71009 Tue Jul 05 22:15:23 -0700 2005 2 2 Los Angeles Area 0 388673 Went there for lunch today. My intrepid lunch partner is about to undergo colon operation - so this was his last spicy meal for a long long time! I need new lunch partner :-( It took a long time for them to seat us. There were some large tables that were empty, but since we were only 2 in our party, they were reluctant to give us those tables. On one table, I noticed a single white person sharing it with two Chinese ladies. Maybe we should have done the same! We could not find all the dishes Jerome had reported in his earlier email - so we flew w/o GPS! We had the Jade Celery cold-platter. So so. Maybe I had higher expectations. On the next table they ordered the vegetarian duck - it looked great and next time, we will order that instead of the jade celery. We saw many tables had ordered dim sum and my friend was thinking about xialongbao - so we asked. It is the first item on their dim sum section - and we ordered them. 8 perfect soup filled dumplings, with the black Chinese vinegar and shreds of young ginger. Aahhh... good to the last drop! The next dish we ordered was fish with hot tofu. This was excellent and the standout dish. But when we were leaving we saw another table which had ordered the fish tail with tofu - that looked even better. Next time! We also ordered shredded beef with hot pepper - this was somewhat sweetish and very different in taste than any other place we have had similar dish. But this was probably the worst of the lot. Finally, we had their three flavored noodles - pan fried egg noodles with lots of seafood and vegetables in a brown sauce. This was also good - it reminds me of the Hakka chowmein we get in India - somewhat goopy mess which is loaded with fun. We left satisfied - but my favorite in that neighborhood is Yungui Garden. If MaLan is in business, I might even summon the courage for a second visit there someday. Tue Jul 05 22:15:23 -0700 2005 0 Suvro 1 388676 The xlb are great there. Next time, try the "leek with eel paste", really shredded eel with leeks in a sweet paste. The shredded beef with hot pepper is just this restaurant trying to do a sichuan dish. Unfortunately, it will suck. The fish with pine nuts, (yes vegetarian duck is good there) or the lions head meatballs (either with duckegg and crab, or straight pork) are really outstanding. But yungui is great. And completely different. I like both. Tue Jul 05 22:33:33 -0700 2005 388673 0 Jerome 2 388773 The spicier dishes at Giang Nan don't necessarily suck. One of the best dishes in the restaurant is the fish with spicy bean paste, which you will often see on two tables out of three. It's pretty similar to the dish that was the specialty of that Hunan place up on Las Tunas that seemed to change its name every couple of months: Good Taste, I think was the last incarnation. Wed Jul 06 15:11:57 -0700 2005 388676 0 condiment