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Tag Archives: Hong Kong

Seashore – Simply Best

06 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by yummcha in Chinese food, Food

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Calle Mayor, Choy Sum, Home, Hong Kong, Red Bean Soup, Sea Cucumber, Seashore, Vegetable

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As far as Chinese Food is concerned in the South Bay area, Seashore is undeniably the best of its class. It is Hong Kong style Chinese cuisine served in a very comfortable, clean setting. The lunch specials here are extremely reasonably priced for what one gets, so lunch time is often packed with customers.

This is like the meeting place for a lot of the Chinese people in this area, I tend to see familiar faces here when I come.

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The lunch special is so great. It comes with choice of delicious Egg Drop or Hot and Sour Soup.  It also comes with a simple green salad which is not really so Chinese, but nevertheless, refreshing. There are over 80 different delectable choices for lunch with prices ranging from around $7.00 to $9.00.

When I come here with my son, we usually order the Fish Fillet with Vegetables, and the Pork Belly with Mustard Green. On this occassion, I decided to try something new, the Brasied Sea Cucumber.

Sea Cucumbers are believed to have medicinal properties that may be helpful for joint pain, weakness, impotence. The dish came with about 12 small pieces of Sea Cucumber, on top of a bed of lettuce. The Sea Cucumbers were very well cooked, so the texture became soft and gelatinous. It was braised in a delicious brown sauce on top of a bed of lettuce. I finished the dish easily and was very satisfied even though I was not really full.

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My friend ordered the Fish Fillet with Chinese Greens, which came with tender slices of cod fish with Choy Sum and slices of button mushrooms. The fish is always fresh with the vegetables cooked to perfection.

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The best part of the meal is the dessert – Red Bean Soup, my favorite. One of my friend even commented that the Red Bean Soup here is the best that he had ever tried, and that is including ones that he had to pay for. The beans are large and well cooked with just the right amount of sweetness. One can also choose the mango pudding, of which my son said was quite decent.

Seashore Restaurant – 5137 Calle Mayor, Torrance, CA 90505  Phone: 310-373-0751

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Garden Café – East and West

18 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by yummcha in American Food, Chinese food, Food

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Alhambra California, Barbecue, Cook, Hong Kong, Stir Fry, Tomato Sauce, Valley Boulevard, W. Valley Blvd

FISH DINNER @ GEORGE HOUSE 005

No matter how many times or how often I come here, no matter what I order, I have never been disappointed. Garden Café is probably one of the very few restaurants that are consistently dependable in both the taste and the quality of food.

Though the outside of the restaurant, especially the front entrance area, looks a bit scruffy and not the most inviting, the inside is bright, cheerful and usually bustling with customers. Lunch time can be quite packed.

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The best deal in town has got to be the Roasted Angus Beef with BBQ Sauce Baguette, which comes with a hefty amount of mouth-watering, juicy prime rib on french bread, and includes french fries, all for less than 7 dollars!

Another favorite here is the Seafood Linguine with Tomato Basil Sauce. A generous portion of noodles with a wonderful mix of scallops, fish, shrimp, mussels, squid, in a delectable tangy, savory sauce. The Braised Ox Tongue with Tomato Sauce is divine, with at least four to five pieces of the moist, luscious meat served with your choice of either rice or pasta. The excellence of this dish is hard too find elsewhere.

This type of Hong Kong style café is great because one can order the traditional Chinese dishes such as Chow Fun, Rice Porridge, Stir Fry dishes, as well as the western style offerings such as Grilled Pork Chop, Grilled Steak and Salmon, Oxtail, Ox Tongue with Wine Sauce, not to mention the varieties of Curries, Japanese Ramen, and many others. The menu is extensive with hundreds of choices.

The Red Bean Ice here is large, tasty and thick, and only $1.50 when ordering with Lunch Specials. What is a Hong Kong style café without a good HK style milk tea, a concoction made with black tea and either evaporated or condensed milk. The one here is smooth and strong, and half a cup would be enough to keep me up all night.

And if one is ever up late (or early) and hungry, the restaurant is opened from 7am to 4am, with breakfast specials.

Garden Café: 228 W. Valley Blvd. Alhambra, CA 91801  Phone: 626-289-1833

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Dim Sum is Yumm at Atlantic Seafood

30 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by yummcha in Chinese food, Food

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Chinatown, Dim Sum, Har gow, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sunday, Turnip cake, Yum cha

As any child who had spend part of the childhood growing up in Hong Kong, one of the more definitively and lingering memory would probably be going Yum cha, or “drink tea” with the family on the weekends, which really is the custom of going to a Chinese tea house to have Dim Sum – a style of food prepared as small bite-sized, served in steamer baskets or small plates, which includes a wide varieties of dumplings, buns, meats, steamed or fried, savory and sweet.

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Sunday was the official day off for my parents back then, so every Sunday morning was the beginning of my culinary adventure which more often than not, rotated between Dim Sum and Shanghai cuisine.

“What kind of tea do you want?” was the standard greeting from the waiter, which then began the morning ritual. My dad would be the one who usually poured the tea for everyone, while teaching us to tap our fingers as a sign of appreciation.

Char sui bao (barbequed pork bun), har gao (shrimp dumpling), siu mai (pork dumpling), glutinous rice wrapped with lotus leave, cheong fun (steamed rice roll), these were the dishes we always picked while sipping our hot Jasmine or Bo-Lei tea. Dim Sum, in my opinion, was the grandfather of this “small plates” movement that has become so popular these days.

The affair with dim sum continued on most Sundays in Chinatown after we immigrated to San Francisco. There were never any shortage of good Dim Sum for me.

Located on the 2nd floor inside the Atlantic Square, Atlantic Seafood and Dim Sum Restaurant was only opened last year, so the space still felt fresh and clean. The restaurant is large, with glass chandeliers and separate dining areas. I like the fact that they employ the more traditional push carts instead of choosing from a list. One is able to see exactly what the dish look like before ordering. The service was efficient, with the waiters and busboys always around when I needed anything. The best part of the experience was in the unexpected and incredibly low prices of $1.58(on weekdays) and $1.88(on weekends) per dish.

pineapple bun

Having had tried a fair amount of dim sum throughout the years, I still get excited when I come across something new, something tasty. The one item that stood out was a  sweet and savory bun that resembled a tall pineapple bun with a runny salted egg yoke custard filling. Imagine the sensation of hot, cold, sweet, savory, soft, flaky, crunchy all within a soft pastry with warm luscious golden filling.

If one desires something other than the standard shrimp and beef cheong fun, there is a vegetarian version filled with mushrooms and chives, as well as the steamed pork ribs with small rice rolls. I asked if they offer Pig’s feet with ginger vinegar with egg(usually eaten after a mother has given birth), I was told they only have Braised pig’s feet. The pig’s feet, though not too meaty, had a rich flavor as well as very tender skin.

The steamed Daikon cake came out piping hot with tiny bits of dried shrimp and Chinese sausage. I preferred the steamed version over the pan-fried. The Chinese broccoli was fresh but small in quantity, probably due to the low price. The Tofu skin roll was soft and moist with with pork, mushroom, and bamboo shoots.

steamed radish cake

While there are other places that offer similar or lower prices, they are no where even near the quality of the food, service, and the comfort of this restaurant. I would go so far as to say that this might be the best deal one can get if one is in the mood for some good dim sum with “Good Old Day” prices.

Atlantic Seafood $ Dim Sum Restaurant: 500 N. Atlantic Blvd. Suite 200, Monterey Park, CA 91754  Phone: 626-872-0388

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Simply Splendid, a Fitting Name

11 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by yummcha in Bakery, Chinese Bakery, Chinese dessert, Chinese food, Food

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Alhambra, Alhambra California, Bread, Croissant, Food, Hong Kong, Pastry, Valley Boulevard

I had mentioned previously that I would often go to different pastry shops for certain favorite breads and pastries that are unique to that particular shop. That is exactly what I do at Simply Splendid, a small, modest bakery surrounded by restaurants and shops inside an uninspiring strip mall in Alhambra.

One of my long time favorite is a Hong Kong style bread with the name of Cocktail Bun. Here, this elongated, unassuming looking bun is fully filled with a dense, luscious, buttery coconut mixture that is beyond good. Usually, I have somewhat decent self control when it comes to eating sweet pastries. I often can stop after one or two bites, and saving the rest for later. However, with this bun, which comes three to a package, I have not been able to consume less than two entire buns at one sitting.

Some days the chef would make these little mochi cubes that come in a plastic container with a side of grounded peanuts/sugar mixture. They are some of the softest and best mochi I have ever tried – with the texture being slightly chewy, and a taste that is ever so delicately sweet from the rice.  My son’s eyes would lit up every time I bring them home. The obstacle, however, is that they are not always available.

On a recent visit, I discovered a baked radish pastry that I find to be the best of its class. The flakiness of the crust, along with a moist filling of shredded radish and finely grounded pork, offers a precise combination of savoriness and sweetness, without the often overly salty taste that is associated with this type of  radish pastry.

There are two versions of the plain croissants here that I find I cannot get enough of. One is made with wheat flour and the other one with white. The texture, unlike the traditional french croissant, is not flaky. In fact, they are a bit chewy; but it is that chewiness, combined with the rich buttery taste that I find irresistible.

The mantou, a traditional steamed bun, is offered here in white and wheat versions as well, and comes in a package of four. The wheat version, if available, is the perfect bread for me. The taste might seem bland to most people, but it is precisely that blandness that I find appealing. The steaming process somehow seems a bit healthier to me than baking.

Simply Splendid:  1273 E. Valley Blvd. Alhambra, CA 91801  Phone: 626-308-3277

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Tasty Garden, Yumm

08 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by yummcha in Chinese food, Food

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Alhambra, Chinese cabbage, Hong Kong, Mushroom, San Gabriel Valley, Shiitake, Stew, Tasty Garden

When my friend would ask me where I want to go eat at while I am out in the San Gabriel Valley area, more often than not, I would say “Tasty Garden”. I have been coming to this Tasty Garden in Alhambra for many years, then a Tasty Garden opened up in Monterey Park quite a while back. The menus are slightly different at the two locations. I was able to enjoy both restaurant on its own merits for a period of time.

Unfortunately, the last time I was in the Monterey Park location, there was a questionable item inside my food; so I related that to the waitress, and told her that I wanted to exchange for another dish. After more than 20 minutes, the new order still had not arrived. I questioned the waitress, and she looked confused. She went to check in the kitchen, and apparently it was not even ordered. I was really annoyed since I had an appointment to attend to, and could not wait any more. I then waved the manager over to complain to him, all he said was that he will not charge me for the dish. He did not even apologize.

I decided not to go back. The Tasty Garden in Alhambra, however, is a different story. The food there has been consistently excellent. Whenever I would be in Alhambra, this restaurant would be on top of my list.

One of the reasons why I favor this restaurant is because of consistencies of the food. There is also a tidiness feeling to the dishes. Being that I love eating all sorts of vegetables, especially Chinese vegetables; I find the quality of the greens to be always fresh and well prepared. The inside of the restaurant, though not big, feels spacious and comfortable and clean. Another deciding factor to go there are the drinks, namely the Red Bean Iced with the addition of boba. With a lunch order, the drink costs around $2.00. Occasionally, I would get the Hong Kong Style Coffee and Milk Tea; but I have to be careful, since the HK style milk tea is so strong that sometimes I would not be able to sleep that night.

 

My usual orders here are: Baby Bok Choy with Mushroom, Fish Fillet in Black BeanSauce, Beef Stew and Wonton Lo Mein. The bok choy and the medium size shitake mushrooms are always cooked well, the vegetables are never limp, and the mushrooms are thick and savory. Since shitake mushrooms contain compounds that are known for its medicinal and health benefits, I would order it every chance I get. The cod fish fillets are bite size, tender but still firm with a slightly sweet and spicy taste from the bean sauce. The beef stew includes tendon and are soft and flavorful. The shrimp inside the wonton gives an overall crisp feel to the dumpling. Noodles are al dente.

Lamb with Dried Bean Stick Hotpot is another favorite. Here, the lamb meat includes the skin which is definitely my favorite part. The skin is smooth and soft. The sauce is made with fermented bean curd which provides a creamy texture and a salty flavor.

Tasty Garden:  288 W. Valley Blvd. Alhambra, CA 91801  Phone: (626) 300-8262

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My First Blog

29 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by yummcha in Food, Lifestyle, Travel

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Chinese bakery products, Chinese cuisine, Food, Hong Kong, Korean cuisine, Los Angeles, San Francisco, University of California Los Angeles

me and shoe

My name is Alice, so excited to be blogging after months and months of contemplating whether to start this or not. Friends have been constantly telling me for a long time to start writing and sharing my food (eating) experiences, since I so love to eat, and love to try new foods and restaurants.

Due to the fact that I am currently residing in the Los Angeles area, the majority of my writings on food-related subjects, restaurants, bakeries (my most favorite subject), and other eateries, will be in the vicinity of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is a good place to start my writing because the Chinese food here is one of the best (being Chinese, I have a bit of expertise). Of course, my all around favorite cuisine is Korean. I just love everything about Korean food, from all the varieties of kimchee, to the mixed purple rice, or brown rice with all sorts of beans inside, to of course, the main dishes such as braised black cod, cold noodles, tofu hotpot, steamed pork belly wraps, …Yum!

A bit about myself, born in Hong Kong, grew up in San Francisco, graduated from UCLA a while back, now residing in the Los Angeles area with my son who will reluctantly go out with me from time to time to enjoy some of his favorite foods such as ramen, shrimp rice noodle roll(cheong fun), pork belly with preserved mui choy, and of course Korean food such as bulgogi, galbi, tofu hot pot. I am so glad that he does take after me in regards to really enjoying Korean food.

As I have mentioned earlier, I am passionate about my pastries. After living in France for a year in a study program, I have developed an insatiable appetite and appreciation for not just French pastries, but all pastries, especially the many varieties of traditional and not-so-traditional Chinese pastries (both the Hong Kong and Taiwanese types), and the French-style pastries that are created and owned by Japanese or Koreans entrepreneurs.

I cannot wait to share my present as well as past food adventures and thoughts with someone other than my immediate circle of friends. I hope that in the process,I will learn and educate myself more on the topics of food and eating, as well as sharing ideas on other interesting and perhaps enlightening subject matter.

me2

 

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