Category Archives: Chinese

Taiwan Restaurant

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http://www.yelp.com/biz/t…t-san-francisco

Blast from the past… Ron and I used to go to Taiwan Restaurant in Berkeley on weekends for Taiwanese breakfast. We were driving on Clement the other day and noticed Taiwan Restaurant… Ron got excited since the way the name was displayed seemed almost exactly like the place in Berkeley. So we decided to check it out this morning.

We were disappointed the restaurant still treated Friday after Christmas as a weekday so they didn’t have all the weekend specialties. Oh well, just means we’ll have to visit again on a weekend! Also, it looks exactly the same as the Taiwan Restaurant in Berkeley so we think it’s the same owner, the decorations are the same, the menu is the same… yay!

We ordered soy milk, hot and sweet. It actually wasn’t very hot so when you add your own sugar, it doesn’t quite dissolve.

I can’t remember what this dish is called, I know it as bamboo rice with meat in a can. Ron says when he was a little kid in Taiwan, they would eat these as a late night snack. It was kept in a tin can and heated until ready to eat.

Fried turnip cake.

The youtiao was a bit more dense than we usually like it but it does soak up the soy milk well.

This is my favorite Taiwanese snack, called ba-wan. Outside is a glutinous rice “shell” and inside usually is pork with bamboo shoots and mushrooms. The “shell” can be yummy when its the right amount of stickness but can also be quite tough if overcooked or reheated too many times. In Taiwan, they are kept warm in a large vat of heated oil, sounds disgusting but it does keep it at a very nice temperature. It’s served with two sauces, sweet and savory.

Our breakfast came out to be $13, plus $2 tip.

Afterwards we went to check out Marley & Me. I cried. I don’t want a golden retriever and I love my cats, but I still really want a dog.

Taiwan Restaurant
445 Clement Street

Halloween Treats and San Wang Restaurant

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I haven’t baked in a while so I wanted to make some Halloween treats for my co-workers. A few weeks ago, I bought the Halloween edition of Martha Stewart Living magazine and there were these really cool chocolate madeleines with skull marshmallows. I got a madeleine pan from V last year so thought this it’d be a good time to break it out… I think this may only be the 2nd time I used it.

While I was at it, I made peanut butter rice crispy treats made in a shape of a pumpkin, using Twix for stems and chocolate Skittles for eyes.

Turned out pretty cute, don’t you think? I think everyone at worked enjoyed them, they went pretty fast 🙂

We didn’t know anyone having a party tonight so we just went out to dinner with a few friends. My co-worker recommended this restaurant in Japantown called San Wang for good jia jiang noodles. I had mentioned to her that I really liked ZaZang Noodles on Geary and she said this one was good too.

I looked on Yelp for other recommendations for dishes. From Yelp, the restaurant had mixed reviews but I thought it’d be worth a try anyways.

We ordered the spicy noodle soup which wasn’t very spicy but the hand pulled noodles were good.

The jia jiang noodles were only okay. I was a bit disappointed so probably won’t go back. The onions and pork were in big chunks instead of small pieces like I think they should be. The noodles were good though.

To round out our meal, we also had the pea sprouts. It has garlic and mushrooms, this I actually really liked.

Lastly, their dried fried chicken. I think people would like it if they like it salt and with garlic and onions. I think our palates prefer the sweet and spicy of San Tung Restaurant on Irving.

So a quiet Halloween evening. Just as well since I’ll be working tomorrow in Oakland Chinatown.

The Big Day!… A Relaxing Day…

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Today was actually my birthday so I just wanted to relax. I woke up early because my contacts were feeling dry. They are Night & Day which you’re supposed to be able to sleep and it’s usually fine most of the time.

I figured I’d get up and read for a while since I went to Borders a few days ago and picked up some clearance paperbacks. I started reading Meg Cabot’s Queen of Babble yesterday. It’s one of those corny chick books which is just entertaining reading. It was only $3.99 so I thought I’d get it for a bit of entertainment.

We went out for dinner around 5pm and headed to Coriya Hot Pot City since I was craving hot pot for some reason. I’d forgotten how cheap the place was, only $14.99 for all-you-can-eat dinner. It’s an extra $2.50 for spicy soup broth though and extra for alcohol. Soft drinks or milk tea included. They don’t have much in the way of seafood, only squid, shrimp, and fish cake. It’s not one of those all inclusive places with cooked food along with the stuff you cook yourself and their dessert is not very fancy… but if you want something pretty cheap and can fill you up, this is the place.

Just a dinner with my hubby to celebrate my official birthday. Thanks to everyone who has called, emailed, and messaged me their well wishes!!

Coriya Hot Pot City
852 Clement Street
San Francisco, CA

Asian Pearl

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http://www.yelp.com/biz/asian-pearl-fremont

We met up with my parents for dinner in Fremont. They wanted to try this new restaurant that just opened in Fremont called Asian Pearl. There is also a branch in Millbrae if you don’t want to drive all the way to Fremont but it’s probably not as large as the one in Fremont.

It’s in this huge strip mall near Auto Mall Parkway and right across the street from Costco. Next door to the restaurant is this furniture store that almost takes up one square block! The restaurant itself has high ceilings and is very spacious. There are also some private rooms, which is where we got seated. If you don’t want to end up waiting forever for dinner, MAKE A RESERVATION. My parents did a good job with that.

Our reservation was at 7:30 and we were seated within 10 minutes. The waitstaff was very courteous and friendly although a bit slow in the beginning with coming to take our order.

Their menu has a yellow/red theme. Lots of good photos.

We ordered the set meal for 4 persons, for $188. We paid a bit extra since we had 5 people.

Our first course was the meat platter with duck tongues, beef, chicken wings, and fried tofu. The tofu was the best part, crispy fried skin and soft silken tofu in the center.

Our next course was a special dish of chicken with geoduck. The geoduck was tossed with wasabi, red onions, ginger, and cilantro… oh so spicy but oh so good!

We had shark fin soup.

Romaine lettuce hearts sauteed with tofu skin and barely cooked garlic. The garlic was spicy!

A steamed black bass.

Stir fried foie gras with a variety of mushrooms and green beans. We’ve never had Chinese style foie gras so I didn’t know what to expect but it tasted pretty good, it was a bit charred on the outside but not the melt in your mouth type of texture.

Tofu medallions and scallops topped with pumpkin sauce and fish roe. You could hardly taste the pumpkin flavor of the sauce but the fish roe was there and the scallops were really fresh.

Our last main dish was the foie gras fried rice. A bit dry for my liking but the small pieces of foie gras really gave it something extra.

Last but not least, mango pudding!

They also served us red bean soup to end the meal. Needless to say, we were ready to roll home. Again just to mention, the waiters were very attentive and kept on coming by to check on how things were and appreciated our compliments by always saying thank you.

If you’re looking for a place for a Chinese wedding banquet or to hold a company dinner, I think this place has nice facilities and would be able to do a good job.

I’m not sure if we’d ever drive all the way out there again but never say never… sounds like their dim sum is good too.

Asian Pearl
43635 Boscell Road
Fremont, CA
510-979-1368

Andy’s Excellent Chinese Cuisine

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http://www.yelp.com/biz/a…e-san-francisco

Ron and I didn’t feel like making dinner tonight so decided to order food for delivery. When I checked the mail today there was a flyer for Andy’s Excellent Chinese Cuisine, free delivery for $10 minimum order and if you order $25 or more, you can get free egg fried rice, vegetable chow mein, OR one egg roll. So we figured we’d try it.

We ordered Kung Pao Chicken ($7.95) (but got Kung Pao Shrimp instead)

Salted fish and diced chicken fried rice ($6.95)

Sauteed broccoli in garlic sauce ($6.95)

To top off our order over $25, Ron ordered a TsingTao beer ($3.50)

We got the free vegetable chow mein:

They delivered in about 45 minutes as promised. Likely because we’re not that far from their actual restaurant.

The chow mein was a bit bland, needs some sort of sauce. But overall, pretty standard Chinese food, the kung pao isn’t as spicy as we would have liked.

We paid $27.50 but I have no idea how they came to that number because however I add tax, it doesn’t work our exactly. I guess they did not charge us for the shrimp, which is $1 more than the chicken.

Looking forward to the weekend so we can go somewhere nice for dinner…

Watched an interesting show tonight on FOX: Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay. If you were a fan of Hell’s Kitchen, then I think you’d enjoy this show.

Andy’s Excellent Chinese Cuisine
1358 Ninth Avenue (between Irving & Judah)
(415) 661-1803 or (415) 661-1804