are stilling trying to get their formula right. The filling tasted the same; but there was a bit of "soup" in the baozi making it very moist. Also, the meat in the baozi wasn't formed as tightly, making it very tender.

The jiaozi was just ok.....here's one I'm not going to order take-out in the future as the wrappers stuck to the take-out container. The wrapper were fine, a bit more doughy-chewy than I prefer.

While not even close to being my favorite or my MIL's, this would have been decent home-made jiaozi. One funny note; the lady working asked me how I knew the Chinese names of the dishes and I told her the Missus is from Qingdao. As I took my package to go she told me; "sorry, no pounded garlic for you." Which cracked me up. Pounded garlic with black vinegar is the signature accompaniment to jiaozi in Qingdao.

As for the XLB.

I was surprised they made it back to the office intact. The wrapper is thinner than most; but a bit too brittle and lacking in a nice pillowy pull.

The filling was basically the same as the jiaozi, but with a tad more sweetness and just a few drops of soup in them.

This wasn't bad; I've had worse, but it's definitely not the headliner here. For me, it's the baozi.

Which is not bad. A solid version.

And so, I'll try to drop by and actually eat in the place when things slow down a bit.

So there you go; it's "TJ" as in Tianjin, not Tijuana. And almost Gou Bu Li.

TJ Dumplings
6780 Miramar Rd.
San Diego, CA 92121

A Collection of Dishes from A-Bowl

**** A-Bowl has closed

Cathy did a post on A-Bowl a few months back and over the last couple of months, both "YZ" who is from Shanghai and Calvin joined for multiple meals at A-Bowl. We had a nice smapling of the menu and some of the dishes multiple times.

So here's a collection of dishes; from the picks to pans....

Favorites:

So, YZ's favorite dish at A-Bowl hands down is the Crispy Fish Fillet with Seaweed. One of her friends (and folks on Weichat) recommended we order this dish. I've had it three times so far.

It's been crisp, light, the fish moist all three times I've had this. It's mild in flavor so the nori adds a nice oceany-savoriness. It's lightly salted and seasoned and not a bad dish at all.

Calvin's favorite dish is an easy pick. He wanted it on our first visit, but was told it would take 20-30 minutes to prepare and we didn't have the time. So on a day where it seemed all our meetings were cancelled we headed over....and as we walked in the door, Calvin ordered it; even before we got our menus. Yes, he was determined to have this... yes, we waited for the Pork "Elbow" with House Sauce.

And it was pretty good. Not overly sweet, the skin held form but was nice and gelatinously gooey. The flesh was fork/chopstick tender. Nice pork flavor, moist, not overly salty.....a pretty good job on this!

Speaking of pork; I actually enjoyed the "Crystal Pork Jelly".

I enjoyed this version of jellied pork; it had a good amount of fat to pork and was pretty tender, but not falling apart. Loved the crown of "aspic", nice swiney notes. I really enjoyed the sauce as it was salty-sour-pungent-sweet; nice amount of garlic and black vinegar and quite to my taste.

Inconsistent But Will Try Again:

There were a couple of dishes I had twice and were good on one visit and not so good on another.

The Mei Cai Kou Rou was pretty good the first time I had it.

On the first visit; the pork was a luxuriously fatty, melt-in-the mouth tender. The sauce while being quite rich, had a decent soy sauce-sweet-acidic balance, and the preserved vegetable, which looked mushy, actually had a nice, mild crunch to it.

The next time we had it; it was too salty and pork was drier and tougher.

The Shanghai Marinated Duck also followed the same pattern.

On the first visit; the color of the duck wasn't great, but this worked out fine as the duck was tender, full of flavor, and the sauce just sang in harmony....it elevated the dish. The second time around, the duck was tougher, the sauce way too sweet and sticky....it was trying to be the star of the show and just over-shadowed the duck.

Perhaps Will Try Again:

On that visit where we couldn't wait for the Pork Knuckle, the really nice young lady working recommended we order the House Special Pig Feet.

This was not bad; but the skin was a tad on the chewy side and the sauce way too sweet.

The Deep Fried Corn with Salted Egg Yolk was nice and crunchy.

But the salted egg yolk flavor was muted, making this a bit on the sweet side. Still, I really enjoyed the crunchiness.

Probably One and Done:

Minced Cumin Lamb with Pancake.

While this definitely had enough cumin for me; I missed the palate cleansing flavor of cilantro. This was also salty and I wasn't a fan of the lamb used; it lacked the nice gaminess and had a mealy-chewy texture to it. I think I'll try the regular cumin lamb out.

While the Sheng Jian Bao was better than the version down the street at Tasty Noodle House, it wasn't even close to those served at Tasty Noodle House in Hacienda Heights....which by the way, isn't even close to my favorite pan fried baozi being served at a Tasty Noodle House.

While the bottoms were decently crisp, the rest of the baozi was doughy and wet...it lacked any fluffiness. The filling was on the sweet side, but kind of tough.

I might try this again, but am not sure.

One and Done:

The Xiao Long Bao was a disappointment.

I can sum this up quickly; no soup, wrappers too thick and rubbery, folds hard and chewy.....I'll stop there.

The Beef Noodle Soup wasn't to my taste.

Actually not to Calvin's either. We shared this and after one spoonful of broth and a bite of the mush noodles we both were silent....then we cracked up. The broth was very one-dimensional with some spice; but that's it. No beefiness and a certain greasy tongue feel; not even the preserved vegetable helped. The beef was very tough as well. This was just not an enjoyable soup.

And yet, I thought the Chao Nian Gao was even worse than the NRM.

I'm not sure what happened to the wok skills of the chef on this one. The Nian Gao were mushy, there was very little flavor....not enough vegetable. The pork was tough, chewy, and had no taste. There was a strange greasiness to the dish; as if it wasn't stir-fried at the right temperature.

So there you go; a collection of dishes from A-Bowl. I'm sure the folks from work will want to return; they enjoy this place way more than Tasty Noodle House. So pork knuckle here we come......

Check out Kirbie's and Faye's posts on A-Bowl as well.

A-Bowl
4690 Convoy St.
San Diego, CA 92111

Soup Weather in April! Revisits to Facing East and Woomiok (Yet Again)

Good lord, is it really almost May? We've sure been on a bit of a weather rollercoaster this year, eh? Anyway, this rainy-cooler weather means I can get more "soup fixes" and here's a couple.

Facing East:

Man, has it been nearly two years since my post on Facing East? Time sure does fly. Based on those three visits, I was surprised to see Facing East still alive and kicking a few weeks back while I drove up Convoy. They must be doing something right. It was probably time for a revisit. After all, I revisited Steamy Piggy, right?

Upon arrival, I was a bit shocked at how much the menu had changed. Gone were all those gimmicky Xiao Long Bao and in its place was Ramen (?), Nabeyaki (??). I mean I expected the Asian-fusion Baos and heck even teriyaki chicken and the legion of fried foods....but Drunken Noodle?

Well, this was going to be interesting indeed.

The young lady who was my Server was very nice, though again the food took a while to come out. Even though I was the only customer in the place.

While there was no way I'd be having ramen here; I thought the Duck Noodle Soup, which looked like a play on Niu Rou Mian would work out well for me.

There were six nice slices of roast duck, which had been torched. The duck was fairly tender and retained a nice sweetness and gaminess that had carried through being added to the broth. The standard issue noodle were over-cooked and on the mushy side for my taste. The broth was like what I'd had in the NRM on my previous visit, slightly spicy, lots of pepper, more greasy than rich, lacking in enough savory and anise tones for me. I really enjoyed the pickled vegetable, which helped to cut the greasiness, though the bok choy was mushy by the time the bowl hit the table. The portion size was quite generous.

So, while there was no more Foie Gras XLB, the Pork and Crab XLB was still on the menu.

On the positive side, while the tips of the wrapper was too hard, the wrapper as whole was better than what I'd had before. It had a bit of pull to is and nothing leaked. There was also a good amount of soup in the XLB. The meat however, was tough with rubbery bits in it and I couldn't make out any crab! I had three and took the remainder back to the office where I had folks try them out....both Calvin and "YZ" mentioned how tough the meatball was.....and both were surprised that there was supposed to be crab in this. It even lacked the normal sweet-porkiness I expect from a good XLB.

So there you go. A revisit. The menu has changed a bunch, but I still found the dishes to fall short.....

Facing East
4647 Convoy St Suite 101C
San Diego, CA 92111

Woomiok (Yet Again):

A few drops of rain and the Missus wants to head back to Woomiok. Though I should be happy that Woomiok has become a favorite of Hers.

On this visit, we noticed that there have been dishes added to the menu, though the Missus got Her usual Seolleontong. I went with the #7 which had Brisket, OxTail, Ox Knee, Cheek, and Shank.

The panchan has also been enhanced with the addition of japchae. Unfortunately, it's pretty weak in flavor. We noticed that folks on other tables didn't finish theirs as well. Though, to be perfectly honest, I think the baechu (napa cabbage) kimchi has been getting better on each visit.

As always, the Missus enjoyed the  the kkakdugi and the squid panchan.

As for my version of Seolleontang, well, I thought it was quite large. Enjoyed the strips of egg and the king mushrooms.

The broth coated my tongue nicely, and with the perfect amount of salt and scallions added it was quite nice. The meats were fine; though I really missed the tendon. I'll be going back to the regular mixed meat next time. Also, we might tell them to just hold off on the thin noodles which always seem to be overcooked....we just like to add rice to the broth....it becomes like a comforting porridge of sorts.

So that's it....I promise; no more Woomiok posts for a while.

Woomiok
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope you had a great Monday!

Din Tai Fung (UTC) - Soft Opening

I believe it was summer of last year; when I heard the first official announcement that the XLB mega-chain Din Tai Fung was going to open at UTC. I know folks who have been waiting with bated breath, patiently awaiting the opening...for those that I know it seemed like the place would never open. And then last week; Eater announced when DTF would be opening their doors, October 1. It would be reservations only for the soft opening period; which I thought was a prudent move.....get your systems in place, fine tune the product, and then open up the floodgates.

One of the young ladies in the office; "K" from the Beijing area will often stop and chat with me about Chinese food. Late last week; she mentioned hearing that Din Tai Fung was finally opening and if I was going. I told her "probably not, since things would probably fairly chaotic, the crowds would be insane, and I don't think the product would be up to par." She smiled and said, "maybe not....din Tai Fung has so many outlets, they have opened many shops, I think they may have systems in place for a grand opening." Hmmmm…...the seed was planted; though I hadn't really planned on making reservations. Until my dear friend Candice asked me if I'd like to join them for lunch....on the first day of business. As a plus; I'd see my good friends, who I just don't see enough of these days, so I was in.

UTC is fairly close to the office; so it was snap getting there. There wasn't much of a line, a product of the soft-opening reservations only policy. Several parties were turned away for not having reservations, some of whom, especially one rather persistent Chinese gentleman were rather unhappy.

The set-up was fairly typical of DTF; at least the shops we've been to. Front desk, window display of folks making the XLB, and dumplings.

The dining room was lengthy and could hold up to 200 I was told.

 We received a menu while our table was being readied; the four of us; Candice, Xiāngjiāo, TFD, and I had all been to DTF, both here in the states and abroad before, so we all had items we wanted to order. In the end it seemed like a lot; but we finished almost everything! TFD's little boy did a great job helping us as well!

So, enough verbiage; lets get to the food shall we?

First to arrive was the Truffle and Kurobuta Pork XLB ($23.75). Yep, twenty four bucks for 5 XLB.

The tops of the wrappers seemed a bit on the dry and hard side, there wasn't very much "soup" in the dumplings. You got the truffle flavor upon first bite, then it dissipated rather quickly. Not sure if I'd have these again.

Next up; the comfort dish, Taiwanese Cabbage with Garlic ($10.25). This was nicely done, enough salt, the cabbage was tender, nice garlic tones.

Though this is something I can easily make at home with Big Kahuna. We did enjoy the dish and needed some veggies, right?

Next up; the Kurobuta Pork XLB ($11.50). Maybe it's the Kurobuta Pork, which DTF is now using in all its dumplings, but the filling was on the drier side and there was a lack of soup.

The wrapper was rather dry and brittle. The filling had a mild pork flavor, but was more chewy than I prefer. As I mentioned above; there was a lack of soup in both orders of this. I'm so used to biting the ends of the wrapper to let out the steam before dipping into black vinegar and eating the dumpling; but that really wasn't necessary as well.

Next up; some nice and crisp, slightly spicy "Cucumber Salad" ($5.25) and rather bland, under seasoned Soy Noodle (Bean curd noodle) Salad ($5.25).

Shrimp and Kurobuta Pork Shao Mai ($8.75).

The tops of these were on the hard side; the shrimp had very nice flavor, but were overcooked. This just didn't do it for any of us.

The guotie - potstickers were another non-starter. They looked really nice, the bottoms of the wrappers were nice and crunchy; but the fillings fell out of the tops.

Kimchi and Kurobuta Pork Mandu Dumplings ($10.75)…..were really like mild kimchi mandu. These were not spicy in the least; even though we were told they were.

The wrappers were fine; if a bit stiff; the filling was too mild, not enough fermented-sour-savory-spicy kimchi flavor, which would have been fine if there was a decent porkiness to these; but there was none.

I was looking forward to the Crab and Pork XLB ($14.50).

Though there wasn't much soup in these, there was a nice sweet-crab and pork flavor. The filling was a bit on the dry side however as were the wrappers; which were again on the dry and brittle side.

I had been craving Chao Nian Gao($11) and couldn't help but order it; the version with pork.

This was perhaps the most unsatisfying dish of the meal. The nian gao, rice cakes, had been over-cooked, as you can easily see, and were very mushy. The pork was tough; too much soy sauce....just not good eats. We each had a taste and left the rest on the table.

TFD recalled a nice version of Sichuan Liang Mian at the Taipei location of DTF; so we ordered it ($9).

Hardly any spice; the noodles were too soft, the sauce lacked any depth of flavor (i.e. suan-tian-ku-la-xian)...I mean I was looking for something; Sichuan Peppercorn, black vinegar, sesame paste, garlic.....something...…

Our savory dishes ended on a high note though, as our second round of the crab and pork XLB arrived. This was much better; though the wrappers were still a bit too stiff, they were moist and had a touch of pull. The crab and pork was juicy if still without enough soup. This was quite nice....perhaps this is what we have to look forward to?

Though I'm still looking for this in the XLB - from a DTF in Asia. I'm wondering if the flour is making some difference?

We ordered the XLB with Red Bean for dessert. Think of it as a sorta, kinda, red bean manju…..

A bit too sweet for my tastes.

Overall, we really enjoyed the service, it was with a few hiccups....which was to be expected, very nice....really nice folks working here. The consensus was also pretty much unanimous; we'd had better at other DTF locations, though that was also to be expected.

Regardless; we still thought that this is the best XLB in San Diego without a doubt.

It's going to be interesting to see how things evolve here. I'm hoping the service and really nice staff remains the same and am expecting the XLB to get better over time; a bit more moist and tender wrappers with a decent "pull". Of course, I'm picky like that. And, I'm going to have to wait a while before bringing the Missus or my Shanghainese coworker "YZ" here.

And, it's always great to see my good friends "hanai family".....

So, let me know how you're enjoying DTF now that they've arrived in San Diego!

Din Tai Fung
4301 La Jolla Village Dr (UTC)
San Diego, CA 92122

Fung Fung Yuen

**** Fung Fung Yuen is now Golden Island

Fung Fung Yuen opened this past summer (on the ever lucky 08/08) to quite a bit of hype and fanfare. My friends who visited soon after the initial soft opening told me the place really didn't live up to their expectations. So I waited about six weeks. We'd moved offices and was now a bit closer to the place. Three of us, Calvin, "BigD", and myself, made two visits, after which we decided to give it a rest.

The restaurant does remind me of those "Dim Sum Palaces" of my youth, a nice, rather large, space (formerly Hometown Buffet).

The place is set-up for larger "family style" parties.

During our visits, there only seemed to be 2-3 carts rotating at a time. During our first visit, we never saw the steamed dumpling cart, so no siu mai, har gow, etc. On both visits, we never saw any Cheong Fun.

I've decided to start with the best item we had; which coincidentally was actually ordered off the menu; the Roast Pork ($14.95).

The pork was moist, the skin, while a bit too thick was decent. A very nice dish overall.

A remote second was the tripe.

No off flavors, decently cooked, nice "crunch" the gooey sauce was a bit on the "sweet" side for my taste.

I think it's kind of sad that the two main reasons the Shrimp Siu Mai is number 3 was that it was hot and it wasn't overly tough.

The Soy Sauce Noodles was on the colder side, a bit greasy and overcooked.

Sticky Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf was barely past warm.

The rice was nice and tender, though the pork was really tough.

One look at the Har Gow and you can tell this wasn't going to be very good.

Dried out wrappers, hard and overcooked shrimp.

The Eggplant stuffed with shrimp was quite cold and greasy.

That sauce which was cold really didn't help matters.

The Ham Sui Gok, the fried glutinous rice dumplings stuffed with pork was also cold, thus the dumpling had become rather gummy. Check out the (lack of) filling, which was cold and tough.

The Bean Curd roll was at least served at a decent temperature. But the strips of vegetables were cut too thick and was undercooked.

Calvin just wanted the Xiao Long Bao.

Looking at the photo; you can kinda figure things out; cold, no soup, really thick, hard wrappers.

And yet, there was something even worse than the XLB; the Pearl Balls, these made with shrimp.

Cold, tough, some of the rice was just plain hard.

There's obviously some kinks to work out here.....things like keeping your product at a decent temp in the carts.....which, by the way, only made one pass, and then was gone. It was a rather unsatisfying two meals. I'm hoping they get things straightened out. I'm hoping they work things out. Folks were telling me how busy the place was, but on our first visit the place was one-third full, on our second even less.

For balance, please check out Kirbie's and Faye's posts.

Fung Fung Yuen
10660 Camino Ruiz
San Diego, CA 92126

Facing East

Man, has Facing East been open almost 6 months now? They created a bit of a buzz when they first opened with Mary, Jinxi (BTW, hope all works out for you Jinxi!), Faye, and Kirbie making their way to the site that used to be Dede's for over a decade. I actually made 3 visits in the first 4 months and each time left shaking my head.....not quite sure what was going on here. Granted, these were lunch visits, but each was uniquely odd....and each was made with friends; the first two with "C" and "YZ" who both have Shanghai connections, both were really interested in the somewhat faddish version and conventional versions Xiao Long Bao, the last with "W and A", whom I ran into in the parking lot....we ended up sharing a not so good lunch together.

Each took over an hour for lunch. The first time we went we got there at 1145, the open sign was on, but he place was completely dark. We waited a bit and walked in....turns out the front of house staff hadn't shown up yet and we were shown to a table, where we cooled our heels sitting in the dark, until staff showed up at noon.

 By my second visit, word had gotten out and the place filled up really quickly. Lunch took about an hour and a half and of course the staff could feel the pressure. We saw several of our dishes head to wrong tables before making its way to us and we had one dish delivered that we hadn't ordered. The saddest thing was this dude who I could see was getting agitated waiting for his XLB. But this....well, let's be polite...guy....well two of his servers were guys and he held his tongue. Then the young lady went over to bring him his XLB and he totally unloaded on her, screaming and swearing. Of course, he wouldn't do that to any of the guys; he waited until the tiny young lady came along.

The third visit....lunch took two hours and I realized that I was done with the place for a while. In current state this means the difference between a ten hour day and a possible twelve hour day. Still, for some reason I decided not to do a post. I held my tongue until a few weeks ago; a fourth visit, which will be at the end of the post.

Facing East has an interesting "fusiony" and somewhat ambitious menu with everything from Tacos Al Pastor (on our first visit, we found that the family has a Chinese Restaurant in Ensenada), which I think is now off the menu, to Chicken Karaage, to a somewhat "Bo Luc Lac-ish" Filet Mignon with Rice, and Kimchi (and cheese!) Fried Rice.

Anyway, I'm sure you're most interested in the food. Here's a summary of what I had during my first three visits, first to worse.

Interestingly, the best dish I had...even "YZ" enjoyed it was a version of Mei Cai Kou Rou.

The pork belly was just tender enough, the soy-sugar ratio was good in the sauce; the preserved vegetable was tender and not too salty. The rice was a bit on the dry side but this wasn't bad at all.

The Chicken Karaage was interesting. As the batter was more of a lacquer - crunchy, "toriten" style and the chicken was served in a sweet-vinegar style sauce which went well with the fried chicken.

The chicken was moist, the flavors, while teetering on salty, was balanced out by that dressing.

The best XLB I've had here.....I've had it twice, is the (almost) Foie Gras, basically a goose liver version of the bao. Another thing of note; I've had 6 orders of the XLB here......in each order there was at least one XLB that had leaked.

Also of note; several times, the top knot of the XLB was hard. Also, and I find the XLB here lacking in soup and the pork versions are rather tough. I think the foie gras adds enough of that slightly livery-rich flavor to offset some of the shortcomings.

The chicken wings could have been a winner; it was crunchy and moist.

But on both occasions I've had this; they were way too salty. You basically couldn't taste anything else in spite of the five spice sprinkled on the wings.

Taking a totally different road from the fried chicken; the Cured Meat Rice Kettle was really bland, the gailan under cooked, there was not enough sauce, and the rice at the bottom of the kettle was rock hard.

There is of course, the Squid Ink - Black Truffle XLB.

Which does make quite an impression visually. The skins on these had a bit of a strange texture to both "C" and I. There was also not enough "soup" in these. Yes, truffle oil flavor, but not much else...oh, and I tried eating these in the traditional style with ginger and black vinegar...man, that was a mistake. 2 of the 10 XLB had also leaked out.

Of the two more conventional XLB.....the Pork and Crab is better.

The straight pork filling is on the tough side....and this'll be strange coming from me if you know me...the broth wasn't sweet enough and was in short supply. The wrappers, while not terrible, doesn't allow for what I call the "XLB Hang".

When visiting with "W and A" we ordered two rice plates; the first (both W and A are ethnically Vietnamese, so I knew they'd go for this) was the Filet Mignon Rice.

Slightly toothsome, but weak in flavor, with a tinge of that rather unpleasant metallic flavor.

The Oxtail Rice had a decent sauce that edged on being too salty.

The oxtail were really tough, which made eating this messy and rather unpleasant.

So yep, that was it......I realized that I just wasn't hip or perhaps not sequacious enough to enjoy and appreciate the food. Or perhaps, it's my lack of a sweet tooth that has me not order any of the desserts. I will say this though....none of my eating partners ever went back to Facing East.

Still, I decided to wait things out a bit and returned a few weeks ago. Strangely, the place was empty for the entire hour I was there, not a single other customer.

Could it be that lunch is just not the time to eat here? Or perhaps folks have learned that lunch might just too long.....

Deciding not to push my luck with ordering the XLB or anything that might extend my lunch; I went with the Niu Rou Mian; Beef Noodle Soup. After all, I was told they make their own noodles and this, at heart is a Taiwanese Restaurant, right?

The soup was very hot; I enjoyed the preserved vegetable, which really helped the flavor of the broth which seemed to have a whole bunch of white pepper in it, but wasn't overly salty. The beef - soy sauce - anise tones were really in the background; though there was a bit of spice to things. Just two small pieces of tasteless beef in this. The noodles were decent, a bit overcooked, but had a nice doughy-pull to them...except for that giant clump of noodles in the center of the bowl.

Still, an hour for a bowl of noodle soup? With my schedule at work these days, I just can't do that. I mentioned having to wait over 40 minutes for some noodle soup to the young man working. His response? A shrug of the shoulders....it's not his fault things took so long, but perhaps he could have said something like, "I'll mention this to the kitchen....." Or something like that.

 So perhaps....if...a BIG IF....I return it'll be for dinner. The service is quite hit and miss.....the folks are as a whole nice; but I saw a lot of mistakes/mix ups....though hopefully things are better now.

Facing East
4647 Convoy St Suite 101C
San Diego, CA 92111
Open Daily:
1130am - 1030pm