Reopens for indoor dining March 30, reservations accepted for parties of six or more.
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New-to-us dish, filet of sea bass (A.Q., this was $70). Really good. That must have been one big fish before they broke it down.
Double magnum of Bordeaux blanc, fun for a party.
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Have you tried their mei cai ko ro and sauteed crab meat with steamed buns? Really enjoyed them back in the daysâŚ
Mei cai ko ro is still good. Second only to Hakka in SF for me.
I havenât had that crab in ages. Princess clams are still great.
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I went a month or so ago and the sauteed crab meat with steamed buns was the only miss (that, or none of us âgot itâ - it wasnât terrible, but wasnât particularly impressive either).
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What was wrong with it? Execution problem?
Itâs pretty deep in the off season for crab. For $50 it better be fresh Dungeness, which this time of year isnât local. Maybe coming from British Columbia?
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No clue, since I donât really have a baseline for what the dish is supposed to be like. Flavor was just⌠kinda not there? I could tell I was eating crab, but not much more than that.
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The restaurant took some creative license with this dish. Traditionally, strictly egg whites are used to imitate the appearance and mouthfeel of real crab. Itâs then cooked in a flavorful stock to boost umami so itâs a technical dish.
But I suppose they canât charge a premium for just egg whites and it wonât sell so they mix in real crab.
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Realized Iâd never actually posted anything except the comment on the crab dish⌠apart from that, Iâm a pretty big fan. Ant Climbed the Tree is indeed pretty great, as are all the dumplings Iâve tried. Tea-smoked duck was pretty good but I only had a piece and it was for delivery so probably better in-person. Their fried rice is pretty good, though Iâm not much of a fried rice guy. Need to try a bit more of their menu but I often find myself going (or ordering from) here with people who have various dietary constraints, since it does a good job at accomodating a surprisingly wide variety of them.
steamed surf clam
with the traditional fried rice to finish
some of the best salt and pepper prawns Iâve ever had
fantastic ong choy, Iâve never had it pale and huge like that, I want to go back while it lasts
There are always some gems on the wine list.
The guaifeibong has a lot of scallion whites on top, havenât had it quite like that before. I like it with garlic and clear vermicelli.
Whatâs in the âtraditional fried rice?â
Tradition of the house. Garlic one.
I found their salt and pepper prawns to be surprisingly middling, actually, at least in comparison to e.g. their walnut prawns (which a friend insisted on getting). Not really crispy enough.
Their garlic fried rice, on the other hand, I liked a lot more than I expected, considering I donât really like garlicâŚ
These prawns were perfect texture. I think better than any fried item Iâve had there previously. Not the super-crunchy style where you want to eat the whole shell.
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Iâve also found their salt and pepper prawns to be good, but not great. I get why theyâre well-liked, but I find their salt and pepper prawns a bit different from other Cantonese preps. Sucking the shell first is part of how people eat it. Kind of like sucking the head juices first on a carabinero before taking a bite of the abdomen, common but not necessary. But with salt and pepper prawns, the extra fried crunch is kind of part of it, and maybe a bit more garlic and chiles than green onions. Personal preference - I think that Great Chinaâs preparation would be better suited to squid.
I wish they had dried scallop and egg white fried rice. Thatâs a go-to move for me where they serve Cantonese food, and if they also have a clam and mustard greens soup, I like to pour just a little bit of the broth over it near the end to mix things up.
Never would have guessed this was 34 years old.
This wasnât the cold style of Chinese chicken salad I was craving, but it was really good anyway.
Ong choy still fantastic. I guess we can thank the wet winter and spring.
Mongolian beef was fun. I just learned that this is actually a Taiwanese dish.
Vegetable chow mein. This came last and we were pretty full so itâll be the foundation of tonightâs dinner.