After your belcampo-eggslut-wexler’s-mcconnell’s bang bang bang bang, walk up angels flight and check out moca, the broad, take a self guided tour of the disney concert hall, grand park, and the city hall observation deck.
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There is a place in Rowland Heights called Stinky Tofu King. You can get the stank tofu but they also do a good bowl of beef noodle soup and braised pork rice/lu rou fan, get a plate of A-choy. Your parents might like Lu’s Garden they do sweet potato porridge and small dishes of veggies, it’s Taiwanese but Cantos love porridge. Sinbala is known for their sausages. Yi Mei is next to Stinky Tofu King and they do Taiwanese breakfast. Right next to them is a HK Curry Fish Ball stall but they also have noodle soups and snacks. Also in the area and not sure of your parents beliefs but Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple is a nice relaxing time.
Some other places:
E&J Yummy Kitchen in Monterey Park is a cheung fun specialist.
Porky has some great ideas most people don’t know the…City Hall Observation Deck and the self tour at Disney Music Center.
If you want to actually visit The Broad it is probably too late, best to make reservations a month ahead and to get a early slot, the Infinity Room reservations are gone within 2 hours of opening.
Little Tokyo is also a short walk away. Marugame Monzo is a udon specialist and always good for a bite. You can walk across to Cafe Dulce they make a very good cup of HK Milk Tea and donuts as well as other drinks. You get a mochi ice cream at the og spot. Arthur Nakane is usually there and puts on a nice show.
Also on Sundays you can hit up Smorgasburg.
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If you can get away at night I highly rec doing a taco crawl or hitting up Koreatown.
If yes, I got another novel for you of suggestions.
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Hi @Night07,
Welcome to FTC! Glad to see you found us from our old Chowhound board. 
(Just so we remember our old friends, were you “Night07” on CH as well?)
Here are some suggestions since you were asking:
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South Bay, Day 1: Since you said you’re going to Kagura in Torrance (delicious!),
besides Mitsuwa Market, you might wanna stop by Patisserie Chantilly for delicious French-Japanese Pastries (especially their Black Sesame Cream Puffs!). -
Sakura-ya (Mochi): Also Sakura-ya is in the area as well, for down-to-earth, delicious Handmade Mochi if you prefer that.
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Dim Sum: Consider Sea Harbour over Lunasia. I don’t think Lunasia is anywhere near as good as Sea Harbour. And J Zhou is not as good as Sea Harbour either, and definitely not worth a drive from L.A. all the way down to Irvine for that.
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Croissants: We’d eat Chaumont’s Croissants over Farmshop, easily. But I adore Farmshop for a relaxing Brunch setting. So sunny, and a nice vibe.
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Day 2, SGV Dinner: Sea Harbour for Dinner. I don’t know any of my friends who’ve been to Grand Harbor who have wanted to go back (we haven’t been yet, because of all the warnings on FTC and with our friends who’ve gone).
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Are there any other cuisines you want to try?
Enjoy your trip to LA!
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DTF beef noodles are rank. Dai Ho is the choice here.
Or just go to Corner Beef Noodle House in El Monte and be done with it.
Harlam / HarLamKee are solid, but I’d rather go to Kim Ky and dive into a big plate of rice cake omelet. And then wash it down with some sour plum juice (or soda).
No.
Sea Harbour. Grand Harbor sucks.
You’re better off going for a bowl of poke at Cubed across the street than J Zhou. And I hate poke (even though I’ve rediscovered my love for tuna tartare).
That’s a good choice. You could easily spend a day there. And if you have to dine at the Library grounds, I would go to the new Freshwater Dumpling And Noodle House (inside the Chinese Garden). It’s a lovely setting, serene and beautiful, and enjoy an iced tea and almond cookie. Yes, fantastic almond cookies. Hard to mess up almond cookies. But, still, they are pretty good.
Enjoy your stay.
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Thank you for the recommendation for Freshwater Dumpling. We will be visiting the Huntington Gardens next week. Is it child friendly?
Yes indeed. Almond cookies are very child friendly.
Remember, go for the almond cookies, stay for the scenery.
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The Huntington has a children’s garden - it’s off-leash. Most of the grounds are relatively kid-safe, spare a mangy coyote or two. Oh yeah - the cactus/succulent garden is world renown and NOT kid-friendly.
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emphasis on HK/cantonese around arcadia… if nearer to arcadia is a consideration, china red for dim sum. not as good as sea harbor, and i don’t have a logical reason for dissing lunasia, but i do anyway, probably because no one speaks cantonese there.
i like DFC. harlam’s kitchen is actually a good CH choice, less a FTC choice.
newport seafood/boston seafood staying in the HK/cantonese realm for dinner. if you do embassy kitchen call a day ahead and get the shrimp paste stuffed chicken.
around arcadia lao xi noodle house. shanxi regional stuff hard to find elsewhere.
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Silly, I meant the restaurant!
Yes dear - you’re always right dear…
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[quote=“A5KOBE, post:4, topic:5336”]
I don’t think it is. Factor in the wait time (depending on the day), you can get dim sum at the level and sometimes better in SGV. Weekend waits are around 45min depending on what time you get there.[/quote]
Ah, I was just reading that old topic regarding J. Zhou and some people saying it may be better than Sea Harbour, was wondering if the early morning detour was better than Kagura. Sounds like I’ll give J. Zhou a pass!
Regarding Chef Hung, I went to the Vancouver one a little bit over a year and a half ago and… well I don’t think I was that impressed (could just be what I ordered Champion Beef Shank). Is the Irvine location better (though Irvine is also a bit far off)? I tend to prefer my beef noodle soup to be on the savory with a little spicy kick with rather chunky cubed beef. From the pictures, Dai Ho and Corner Beef Noodle looks like winners in my book. My last little jaunt, I wandered into Pine & Crane and Honey Badger and well guess I should have researched those lol. Not my favorite.
Is the Arcadia Mall the one right across from the botanical garden near the Santa Anita racetrack? I walked there last time and it should be pretty good to walk with parents. Another one I recall walking around was with that big 99. I think its San Gabriel square? I was thinking of just walking around these places. A friend of mine recalled seeing Mantis shrimp in some live tanks, anyone have an idea where that might be?
And regarding Broth, yep! I saw that topic thread on FTC a while back and thought it might be an interesting place to get a few gifts for family. And from google maps it looks like there are little plazas that we can walk around and explore or am I way off?
Sadly… I’m not a huge fan of sweet potatoes haha. I’ll keep Stinky Tofu King in mind. They love that (I… uh… will eat like one lol).
I had a good time with Simbala, very tasty sausages. Hsi Lai Buddhist temple might be a good stop as well. I’ll write all those suggestions down.
@Porky, thanks for the interesting tourist destinations. I really haven’t heard of doing those so those sound fantastic as well.
Is that the place where they made the udon fresh? I had a delicious bowl of Uni Udon at little tokyo, name escapes me right now.
I probably won’t be getting away, but if you have time, feel free to list those taco crawl or Koreatown suggestions (last time I had a great time with KBBQ at Kang Ho Dong Baek Jeong).
Yep! Though I mostly lurked and reread old topics. Big shoutout to Charles there for helping me in Toronto.
Oooh interesting suggestions for Pastisserie Chantilly and Sakura-ya. I will write them down! Regarding Chaumont, I think that will be a good idea to give that a taste!
I was thinking Lunasia since we will be going through Pasadena to the SGV after our first day. I had a good lunch last time I was at Sea Harbour so might pass on that for dim sum but am considering that highly for dinner. The other dim sum I had last time in LA was at Elite (I think it was pretty good, but not spectacular for me to go back this time). I forgot where I read about Grand Harbor, but looks like it’ll be safe to pass this time around.
Regarding other cuisines… hmm. Since I’m with parents, the cuisine will still revovle around Hong Kong/Cantonese haha. Not saying they won’t try new things, but its the satisfaction of the night that at least one meal should be Asian. If you have any recommendations, feel free. I will be happy to collect tips for my next visit!
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Ah, I was referring to DTF for the XLB not for their beef noodle soup (wasn’t bad, but not what I desired). I saw the tip for both Dai Ho and Corner Beef Noodle, and it sounds like fantastic choices! Thanks for the direction.
Huh, I’ve never seen the rice cake omelet before. Sounds like an interesting place to go to!
Thanks for the other recommendations! Sounds like J. Zhou is good for that local area, but not worth the drive.
I am willing to drive all over. It was just last time we were around Monterey Park and tried Big Tree Pastry (really good imo), Beijing Duck House (duck was a little dry last time, and some of the better items seem to require special order) and Elite (good, but don’t think I’ll need to return anytime soon). After that we did have dinner at Boston Lobster (huge lobster! great beef cubes as well though were stuffed at the end) and dim sum at Sea Harbour as well. Is Lunasia kinda like how Yank Sing is in San Francisco? I recall the servers had very good English and my bill seemed to reflect that price haha.
Hmm, I guess to further specialize on that. For one day thinking a HK style breakfast like macaroni and ham in soup and a pineapple bun. Looking for a place that also has a good lemon tea/HK Style tea. If that area isn’t too strong, maybe a place with good baked pork chops over rice.
Yeah! I recall seeing pictures of that shrimp paste stuffed chicken. Looked awesome. Is there any other notable dish you would suggest?
I’ll show my parents the menu and see what they think. Though if I recall, Shanxi cuisine may use lamb and such right? Mom isn’t too fond of that gamey lamb/goat taste.
I would take J Zhou over Sea Harbour these days. Sea Harbour used to make really amazing dim sum. I haven’t had a meal there now days that warrants a return.
Chef Hung is refined, I enjoy the nuanced flavors of their broth and the tendon and tripe are fantastic. Dai Ho and Corner Beef Noodle are more in your face broth. I like the broth better at Dai Ho but everything else at Corner Beef Noodle. What keeps me coming back to Corner Beef Noodle is their pickled cabbage, they will give you extra if you want it. But both are great.
Yes, and they have added a small “Asian” area outside with food vendors and Hop Wing Fung. Also, Life Plaza down the street and many other places to walk around.
There is nothing to see in those little centers really. But it is a short drive to Rowland Heights where you can walk around many plazas including Yes Plaza, Diamond Plaza, and many many more on Gale Ave and Colima Rd.
the food at lunasia isn’t bad, though i understand it’s a bit more expensive at the pasadena location. the place just feels… wrong to me. i associate dim sum with hk/cantonese regional cuisine, and at lunasia the staff and clientele all seem to be speaking mandarin. it just bothers me and while i make no apologies for it i also don’t try to defend it.
DFC does a really good minced pork with rice with an egg on top. i see that on a lot of tables when i go there.
as for embassy kitchen, there’s a portion of the menu written in chinese which might interest your folks. also, the stuffed duck seems to be popular but that also has to be ordered in advance.
as for lao xi noodle house, while there is some lamb on the menu including some very good lamb dumplings, the shanxi cuisine also uses a lot of aged vinegars (on a par with better balsamics IMO) so that i’d hesitate to describe anything on their menu as gamy. but since wheat is the staple crop, it’s significantly noodle based, though wheat is not always the base ingredient depending on the type of noodle; buckwheat / potato / mung bean based noodles are part of it as well. i just think it’s worth visiting.