Pearl River Deli - Chinatown

Ordered the char sui and salt + pepper tofu today, and everything from the customer service to the food itself was glorious. Lately I’ve been so frustrated with local spots around my area and their Employees “idgaf” mentality, but after order PRD and picking up some cans from Highland Park Brewery today, I really appreciate the great customer service and amazing quality of food/drink some of LA’s best has to offer. No pictures today unfortunately, the wife & I scarfed it all down!

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I picked up some things yesterday since I was in the area:

  • Thai chicken marinade (using it this evening)
  • Pandan tofu pudding - don’t sleep on this. The ginger syrup was excellent.
  • Mapo sauce
  • Macau Pork Chop bun - first time having this and ate it 3 hours later. Was still amazing.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/CCllYvmj3Is/

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@JLee and prd need your help

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC34uQ2Dzs6/

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Thanks for posting! Done and done.

@JLee I would suggest you post this on your social media and leave it as an actual post because the window for people seeing a story is 24 hours and not all of your supporters may see this in time to actually write a review of your delicious food.

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Hate yelp too, but posted a review with photos!

Husband and I were craving mapo tofu again so Saturday we got take out lunch. Same order as last time, but we also got the yu choy greens. And tried the tofu pudding with ginger syrup. Everything excellent as usual. I do love that smokey wok flavor in the noodles! It adds so much depth of flavor.

The tofu pudding was really good, but it was different than Viet-style tofu pudding which is much more liquidy and soft. This was a little firm, almost like a custard or flan. The ginger syrup has something else in that that really added a little extra punch…trying to figure out what spice it is! Star anise maybe?


clockwise from left: tofu pudding, yu choy, salt and pepper tofu, veggie and mushroom chow fun, mapo tofu

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We have some really small mom and pop business eateries up here that unfortunately (not by choice, just very bad timing) are new and pivoted right away to takeout (and opened literally during the pandemic / post Shelter in Place start), that have to rely on yelp reviews to survive or get some exposure and cannot afford asshats who (unfortunately still) give them 1 star reviews simply because they were upset about something relatively minor that could otherwise have been dealt with if they had any semblance of social awareness and empathy.

The rationale: some random stranger looks for food to eat, uses the yelp app “hmmm let me see the reviews before I decide”. Not that yelp still has any pull in this market, but you never know…especially with a new place with very few reviews and pictures. In that edge case, a one star may deter a potential new customer.

Examples:

an eatery by the airport that was one of very few to stay open pre-security checkpoint. $19 for an entree with a side dish and a drink, and you can either be grateful they are open that you can have a hot meal vs airplane food or just junk food. Yelp reviewer gives it one star because one of the items wasn’t crispy and it was “expensive” (when two bottles of water normally would already cost an arm and a leg). That reviewer has no idea of the circumstance of the small business owner that just started, and what the level of stress and heartbreak it brings to the business owner…with some harsh criticism that could have been dealt with offline…

Another case: a new ramen restaurant that doesn’t do glue your mouth shut tonkotsu, yet some know it all asshat posts a one star because it was expensive, (only because they were upset a hanjuku tamago was not included and was a $2 supplement), yet that’s the going rate for ramen and they didn’t like it because the noodles were soggy, and they failed to request for raw noodles so they can cook it at home and adjust the texture to their own liking.

We all know FTC >>>>>> Yelp, but despite Yelp being almost irrelevant these days, it’s still being used for directory assistance for the basic things.

If any of you are in food forums (e.g. facebook food groups with a member list of 10,000+), it will help places like PRD a lot with FTC style posts of Pictorial Essays, OOE-xtravaganza, or ChowSeeker-esque marathons over there (in addition to here). Anything to get new customers salivating to try and become repeat customers is key. I’ve been trying to help some of my favorite places this way through those avenues myself, but the power of a few are limited. The more the merrier. In the process of doing so you may encounter price trolls or those who don’t know quality if they went up to them and kicked them so far up where the sun don’t shine (yet have no empathy for small businesses even if McChelin-esque, even if these were to shutter for good because they don’t care for nor want to pay for $85 bentos or chirashi), but don’t let that deter you in the least.

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Apologies the tofu pudding wasn’t suppose to be so firm, I had to use an off brand of agar that I hadn’t worked with before and my staff must have sold it to you before I realized too late. Let us treat you to another one next time! As for the ginger syrup you are correct in that we use a bit of star anise but also cinnamon and dried tangerine peel as well.

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hey @JLee no worries about it. thank you kindly for the offer but i still enjoyed it at the firmer texture! i ate half of it cold and then had the idea to microwave the rest of it for about 45 seconds and it softened into a really nice consistency.

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hainan chicken plate
As good as ever. Perfect texture and mouthfeel. @TheCookie

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Looks perfect.

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https://www.instagram.com/p/CC7Zl-7jtPe/

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Looks like this board may have had role in getting this in the menu…and maybe that @ancom.la’s there

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interesting that you’re using agar and not gypsum…def. different mouthfeel, is agar a preference over gypsum?

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC9KD-GDrQr/

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for taste, I found gypsum to leave a bitter aftertaste not sure if its the brand I have or something that interacts with Meiji’s soymilk.

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I wasn’t sure if I should post here or under FTC confessions. I bought PRD mapo sauce on 7/2. We froze half of it bc we couldn’t find any Meiji soft tofu. I found some this week at Tokyo Central. Made a batch for breakfast this morning. Delicious and well worth the wait. The mapo sauce held up very well in the freezer.

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Really sorry to miss the Hainan Chicken, but the Vietnamese Chicken Rice, Com Ga Hoi An, looks great. Question: do y’all pre-order or just show up?

i usually call or text in my order. Pay and pick up your food. easy schmeazy.

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Okay, thanks @Hungrydrunk. I’ll have to figure out my timing so it’s as hot as possible, because I want to shop at Now Serving too.

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