REVIEW: Yunnan Garden, Hacienda Heights

[Das Ubergeek]

This has to be short because I'm off to bed... but I needed to post.

Yunnan Garden in Hacienda Heights (related to Yunchuan/Yungui/Yunnan Garden in Monterey Park, or it used to be). Really very good southwestern Chinese food (both Yunnan and Sichuan food).

Been twice now. Steamed chicken in clay pot, and bo luo fan (pineapple rice) the first time. Great. Tonight went with friends and mixed in Sichuan (the provinces touch, the food is similar). From the cold appetiser bar we had "jelly" noodles (think beanstarch udon) with chili oil, Sichuan flower pepper and peanuts. Outstanding. Also fantastic were thin-sliced cold five-spice chicken gizzards -- great "snap" but not too chewy. Got tofu with cilantro (very good, tofu sliced thinly enough to be "creamy" without being pebbly) and cucumbers in sesame oil (well-cut so they were cooling).

Ordered one Sichuan dish -- 水煮魚片 (shui zhu yu pian, or "water-boiled fish slices"), which was terrific -- whitefish that was cut thick enough to be slightly sweet against the hellbroth of spicy-and-numbing oil and broth in the bowl (seriously, it LOOKS like Hell but is wonderful). 雲南回鍋肉 (yun nan hui guo rou, or "Yunnan-style twice-cooked pork") is a Yunnan take on the Hunan/Sichuan dish of pork cooked with leeks -- this had mushrooms in it, which is what Yunnan is famous for. Very good, very deep flavour, nice texture, but not as good as the water-boiled fish. We also had dry-fried si ji dou (string beans), which were done well but I think I'd have preferred something a little more interesting, like pea sprouts or baby mustard greens.

Have not tried the crossing-bridge noodles. Too hot for that sort of thing right now.

Prices were cheap (appetiser table $1.50 per choice, most dishes in the $7-$12 range, large portions); service was actually very gracious, even by Western standards. I've noticed a distinct uptick in service in the SGV recently, and this is no exception.

Given that Chung King / Mr. Swiss is under renovation, Yunnan Garden should be your east SGV destination for Yunnan and Sichuan food. Once Chung King / Mr. Swiss reopen, Yunnan Garden should probably still be your destination.

Yunnan Garden
1229 S. Hacienda Blvd.
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
[phone]

[jacknhedy]

DU,

wanted to say thanks for recommending this place. wife and i went last night - ordered the fish slices, fresh frog, fried lamb ribs, and our server reco'd the eggplant - not on the menu (i had wanted the fried one) - but basically very gently steamed, (my wife thought it looked raw at first!) and then topped with chili oil, scallions, sriracha, etc. also got a plate of the cold appetizers - got the chicken (almost a cold cut ham-like taste,and 2 vegetables - cucumbers and msutard greens.)

will definitely be back. it was half full when we got in about 7p, then got totally jammed by what seemed like busloads of chinese tourists. if i were one of them i'd be very pleased after along day to feast there, and not some run of the mill place.

[odub]

DUG: Any place further west than HH that you'd recommend for similar food?

[Das Ubergeek]

There is, or was, a branch of this restaurant with varying names in MPK. It was Yunnan Garden, then Yunchuan Garden, then Yungui Garden. I may have mixed up the order but ipsedixit or Jerome can probably tell you the current name and if the current iteration is any good.

[Mr Taster]

We stopped in the Yunnan Garden in San Gabriel on Las Tunas (the menu has the MP and HH locations listed, so they must be related in some way). One thing to note... the door says they close at 11:30 but at 9:30 they were closing up. (Q: "But the door says 11:30" A: "That was when we first opened.")

We had never been to YG before (though we have traveled in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces) and didn't do any CH research beforehand, but knew of the place and the specialty dishes of the region. We ordered 3 cold apps (chicken gizzard, spicy beef, and broccoli. Great renditions of all of these...the broccoli provided a lovely cooling contrast to the spice of the beef. Gizzards were as DU describes, thinly sliced and surprisingly tender (none of the hard crack you get when biting into a whole cooked gizzard... this was almost tender with a nice chew). I had to soothe the nerves of our less intrepid (though still adventurous) dining companion by explaining that these were Chinese pupiks. Crossing the bridge noodles were very good, though the broth tasted a little like Knorr (msg? I've never been able to pinpoint the flavor that others find so objectionable) but again a nice soothing dish to contrast the spice of the lamb with cumin and the spicy wontons. By the way, wontons were spectacular.... just enough heat to make them interesting with a skin neither too thick nor too thin, and a splendidly flavorfun and juicy ball of meat in the middle.

Total bill with tip was $34. Will definitely be back.

Mr Taster

[Das Ubergeek]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[ipsedixit]

Chicken soup in clay pot is terrific.

[noshie]

I was just there and tried almost same things as Das Ubergeek, minus the chicken clay pot and my twice cooked pork (which was more like bacon) and which had green onions but no mushrooms and was sort of salty. I also had bean sprouts with green onion (not so exciting). I thought the fish was good but the broth was SO oily--I gave up trying to drink it, just ate the fish and veggies in it (think cabbage and celery, not a big fan of cooked celery)

Had six things from the cold bar: peanuts, cucumber, soybean and what looked like mustard greens, tofu, gizzards and pig ear. All very nice, I thought there was a spice I'm not wild about on both the hot fish dish and the pig ear, its like this almost efforvescent taste.

Anyway, very nice although I thought that fish was sort of oily, good price, early 40s for dinner including tip. Everyone was getting the house special noodles I noticed after we had already eaten.

[ipsedixit]

Uh ... you're not supposed to "drink" the broth in the "Boiled Fish" dish (or 水煮魚片) It's not really a soup-type dish. Just eat the fish.

[sel]

Long ago I figured out that the liquid part of 'water-boiled' dishes was not ment to be consumed like soup but when it's really good - I just can't help myself! Originally it was the look of surprise, sometimes shock on the servers faces!

[raytamsgv]

I'm truly impressed. :-)

[JThur01]

Wow, I did not know this until the last week. I guess that explains why I am rarely cheated when it comes to spiciness. And also explains some of the reactions by waitstaff when I heavily ladle the broth over my rice.

[Das Ubergeek]

The efferverscent spice was probably huajiao -- Sichuan pepper, which numbs the tongue. When combined with chile peppers the resulting flavour is called "ma la", or numbing and spicy, and is one of the "mother" flavours of Sichuan food along with things like fish flavour and strange flavour. I didn't have pig ear but some of the items on the cold bar are five-spiced and the star anise is one of the five, which is also an unexpected flavour, though I wouldn't call it effervescent.

The liquid in water-boiled fish is just to bathe the fish in, not for drinking. You must have had a very uncomfortable night. I'm sorry I didn't mention that above. A lot of Sichuan dishes, and to a lesser extent Chinese dishes in general, are very oily and the idea is you eat whatever oil clings to the food.

Glad you enjoyed the rest, though.

[noshie]

Well I did not drink much of the oi once I realized what I was drinking, I put pieces of the fish and veggies on top of the rice. I know star anise and five spice, I think the answer must be in the huajiao.
Is the cold bar standard in other restaurants and if so where else would you recommend (I've seen the things on there in plastic containers in the Chinese market,, but its nice to have the varierty of picking three to a plate)? That was quite a highlight, there was a football game on and lots of people were eating from the cold bar quite a nice combo I would think with a cold beer. I also saw people taking the cold bar stuff to go.

[Das Ubergeek]

Any Sichuan -- real Sichuan -- place will have a cold bar. Chung King, Chongqing in HH when it reopens after remodel, or Chong Qing Mei Wei in Irvine... (why are they all named after Chongqing?! Where's the love for Chengdu?!)