M.Y. China

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Honestly, I've walked by M.Y. China many times and never really thought I'd ever step foot in Martin Yan's most recent restaurant establishment.  Having grown up on Martin Yan on KQED, I've tried a couple of his restaurants and found them really unappetizing.  M.Y China is an attempt to bring a mostly Mandarin style menu to the mall crowds in a slightly more upscale environment.  Most of their dishes revolve around hand pulled noodles, which is rather exciting since its not commonly found in SF proper (more so in the South Bay area).   

Beef noodle soup is to Taiwanese people as won ton noodle soup is to Hong Kong people.  I've never been to crazy about this soup, but I can appreciate a good bowl, especially during the winter.  The best thing about this soup is the hand pulled noodles.  Since the noodles are hand pulled and cut, they come in various thicknesses and textures so each bite of noodles is something different.  Everything else about this soup was lackluster, from the too salty broth to the gristly slices of beef.

The wild boar scissor cut noodles are the known specialty in this restaurant.  Its appearance is on almost every table in the restaurant.  While I do have to applaud Martin Yan for bringing hand pulled noodles to the masses, this scissor cut noodles lacks any of the pan fried noodle bits found in these types of dishes.  If you've never had scissor cut noodles, the noodles are actually fun to eat and gives a different texture to the average Chinese noodle.  The flavoring reminds me a lot of beef chow fun. 

The Shandong beef rolls were one of the better dishes I had this meal.  Thin slices of beef are wrapped in a thin pancake crepe and topped with sweet hoisin sauce.  The flavor is pretty good, but the meat is too chewy and seems to be a lower grade of beef.

Inside the beef shandong rolls.

     

Address:                   MY China
                                  Westfield Shopping Centre
                                  845 Market St. 4th Floor
                                  San Francisco, CA 
 

Type:                         Chinese

Popular chomps:       wild boar dumplings
                                   wild boar scissor cut noodles
                                   truffle dumplings
                                   dan dan noodles
                                   beef hand pulled noodle soup

Chomp worthy:          nothing   

Ramen Yamadaya

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San Francisco must have heard my whining and whimpering of more ramen spots in the city because Ramen Yamadaya is one of the many upcoming ramen restaurants opening here in SF.  The interior is a little odd to say the least, but once you get over that, its a nice option to have for those chilly SF nights.

A side order of yamadaya topping comes with wood ear fungus, bamboo shoots, green onions, pork belly, egg, and slices of seaweed.

The yamadaya ramen has a nice salty, fatty taste to it.  Not the best bowl of ramen, but its definitely a better version of the whats available in the city now.  One odd thing about this bowl of ramen is the noticeably thinner noodles.  The jury is still out on if I like the thickness of the noodles, but it does slurp well.

Tsukemen has been gaining popularity here in the city and its nice to know that its available here if you dare to try the dipping style ramen.  I love how there are slices of fatty pork soaking in the dipping broth.  I've noticed for tsukemen there are two groups that exist - those that absolutely love it (Chef David Chang falls into this category) and those that eek out an "eh" when they have it.  I'm part of the latter.  While I do enjoy a good bowl of a ramen, I've never had a tsukemen that's worth the extra dipping effort.

Address:                  Ramen Yamadaya
                                 1728 Buchanan St.
                                 San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                        ramen/Japanese

Popular chomps:      yamadaya ramen
                                  tonkatsu kotteri ramen
                                  tsukemen

Chomp worthy:         yamadaya ramen  

Bun Bo Hue stall @ Ben Thanh Market

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Literally right next to the banh cuon stand was the bun bo hue stand.  Even though, I knew that bun bo hue is not a local speciality (its from Hue), I had to grab a bowl since I wouldn't be making it to Hue.

The bun bo hue is very light and fresh tasting with a surprisingly plentiful amount of meat and fishcake.  Its actually not spicy and they give you a side dish or chilis to add based on your preference.

Thinly sliced banana blossoms and other herbs for adding into the bowl of bun bo hue.

The one good thing about hot weather is the good excuse to try different types of drinks.  The lychee drink was sweet and refreshing.

Address:                    bun bo hue stall @ Ben Thanh Market
                                   intersection of Le Loi, Ham Nghi, Tran Hung Dao, and Le Loi sts. District 1
                                   Saigon, Vietnam

 

Type:                          Vietnamese

Popular chomps:        bun bo hue

Chomp worthy:          bun bo hue    

Lunch Lady (Saigon, Vietnam)

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The Lunch Lady is sort of huge tourist attraction, especially after appearing on Anthony Bourdain's show.  Supposedly huge buses drop tourists off to taste her soups, but most of the diners I saw were locals. 

There is a different dish served every day of the week. 

Today's dish is hu tieu nam vang.  Fresh shrimp topped with ground pork, a quail egg, and chewy noodles complete this hearty bowl of soup.

Fresh cut chilis and lime wedges for extra kick.

Herbs such as can tau (Chinese celery) and lettuce are provided for you to add to your soup.

       

Address:                    The Lunch Lady (Nguyen Thi Thanh)
                                    23 Hoang Sa St.
                                    District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Type:                           Vietnamese

Popular chomps:        soup of the day

Chomp worthy:          soup of the day       

Pho Hoa Pasteur (Saigon, Vietnam)

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Before coming to Vietnam I was fully aware that one of the few dishes that was tastier in the States was pho, but I just couldn't fathom going all the way to Vietnam and not having a bowl of pho.  Pho Hoa Pasteur is one of the city's oldest and most famous pho restaurants.  Its so famous that most of the pho restaurants in the States are named after it - Pho Hoa or Pho Pasteur.

Pho Hoa Pasteur has two level and its smart to go straight to the second floor to eat because that floor is air conditioned.  Most of the tables are already set and have a variety of dishes already on them from pate chaud to bananas.  If you choose to eat anything, then you will be charged on your bill at the end of your meal.

I can never get enough cafe sua da, especially in this heat and while eating pho.

 



Pho Tai is my standard order of pho.  Here instead of serving the meat in thin, round slices, its ground up and piled into the bowl of pho.  Since the bowl of pho is quite hot, the raw meat cooks rather quickly.  The broth was murky and very light in flavor.  It lacked the distinguiable beefy taste that is found in pho from the States.  The broth is tenfolds better back home.  I did like the noodles, which were chewy and not clumped together.

 



The herbs for adding into your bowl of pho.



Address:                   Pho Hoa Pasteur
                                   260C Pasteur St
                                   Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Type:                         Vietnamese

Popular chomps:      gio chao quay (Chinese fried donuts)
                                   pho tai
                                   pho bo

Chomp worthy:       nothing     

Pho Kim Long Restaurant

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 Pho Kim Long is a widely popular pho restaurant in San Jose.  At lunchtime you can often see lines out the door for those waiting to warm their tummies with a bowl of pho.  Although the line looks long, it goes rather fast.  They churn out the bowls at a remarkable rate.

The spring rolls here are pretty standard.  A couple of shrimp, some vermicelli noodles, and a mixture of lettuce, mint, and basil are all wrapped in a rice paper and dipped in their peanut sauce.  I like to put a little of sriracha in my peanut sauce to give a little kick.

Most people will tell you to come to Pho Kim Long for their chicken pho, but another popular bowl is their bun bo hue.  When the weather starts getting chilly, I start craving for a big bowl of soup and a bowl of spicy bun bo hue always hits the spot.  To me, the bun bo hue is just okay and not rave worthy.  I think the broth is much too light and lacks that perfect combination of spicy, sour, and sweet.  They do fill the bowl with more meat than most places.

The plate of herbs and lettuce for the bun bo hue is one of the skimpier ones I've seen, but that's fine since I prefer my bun bo hue quite basic.

The chicken pho is what they are most known for here.  Its the Southern style of chicken pho with the thinner vermicelli noodles and large chunks of chicken ( you can request it without skin and boneless).  The broth is light and comforting, but I still prefer the taste and preparation at Turtle Tower ( see post HERE),

The "aromatics" (as the Asian fusion restaurants like to call them) were made up of beansprouts, jalapeno peppers, and basil.  Overall, a typical Southern style plate of add on, but I do prefer extra jalapenos in my chicken pho.

Address:                     Pho Kim Long Restaurant

                                    2082 N. Capital Ave.

                                    San Jose, CA

Type:                           Vietnamese

Popular chomps:         chicken pho
                                     bun bo hue 
                        

Chomp worthy:            nothing                

Monta Ramen

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Even though I had eaten at a lot of places on this Vegas trip, most of them (Raku, Sweets Raku, Kabuto) just so happened to be located in the same plaza.  Monta Ramen is located just a couple doors down from Raku.  Not to be a spoiler to this post, but out of a pretty great lineup of restaurants in this plaza this was probably my least favorite meal of the trip.
Due to the multiple visits to this plaza, I had my eye on the huge lines every time I ate at a restaurant in this plaza so I knew I had to head out here before the restaurant opened to secure a spot in this tiny restaurant.  The line wasn't too bad.  Arriving 15 minutes before the restaurant opens will secure you a pretty good seat in the first seating.  Both the wait and the menu reminded me a lot of Los Angeles's Daikokuya (see post HERE). 

The kimchi fried rice only comes in one size.  Its a shareable size if you decide to eat ramen as well as a rice dish.  There are small bits of pickled vegetables amongst the mound of rice.  Its not really a Korean style kimchi fried rice as you can tell from the color (the korean style is more red in color from much more kimchi as well as a fried egg on top).  The kimchi taste is very light.   

The only other pork bowl I've had is the absolutely #1 fantastic one at Daikokuya so this one obviously pales in comparison.  If you've never had Daikokuya's version then this can make for a decent pork bowl, but side by side to Daikokuya's its missing the sweet sauce that ties it all together.  Also, there is a noticeably skimpy portion of meat in the bowl.

Even though the menu says that Monta offers miso, shoyu, and tokotsu ramen, they actually offer a spicy tonkotsu ramen as well as a kuro (black garlic) ramen.  I opted for the traditional tonkotsu ramen.  The bowl comes with noodles, bamboo shoots, 2 slices of pork, green onions, wood ear, but surprisingly no egg so obviously I had to add the egg to make a proper ramen bowl.  Another odd thing about this bowl is the noodles are really thin.  Almost like Chinese chow mein noodles found in won ton soup, which threw me off a bit.  While the broth does have a fatty pork flavor, it doesn't have that complexity of a good tonkotsu ramen broth.  Better than the most bowls in the San Francisco, but not in LA or the South Bay area. 

Address:                 Monta Ramen
                                5030 Spring Mountain Rd. Ste 6
                                Las Vegas, NV
 

Type:                      Japanese/ramen

Popular chomps:    tonkotsu ramen 
                                kimchi fried rice
                                pork bowl 

Chomp worthy:       nothing       

Waraku Ramen Izakaya

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Like in the movie Tampopo, I'm always searching for the perfect bowl of ramen.  Its a little difficult to find in the city, but I still hope. 

Tsukemen is served as like a deconstructed ramen.  A side of thick noodles with a side of hearty broth.  The broth is a mixture of tonkatsu and a fish based broth, heavy on the fish.  I found the broth to be much too salty even by ramen standards.

The house made tonkatsu broth is rich and milky.  Its a decent bowl of ramen, but the thick noodles throw me off here.

The tan tan noodles are a seasonal special item.  True to tan tan men style, the broth is spicy, but this one is made with chicken stock.  There was lots of spicy ground pork mixed with crunchy bean sprouts, cilantro, and green onions.  The noodles are a little thicker than normal, but still had a nice chewiness.

Address:                  Waraku Ramen Izakaya
                                 1638 Post St.
                                 San Francisco, CA 
 

Type:                        ramen

Popular chomps:      tan tan noodles
                                  tonkatsu ramen
                                  tsukemen
                                  takoyaki

Chomp worthy:         tan tan noodles
                                  tonkatsu ramen  

Iza Ramen

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Every Saturday and Sunday for lunch (11:30a - 3p) Blowfish Sushi turns into the ramen pop up Iza.  Even though the closing hours end at 3, you need to be there before 1 in order to get your name on the list before it closes.

The tori chili bowl had juicy fried chicken covered in a sweet, spicy sauce.  Its no Daikokuya shredded pork bowl (see post HERE), but its a nice side dish to the main attraction.

I really wanted to try both the iza ramen and the tsukemen, especially since I've been watching David Chang talk about tsukemen in Mind of A Chef, but the tsukemen was all sold out for the day.  Next time!  At first glance, it looks very similar to Ramen Dojo's broth (see post HERE) with the drizzle of garlic oil on the peppery, milky broth.  The broth is dense, but not as rich and salty as most ramen broths are.  The vegetables are pickled and gives a nice contrast to the broth and dense noodles.  I loved the extra char on the slice of chashu.  Not the best bowl of noodles, but probably one of the better bowls of ramen in the city.  I was disappointed the egg wasn't more runny. 

Address:                  Iza Ramen
                                 2170 Bryant St.
                                 San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                        ramen

Popular chomps:      tsukemen
                                  iza ramen
                                  goat cheese gelato

Chomp worthy:         iza ramen     

Kaka Udon Kitchen

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The name of this restaurant is sort of hilarious, but the thing that drew me here was the freshly made udon noodles.  After having some phenomenal handmade udon noodles in LA's Marugame Monzo (see post HERE), I was pretty excited to see something like that pop up in the city.

Unfortunately, the restaurant doesn't center itself around a udon making show like at Marugame Monzo, but the small area in the front of the restaurant did look like legit noodle making was done there.  I did find it little worrisome that the whole time I was eating there that no noodles were being made.

Besides noodles, they have various side dishes that you can order to eat with your udon.  The tempura shrimp look good, but tasted off.  The shrimp didn't taste very fresh and didn't seem to be fried well.

Same goes for the tonkatsu.  Looks good, but the taste was pretty bad. 

Croquettes are usually some of my favorite items to eat.  They are often made in house with a creamy center and a nicely fried exterior.  I doubt they make theirs in house since they taste pretty generic and artificial.  I suggest not ordering anything fried here since all the fried items I ordered were pretty terrible.

You pick your own soups.  This one is the soy sauce broth, which wasn't too bad.  It came with heaps of fresh vegetables and mushrooms.  The only big disappointment were the noodles.  They didn't have a chewy texture and reminded me of the store bought udon noodles at Ranch 99.

The spicy beef udon had a milky color that reminded me of ramen.  Flavorwise, I was surprised by how good it was.  Its by no means an exceptional bowl of noodles, but if they would just get their noodles chewier then I wouldn't mind stopping in to try other flavors.

Address:                Kaka Udon Kitchen

                               1535 Franklin St
                               San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                      Japanese

Popular chomps:    curry udon
                                spicy beef udon
                                seafood udon
                                miso udon
                                pork udon
 

Chomp worthy:       spicy beef udon
                                soy sauce udon      

Ramen Izakaya Goku

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San Francisco's choices of ramen spots are medicore at best.  For any decent bowl of ramen I usually have to head out to the South Bay or to the Peninsula, but Ramen Izakaya Goku has to be one of the better bowls of ramen I've had in the city so far.  Fun fact:  Goku supposed means "hella"in Japanese, which seems to be quite fitting since we are in the Bay Area.  While it also calls itself an izakaya, it is far from that.  It does offer a couple small plates and appetizers on the menu, but I'd categorize this more of a ramen spot than an izakaya.

A bowl of seasoned crispy noodles are given when sitting down for munching while you wait.  It reminds me of eating ramen straight out of the package when I was a kid.

The bbq kobe beef ribs seem to be popular here, but while the meat is very tender some parts of the meat are a bit too chewy and hard to eat.  Also, the sauce is a little too salty for my taste.

The wasabi fries are pretty much exactly what they sound like.  The fries are similar to McDonald's fries, but more crispy and sprinkled with wasabi powder.  It doesn't have the surprising punch that normal wasabi has, but it does have a nice kick.

The ramen comes with a choice of spicy option: cool, mild, medium, extra spicy, and goku (hella) spicy.  The chasu tonkotsu ramen comes with the largest slice of chasu I have ever seen in ramen.  It reminds of a thick piece of steak.  Each bowl comes with a boiled egg, bean sprouts, Kikurage mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and green onions.  The noodles are a little thicker than normal ramen noodles and a little on the mushy end.  I prefer my noodles a little more chewy and al dente.  The broth, however, is quite delicious.  Rich, fatty, salty, and everything you expect in good ramen, except without the MSG. 

The kakuni tonkotsu ramen mimics the same hearty, fatty, broth that the tonkotsu has.  Glorious globs of fat float around this delicious bowl.  The piece of Kakuni braised pork is tender and juicy, but unusually large.  Still the biggest gripe is the soft noodles, but hopefully next time I can just ask for firmer noodles.

Address:                      Ramen Izakaya Goku
                                     3232 16th St.
                                     San Francisco, CA
 

Type:                            Japanese/ramen

Popular chomps:          kakuni ramen
                                      tonkotsu ramen
                                      wasabi fries
                                      octopus balls
                                      fried burdock
                                      clam ramen
                                      bbq kobe beef

Chomp worthy:             kakuni ramen
                                      tonkotsu ramen