Fill in the blanks, where to go for each chinese cuisine???

[oohlala]

My wife and I just moved from Toronto to the Bay area recently. We've been trying to locate some chinese restaurant in the neighbourhood. However, our location (Colma BART station) doesn't really offer many options when it comes to that category. Before we get all depressed with the fog in our area, we need some serious recommendations for all chinese cuisines in thte city.

We were just at Z&L on Jackson this past wkn and were pretty satisfied by the quality of their food. I'm sure there outta be more fine places in the city. Please help to cure our depression by providing some restaurants below!!!

Northeast -
Shanghai -
Dumpling (preferably from Shandong region) -
Sichuan/Chongqing - Z&L,
Chinese muslim -
Taiwan -
Cantonese -
Other Chinese regional cuisines?

[wolfe]

Hakka for Hakka, unfortunately no fog relief.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/689236
Recent thread on regional cuisine.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6933...

[Ruth Lafler]

I think you'll find heading up into the Sunset/Richmond areas is more convenient than Chinatown. Hakka, as wolfe suggested. Spices and Spices II for Taiwanese-influenced Sichuan. Old Mandarin Islamic. San Tung for Shandong dumplings. Just to clarify, I believe you are referring to Z&Y, not Z&L.

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Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant
3132 Vicente St, San Francisco, CA 94116

Spices II
291 6th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94118

[Robert Lauriston]

What is northeast Chinese cuisine?

Another topic with a bunch of recommendations:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/604653

[Melanie Wong]

Northeast cuisine = Dongbei

[Calvinist]

You might try Beijing Restaurant, on the south side of SF, for yes, Beijing cuisine. And I like Panda Country Kitchen on Geary for Szechwan.

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Panda Country Kitchen
4737 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94118

[K K]

The dumplings are definitely great and tasty at San Tung in SF (along with their noodles which are great in soup, but you have to pay $1 more if you want those noodles in the stir fry plates). Another place to try may be King of Noodles on Irving, although I have yet to try their supposed special Shandong Tuoh Gu Ji (boneless chicken) or something like that

Also try Kingdom of Chinese Dumplings (to go shop on Noriega for at home use, fantastic), and Kingdom of Dumplings (sit down restaurant) on Taraval. The style is not Shandong, but Northern enough that is homey and good.

Islamic Chinese - Old Mandarin Islamic on Vicente. Although practically every local there orders the hotpot (regular broth or red fiery spicy) and of course beef and lamb.

As far as Taiwanese, South Bay is way way better

See: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/684454

Especially with the new crop of restaurants like Liang's and Mama Chen doing some regional Taiwanese. But for SF, Taste of Formosa on Clement is not bad from what I've heard. Spices I and II are Taiwanese style Sichuan (also specializing in stinky tofu and numbing spicy stinky tofu hotpot).

Hakka Restaurant might just be SF's newest and most precious gem, I would say it's regional Cantonese (although to be fair, it's technically rustic migrant cuisine, not necessarily confined to a region per se) and it's quite amazing.

There's no shortage of Cantonese in the city, although coming from Toronto it is definitely not as cutting edge as what you'll find in Richmond Hill, Markham, Scarborough etc, but you'lll find decent affordable eats if you look hard enough. I see you like HK milk tea....try Tak Kee Lee on Noriega in SF, which while it bills itself as a cha chaan teng, apparently the owners used to own and operate a dai pai dong in Hong Kong. The milk tea there is quite excellent. But if you want something that's very high end, try the version at The Slanted Door (Out The Door at the Ferry Building also has it as a to go cup). It's a little pricier, and at TSD you get a few cups as they basically charge you a pot, but the 7 leaf blend is just unbeatable. For Cantonese roasties/BBQ, Cheung Hing on Noriega (although run by Toishanese) is one of the best for cha siu, roast duck, soy sauce chicken (although on the salty side, cha siu lacks that needed sweeter molasses splash) but I'm sure other folks have their faves. Have to warn you, good won ton noodle soup doesn't really exist in SF (ie no place nails down noodles, won tons, and broth in one fell swoop) but you might find places that just barely hit the spot. Congee/jook...I suppose Hing Lung in SF, although the wait can be horrendous at times.

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Slanted Door
Ferry Slip, San Francisco, CA 94111

Hing Lung Restaurant
674 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133

Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant
3132 Vicente St, San Francisco, CA 94116

Cheung Hing
323 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94118

Kingdom of Dumpling
1713 Taraval St, San Francisco, CA

Taste of Formosa
2428 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94121

King of Noodles
1639 Irving Street, San Francisco, CA

Tak Kee Lee
2435 Noriega St, San Francisco, CA

Mama Chen
5075 Stevens Creek Blvd, Santa Clara, CA 95051

[oohlala]

thanks for the detailed recs, K_K!!!! Tak Kee Lee just seems way too far for a cup of HK style milk tea. I just have to suck it up until I get my car in July, sigh~ For now, I'll just have to distract myself wtih some homemade viet coffee.

for TSD, is it run by vietnamese? at least that's what it says in the link you've provided. That's kinda interesting to know that I can get a decent milk tea from a vietnamese place. I'll definitely remember to pay a homage to TSD when I'm in the neighborhood!

Thanks so much everyone! let the chow begin!

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Tak Kee Lee
2435 Noriega St, San Francisco, CA

[Melanie Wong]

The Slanted Door is owned/operated by ethnic Chinese from Vietnam.

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Slanted Door
Ferry Slip, San Francisco, CA 94111

[shanghaikid]

shanghai- shanghai bund, 640 jackson st. is run by native shanghaiese unlike other shanghai eateries owned/operated by cantonese speakers.