List your favorite Chiu Chow (Chaozhou) restaurants ...

[ipsedixit]

Do you have a list of a your favorite Chiu Chow (or for us Mandarin speakers, Chaozhou) restaurants? And, what do you get there?

Here's mine:

1. SEAFOOD VILLAGE [9669 Las Tunas Dr., Temple City 626-286-2299]
House special fish and the house special crab.

2. CHAU'S KITCHEN [107 E. Valley Blvd., San Gabriel, [phone]]
Sour chicken noodle soup and the shrimp balls

3. KIM KY NOODLE HOUSE [1108 S. San Gabriel Blvd., [phone]]
Rice noodle soup and stir-fired rice cakes

[jackt]

kamala in chinatown! excellent! my mom goes there every chance she gets (and she would know)!

[modernist]

wan chai hong kong. the one with the chinese liberace looking waiter.

[revets2]

CHEUNG HING. hands down the most authentic in socal.

[WHills]

Where is this place located?

[revets2]

8450 Garvey Ave # 103
Rosemead, CA 91770
[phone]

best teochow chef in l.a. only one girl speaks english. ordering off the menu is best, but expensive (abalone with chesnut, short ribs in a special broth, oyster stew). appreciates good wine. can bring your own. decor is definitely hole in the wall. located behind another restaurant. no sign. B rating.

[Das Ubergeek]

Expensive like $15 a plate expensive, or expensive like $50 a plate expensive? I have a meeting in Rosemead next week...

[revets2]

$15 off the menu, $30-$50 and market prices off the menu for things like abalone and high-grade shark's fin. take lots o' people. there are almost no tables. park and enter through the rear.

[fishybear10]

Wow....I'm surprise no one has been to Noodle Cafe on Garvey near Macau Street. in MPK. I think they have the best Chiu Chow noodles soup, it beats all of those Kim etc.. places....

[eatdrinknbmerry]

i'll have to try that soon. i see it all the time.

[yum4fun]

Kim Chuy in Chinatown

Fish balls with "hou fun" noodles in a savory broth .... yum-o....

[Chandavkl]

1. Seafood Village; 2. Lucky City in Monterey Park. #3 would be Chow Chow across the street from Seafood Village in Monterey Park but it closed down a few weeks ago.

[WHills]

Yes, I really liked that place across from Seafood Village. I loved their chieve cakes! Too bad...another casualty!

[Hailyn]

For Chiu Chow noodles (with seafood and fishcake) I like Mien Nghia, either in Chinatown or in San Gabriel (there's also one in Rosemead).

Mien Nghia - Chinatown
304 Ord St
Los Angeles, CA, 90012
[phone]

Mien Nghia - Rosemead
7755 Garvey Ave
Rosemead, CA, 91770
[phone]

Mien Nghia - San Gabriel
406 W Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA, 91776
[phone]

[eatdrinknbmerry]

hailyn, I wonder if we've seen each other. i was there 3 times this week for breakfast at the Chinatown location. it's sad, they know me. i love their satay bbq sauce. i heard they sell it at the Rosemead and SG locations for $3 (small) or $5 (large).

ipsedixit, funny that you post this. i was just thinking yesterday... i wonder how many ppl on CH love Chiu Chow food.

(1) Trieu Chau Restaurant
4401 W 1st , SAnta Ana 92703
714-775-1536

usually lines out the door. best flavored soup IMO. beef balls with rice noodle is my favorite. don't be surprised to share tables with people. only open till 5 or 6 pm everyday.

(2) Mien Nghia - #36 Chicken and Fish Slice Mixed Noodles. Add some satay bbq sauce and a pour of red vinegar and you're good to go. There's a review on my noodlewhore blog.

Chau's Kitchen has a nice sour chicken soup which is good. But I wish they have more of the familiar 'hu tieu' style dishes. There's more vietnamese influence there than Chiu Chow.

Kim Ky - my god this place is always packed. I've eaten there before and it's not bad. I haven't found a day where I'm ready to endure the wait again though.

There's also a bunch of other Chiu Chow noodle houses in LA/SGV and like RaytamSGV said, most start with Kim. There's Kim Tar (M. Park), Kim Chuy (Alhambra), Kim Fung (M.Park), Kim Chuy (Ctown), Chiu Heng (Ctown).

[condiment]

Do any of the Chiu Chow noodle places garnish the soups with little crispy cubes of lard, the way Chiu Chow places do in SE Asia? I've only encountered that once here, at a long-deceased Alhambra Vietnamese place.

[ipsedixit]

I believe I've seen that done at Mien Nghia in chinatown.

[eatdrinknbmerry]

crispy cubes of lard? whoa. the only crispy things i've seen in my chiu chow soups is fried shallots.

[raytamsgv]

My list is very similar:
1. Seafood Village: House special crab
2. Chau's Kitchen: no special preferences
3. Kim Ky: thick rice noodle soup with satay sauce or ribs

Kim Ky also has a location in Rosemead, although I've never actually been to that branch:

Kim Ky Noodle House
9014 E. Garvey Ave., #H
Rosemead 626-569-9511

[WHills]

1) Seafood Village in Monterey Park
Shrimp balls, the oyster porridge

Is Kim Ky Chiu Chow or Vietnamese? My mom is from Chui Chow, so she tells me most of the Kim places are actually Vietnamese places with a Chiu Chow twist, but they aren't really authentic Chiu Chow.

[ipsedixit]

Not to disagree with your mom (as I am really not an expert on the issue), but from what I understand alot of the Chiu Chow folks came to the States via a stop in Vietnam (and Hong Kong) and hence there is alot of Vietnamese influence in Chiu Chow cooking, esp. here in the States.

But I defer to your mom ...

[revets2]

whills is correct.

chiu chow is chinese, cantonese, actually, also known as teochow from the chaozhou in the eastern guangdong, PRC.

many immigrated from this area to southeast asia, especially singapore. that's why you'll see the southeast asian "twist" on the food. but it's not the real thing.

authentic teochow or chiu chow is very clean in its flavors with an emphasis on the quality of ingredients. the cuisine is famous for its excellent broths and rice soup among other things.

for very authentic teochow, refer to my post below.

[slacker]

Seafood Village. We had a bunch of different dishes there and they were all good except that special fish with lemon, that was terrible, and expensive on top of that.

[ipsedixit]

The house special fish I am referring to is a broth (or soup) and comes with its own chafing dish.

[slacker]

Don't know which fish you were referring to, their special fish with preserved lemon also comes with a chafing dish, but I don't recall it being very soupy. They proudly advertise it on their wall, along with other specials. Could be a different fish.