5 days in sf with in-laws equals mostly chinese food...your top 5 please!
well, our sf trips are normally foodie trips, meaning anything goes, except for this one. love them to pieces, and sure would not want to bring them somewhere knowing they'd eat but not enjoy. i can understand for some people it is hard to change preferences and tastes in your mid 70s, especially if you have not been too adventurous all your life...
on the positive side, they'll eat anything chinese, and thankfully the regional differences should make for some exciting variety. i'd really appreciate your input for different regional cuisine favorites in and around sf. authenticity will definitely score more points over nouveau improvisation. or to use a japanese metaphor, they will prefer the traditional sushi tastes to someone like nobu or any fusion influences. they have no problems with pigs' ears or big gelatinous fish eye balls. thank God! doesn't have to be glitzy, but clean (aka 'at least a 'b' rating from the health dept would be good').
i know koi palace will be on the list.
we *might* be able to convince them to try some non-chinese but asian cuisines thatare similar. thai and vietnamese is possible, indian and japanese definitely out.
thanks for your help.
By jacknhedy
on Aug 8, 2009 03:37 PM
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Great Eastern
Bund Shanghai
Jai Yun
Beijing
Old Mandarin Islamic
Koi Palace(given)
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Jai Yun
680 Clay St, San Francisco, CA 94111
Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant
3132 Vicente St, San Francisco, CA 94116
Great Eastern Restaurant
649 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA 94133
Beijing Restaurant
1801 Alemany Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94112
Bund Shanghai
640 Jackson St, San Francisco, CA
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adding to your SF list:
San Wang
Riverside
Bow Hon for the fish salad
Shanghai Dumpling King
Shanghai House
outside of SF:
Everyday Beijing, San Mateo
Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot, San Mateo
Trend Restaurant, Mountain View (lunch buffet)
Darda Seafood, Milpitas
Chinjin Eastern House, San Jose
China Village, Albany
Lily's House, Lafayette
Little Sheep, Union City/'Little Shen Yang, Union City
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Everyday Beijing
637 South B Street, San Mateo, CA
San Wang Restaurant
1682 Post St, San Francisco, CA 94115
Bow Hon
850 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA 94108
Shanghai House
3641 Balboa St, San Francisco, CA 94121
Shanghai Dumpling King
3319 Balboa St, San Francisco, CA 94121
Riverside Seafood Restaurant
1201 Vicente St, San Francisco, CA 94116
Trend Restaurant
400 Moffett Blvd, Mountain View, CA
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Z&Y Garden for Sichuan, Jai Yun for banquet-style Shanghai tasting menu. SF only?
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Great China in Berkeley is worth a detour for great Shandong / Korean Chinese specialties.
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Great China Restaurant
2115 Kittredge St, Berkeley, CA 94704
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Provided you order correctly.
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That's less of a challenge at Great China than at some of the other places mentioned, since their specialties are flagged on the menu.
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If they are all flagged, great. If not, here are some additional on menu and apparently off-menu suggestions.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/389071#4530518
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/389071#4668841
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/3890...
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IIRC there's a whole page titled "Chef's Specials"
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On the on-line menu there are about 46 flagged house specialties.
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Ate there tonight. New menus organized differently. No more specialties listing.
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Second both of these recs, especially Z&Y, which was a real revelation. I'm actually taking my mom, who introduced me to Great China!
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South Legend, Milpitas for outstanding Sichuan food
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Hong Kong Lounge on Geary and 17th (under new management) has been pleasantly surprising me with its exceptional dim sum (and lines to rival Koi Palace). Took a table of 10 Chinese people from Taiwan and Los Angeles, ages 11-60, there last week and got rave reviews all around.
The attention to detail, huge portions, availability of both classic and new dishes, piping hot food, and reasonable prices are all winners in my book. We spent about $15 each and had seven boxes of leftovers, for food I thought was almost if not as good as Koi Palace's.
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This sounds great. Will definitely check it out when next in SF. A lifetime ago (late 70s) I lived at 17th and Fulton. I have a feeling it was there in a different incarnation.
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Definitely; this incarnation hasn't been open more than a few months, and is thriving so far.
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Looking forward to it. That's a tough nabe (traffic, competition) so I hope it continues to do well. To me that's one of the best areas.
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Pei's family get-together sounds like a good reference point: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/643350
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Sticking to the original request, my top five would be:
Koi Palace
Zen Peninsula (Millbrae)
Jai Yun
any branch of Tung Kee/TK Noodle/Luu Noodle (just because there's no other chain like this anywhere else)
New China in Union City (for things tofu)
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Spices II (trendy youthful excellent very authentic quite spicy Sichuan -- don't miss this place if they like spicy real Sichuan food completely unlike what you will find in you typical US mall place)
South Sea Seafood Village (lots of live fish, crabs. and other Hong Kong style dishes)
Y Ben (cheap, very authentic dim sum in huge room -- keep them out of the bathroom)
Dol Ho (across the street from Y Ben, also cheap very authentic, very small)
Koi Palace
Beijing
Old Mandarin Islamic
Shanghai dumpling places on Balboa
San Tung (on Irving -- very popular with Asians - Korean-Chinese from Shandong "style")
For non threatening, moderately authentic, good Thai in a nice place try Thep Phanom on Waller. Don't miss the Lemon Grass Salad. Ask for spicy if you want it to be closer to authentic.
For very authentic Thai: Ler Ros on Larkin
If you can't get into San Tung, try Yummy Yummy for excellent Vietnamese, right next door.
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Dol Ho
808 Pacific Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133
Spices II
291 6th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94118
Y Ben House Restaurant
835 Pacific Ave, San Francisco, CA 94133
San Tung Chinese Restaurant
1031 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122
Yummy Yummy
1015 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122
Thep Phanom
400 Waller St, San Francisco, CA 94117
Lers Ros Thai
730 Larkin St, San Francisco, CA
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another link:
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South Sea Seafood Village
1420 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122
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Oh Yes--San Tung
Went there 2 weeks ago to get the dry string beans and dry chicken wings. Very unique for any Chinese place!
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hi all. just wanted to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH for all the replies. have had a chance to check out almost all the recs. i was very glad to see multiple repeats in your recommendations...heading out there bright and early tuesday morning.
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Beijing Restaurant on Alemany serves wonderful Beijing dishes. Our favorites are the Warm Pot with Fish and (house-made) Preserved Vegetable, Pan-Fried Bao-zi, House Special Eggplant (with shrimp and chicken in a hoisin flavored sauce,) Beef with Spiced Bean Curd (I think that's the name of the dish,) the noodle soups (house-made noodles) and lots of other dishes that are listed as Beijing specialties or Beijing Dim Sum. These are the dishes to order.
We also like South Sea Seafood Restaurant for dim sum.
Another good dim sum restaurant is Hong Kong Seafood on Noriega near 33rd Ave.
Also, River Side Seafood Restaurant on Vicente is very good -- my daughter called it the "good gravy" place when she was very young. Now that she's 27, she admires their master sauce.
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