honest hearty hole-in-the-wall fare

It was an outing in Sham Shui Po with my new friend John MacArthur whom I met on Facebook through a mutual friend. John was taking me to lunch at one of his favorite little eateries and I was eager to follow. Sham Shui Po isn’t one of those areas that I venture out to on a regularly basis, not even when I lived here, so the thought of someone showing me a hole-in-the-wall was really exciting.

After a short taxi ride, we arrived outside of Shandong Chinese restaurant and I didn’t know this was the place because there were tons of other restaurants around. I exclaimed “oh, Shandong food! I like this sort of food”.John asked if I wanted to eat that or, there were Thai places just around the corner. I was quite happy to step inside and eat this food without much hesitation.

The restaurant seats about 25-30 people tightly and they were generous enough to give us a four-top and left us in peace to peruse the menu. John asked if I read Chinese and I said I do, but only menus, which definitely comes in handy while in Hong Kong because the majority of hole-in-the-walls do not go to the trouble of translating anything into English.

Just a quick word of warning, since there is no English name, I am using a phonetic version of the Chinese (Cantonese) written into English and then a translation.

We started with Ma Lat Gai (HK$22/US$2.85)– poached chicken with a Sichuan peppercorn sauce — tender, moist pieces of chicken with bone intact and drenched with a gorgeous numbing peppercorn sauce with tons of cilantro.

Chuen siu or skewers (HK$10/US$1.30 each) is offered in lamb, chicken or pork and we opted for one of each. Our favorite was the lamb. All of them were seasoned with cumin and salt, cumin being one of the widely used spices in the most northern parts of China.

Tza Tseung Meen (HK$20/US$2.60) or Chinese bolognaise is a noodle dish with a ground pork sauce topped with julienned cucumbers. The base of the sauce is made from beans and my mom makes a mean version of this. Unfortunately this was weak in flavor and I wouldn’t order it again.

My favorites were the Sui Gau or dumplings (HK$12/US$1.50/5pcs). We ordered five pieces of two types. The Chinese celery filling was nice and the celery retained its crunch. There was also a good ratio of meat to vegetables which keeps the filling moist.

However, the dill and pork was our favorite with the wonderful aromas of the dill shining through. I am so glad I ordered this — I didn’t even know it was dill in Chinese so it was a pleasant surprise when we bit into them.

Of course, no Chinese meal is complete without some sort of greens and John loves the Potato Shoots (HK$10/US$1.30) which are blanched and then drizzled with a light soy sauce. I love this vegetable and sometimes buy it from the farmers markets.

These little places are still my favorites to eat at. The food is good, simple and tasty. This meal only set us back a mere HK$120/US$15.40 total. We were full and very satisfied without breaking the bank.

Shandong Chinese Restaurant
G/F, 81C Un Chau Street
Sham Shui Po
Kowloon
Hong Kong

Chinese breakfast at Four Seas wins my vote

My BFF recently moved to the area and it is so lucky that this place is right down the hill from her house. So when I last visited her, we dropped by Four Seas to grab some Taiwanese breakfast.

The only person who speaks or reads the menu (it’s all in Chinese) was me, so I ended up getting the task of ordering. Note: you place your order and then the food is brought out to you. The trick is to find a spot to sit at when the place is jam packed.

Salty soy milk is one of my favorites. It has really good consistency and with a few dashes of vinegar, soy sauce and hot oil, it was perfect. I like mine to curdle a little so the more curdle means more vinegar. The milk soup is filled with bits of dried shrimp, pork sung, scallions and slices of you tiao (Chinese crullers/doughnuts) but I don’t like them in there, preferring to order them separately so they stay crispy.

The you tiao are excellent but naturally, greasy. They are crispy and chewy — of course, not as good as those you get in hong Kong — and some of the best you can get state-side.

Niu Rou Shao Bing (beef sandwich) comes withor without pickled mustard greens inside. I prefer them with the pickled greens but some people might not. I like the fact that it adds moisture and a fresh crunchy component to it. The bread isn’t bad either, but it is too flaky and doesn’t hold the sandwich up as well as it could have.

Most of the items here are carbo-filled and to counteract that I like to order the soy braised eggs to give me a little more protein. The ones here are milder than those I make at home and not as salty or flavorful.

Potstickers are greasy but oh so delicious. Stuffed with pork and bits of vegetables, the wrappers had the right amount of thickness. These are definitely not to be missed but they are just very oily. Don’t let that deter you though, they are so good!

I always like chives turnovers but here, the pastry is different to the ones I’m used to, flakier but also drier. The filling consists of chives, egg, glass noodles and some dried shrimp for added flavor.

Four Seas is one of the best places to get this type of food. For me, it is too far to drive all the way there to grab a bite, although when the hankering hits, I may be inclined to do so. These days, I have an added excuse to visit BFF with Four Seas only 5 minutes away!

Four Seas
2020 S Hacienda Blvd
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
Tel: 626-330-3088

Dumpling & Noodle House

I’ve been here many times and through the years I’ve managed to weed out what I don’t like and stick with what I like.

I don’t know why it has such bad reviews on Yelp, but I figure if you go to a Korean joint and order “Japanese” food and then complain about it not being good — well, I don’t know what to say.

Dumplings & Noodles is a Korean establishment and serves predominantly Korean style dishes but there is also ramen, udon, Japanese curry, katsu, teriyaki and tempura on the menu. I pretty much stick to what I like and that means the Korean offerings.

I usually come here with my friends Lena and Jenny, both Korean, and we always order steamed dumplings, #1 on the menu ($5.52). I’m really picky when it comes to dumpling — well, maybe not only dumplings — and the wrapper and filling has to be just right or else it ruins the entire eating experience.

These are in my top three Korean-style dumplings in Orange County, and that says a lot. The filling has a good vegetable to meat ratio and that is very important to me. I loathe dumplings that are  filled with mostly meat because the inside becomes a hard lump. The moisture from the vegetables help keep it a good consistency.

Generally, steamed dumplings tend to be drier than boiled dumplings but these are so good with no sign of dryness at all.

You can create your own dipping sauce from the condiments available on the table — soy, vinegar and a sprinkle of chili powder is what I like.

Chewy cold noodles and vegetables with chili sauce #44 ($7.36) are indeed chewy and so refreshing on a hot day.

The sauce is made from gojujang (Korean red chili paste), vinegar and sugar, so the end result is tart, slightly sweet noodle dish with a kick to it. Julienned cucumbers, soybean sprouts and shredded lettuce are mixed in and half a boiled egg lends a little protein to the dish. It is quite delicious.

I make kimchi fried rice at home with very fermented kimchi. The version here — stir fried rice with kimchi #90 ($8.28) — is milder than what I’m used to which means fresher kimchi is used.

It is topped with a fried egg — a really soft and runny one — and when broken into, the runny yolk oozes onto the rice making it even tastier than ever. I’m such a sucker for a runny yolk!

Kimchi dumplings are good too if you are a fan of kimchi. If you are not, well I don’t know why you would even go eat Korean food — just kidding! There are so many different things to eat in Korean cuisine that you can bypass kimchi altogether if you wanted to.

They do give you three types of banchan — kimchi, vinegared daikon cubes and Japanese pickled daikon called takuan, but they are lame.

There is a reason why the name of the place is Dumplings & Noodles. My advice is to stick with the Korean fare — namely, dumplings and noodles — and stay away from the items they borrow from other cuisines.

Dumpling & Noodle House
13256 Jamboree Road
Irvine, CA 92602
714-508-8989

>Noodle House — carbs done oh so good

>I’m not supposed to eat a lot of carbs. Normally, I try not to and even if I do, I’ll stick to the good carbs such as whole wheat, grains and other healthy options. However, when I come to Noodle House, all of that goes out the door and what I am left with is refined white stuff everywhere I turn. I know it’s bad for me, I know I should be eating it in moderation — in my case, very moderated! But once those baos (buns) and dumplings hit my mouth, I just can’t stop at one, or two, or three for that matter. Noodle House is known for its Tianjin style steamed buns which are smaller than what you ordinarily will see at dim sum, and what is different is that these buns have the fluffiness of the regular buns, but the outside is a lot thinner, less dense. The encased filling is really juicy and succulent leaving a small pocket of soup when you bite into it. The beef and green onion buns are excellent as are the pork with leek, and while they are famous for vegetarian buns as well, they aren’t as tasty as the meat-filled alternatives. For me, what is better than the baos are the dumplings, namely the ‘sui jiao’ — you can choose from sui jiao (boiled dumplings), zheng jiao (steamed dumplings) and guo tieh (potstickers). I always go for sui jiao because to me, this typifies what a good dumpling should taste like. I like the shrimp and pork filled dumplings (pictured) as well as anything with leek in it. We always end up ordering a lot more than we can possibly finish, but then that means there will be leftovers for the next day and maybe the day after. I only wish they would open one closer to me — but then again, maybe not!

Noodle House, 18219 Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748. Tel: 626-839-8806

>Din Tai Fung — dumplings galore

>After so many trips to DTF, we actually were beginning to think that the little soup dumplings were a myth — until today. We got there so early, that we had to stand in line to wait for them to open. I put in the order for the little soup dumplings and lo and behold, they didn’t tell me that they had ran out! YAY!!! When they arrived, there were about 20 to a basket and served with a bowl of soup with chiffonade egg strips on the side. They were really quite tasty, but go with more friends, otherwise you end up having to eat a lot of them and you won’t have room for the xiao long baos!!

Din Tai Fung, 1108 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA. Tel: 626-574-7068