Best place to eat in Chinatown for lunch?

[taz99]

What's a good place in Chinatown to eat lunch? We're just visiting, not locals, but want to eat there. I did that a few times on previous visits and it was cheap and fun. Not sure where I went tho, it was many years ago.

[ML8000]

Yuet Lee but it's not cheap, but it is a hole-in-the-wall...with very good seafood.

[Robert Lauriston]

Like at a lot of Hong Kong seafood places, you can eat fairly badly at Yuet Lee if you order the wrong things. Might be a bad place to take someone who's skittish about dim sum.

[taz99]

thanks, everyone!

I don't think my boyfriend would dislike dim sum. he eats everything. he just might prefer non dim sum more than actual dim sum.

but I adore dim sum, so I'm thinking that might be the route we go. no dim sum exists in kentucky, where we live. seriously. not a single restaurant serves it.

[bbulkow]

If he eats everything, and he's never had dim sum, he'll love dim sum.

[shanghaikid]

great eastern has a checklist for dim sum ordring so you won't see it before ordering.

-either go to a restaurant that has push carts so you can see the dim sum first

-or do a lot of window shopping, lots of dim sum places display same in their window/display cases....

for starters try har gow(shrimp dumpling), shiu mai(pork/shrimp meatball) shrimp crepes/chungfun (steamed shrimp rolls) bbq pork buns.

[c oliver]

I agree with your recs for dim sum plates. Also I've never seen a dim sum place that didn't also serve "regular" Chinese food. Chow mein perhaps?

[shanghaikid]

chow mein, chow fun is often on the menu, $12+ as is roast duck, veggies,
it's win-win for the customer and restaurant
-restaurant makes sale with less labor
-customer spends less $$ to get full.

[ML8000]

Yeah, ordering off carts is way better and you tend not to over order and of course you can see it. Doesn't look like much but you can get filled up quickly.

I went with extended family to GE for two tables and way over ordered.

[c oliver]

I think ordering is way better. But just do it a little at a time. Much more leisurely.

[shanghaikid]

do you mean s.f.? assume so.
most bakeries have cheap rice plates.
most restaurants have cheap lunch specials.
any particular style? hong kong? cantonese? american chinese? dimsum?....

[taz99]

no particular style, and in s.f. chinatown.

I love dim sum, but not sure my boyfriend will. so maybe a place that offers dim sum and then some.

[TopoTail]

Check out Bund Shanghai on Jackson. Lion's Head Meatballs, Mongolian Beef, good Xiao Long Bao, and lots more. It's clean and quite good.

[taz99]

thanks, topotail!

[c oliver]

Agreed. I also like the braised pork shank and the dan dan noodles.

[Robert Lauriston]

Z&Y across the street has the best dan dan (tan tan) noodles I've had in a restaurant around here.

[c oliver]

Thanks for the rec. I've been getting in the mood to make some also.

[shanghaikid]

2nd shanghai bund (640 jackson), not sure it's cheap, midrange for sure. they may have mandarin dim sum, don't remember. for dinner, they validate parking @portsmouth square garage. for lunch, you can always ask.

other considerations:

-great eastern (649 jackson), great dim sum (list) mid range with regular menu also

-loving hut (1365 stockton) vegan renditions of asian foods, inexpensive

-capital (839 clay st) -local hole in the wall,. cheap eats, chinese menus, pics all over the wall. daily specials

-hon's won ton(648 kerarny) famous decades ago for noodles, won ton, haven't been in a while
-yuet lee-recommend curry beef brisket over rice(5.75 a year ago) believe specials are posted on a wall in chinese and english.

*all within a few blocks of portsmouth garage.

[grayelf]

The OP might find this thread of interest: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/866408

[shanghaikid]

i wouldn't recommend any eatery i haven't personally ate at. others may. i can't.
lai hong isn't on my rader (yet).

[grayelf]

Sorry, shanghaikid, I meant to respond to the thread as a whole, not your post. I was just pointing the OP to the recent thread on a newish dimsum place in Chinatown that seemed to be getting some interest, not recommending it.