11–20 of 33 posts
To people who enjoys food: you never know what you've missed if you never been to Sichuan or Chongqing.
Somewhat less authentically, the "Chang" of PF Chang is her son Philip Chiang, who had to change even his own name to better suit American palates. Mongolian Beef, California rolls and a Great Wall of Chocolate, anyone? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._F._Chang%27s_China_Bistro
nothing wrong with that, seems to have done very well for himself.
Maybe "The Mandarin" was authentic, I don't think I went there, but having lived in SF for 11 years I never found any authentic asian food in SF. I found some in Fremont. There's plenty in San Gabriel, Alhambra, and other places on the north east side of LA but SF, nothing. No authentic Japanese, no authentic Chinese, no authentic Vietnamese, no authentic Korean, no authentic Taiwanese, no authentic Malay/Singapore/I…
Maybe "The Mandarin" was authentic, I don't think I went there, but having lived in SF for 11 years I never found any authentic asian food in SF. I found some in Fremont. There's plenty in San Gabriel, Alhambra, and other places on the north east side of LA but SF, nothing. No authentic Japanese, no authentic Chinese, no authentic Vietnamese, no authentic Korean, no authentic Taiwanese, no authentic Malay/Singapore/I…
Similarly, Crystal Jade (RIP) re Chinese food.
Somewhat less authentically, the "Chang" of PF Chang is her son Philip Chiang, who had to change even his own name to better suit American palates. Mongolian Beef, California rolls and a Great Wall of Chocolate, anyone? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._F._Chang%27s_China_Bistro
But at some point they were bought out by a company that was intent on squeezing every penny out of the place and didn't care about quality. The sauces changed for the lettuce wraps to obviously cheaper ingredients, then the waiters stopped even making the sauces. Prices of the all the dishes went up as the serving sizes shrunk. Then the quality just went to shit.
When I lived in Asia, I could obviously get amazing authentic Chinese food. But, whenever I visited home I would always get a turkey sub first (turkey is harder to find than a good sub sandwich in general) and then American Chinese food. PF Changs used to easily fill that niche and was ruined by a bunch of terrible people who I'm sure got promotions and now are ruining some other restaurant while increasing profits for the owners.
Maybe "The Mandarin" was authentic, I don't think I went there, but having lived in SF for 11 years I never found any authentic asian food in SF. I found some in Fremont. There's plenty in San Gabriel, Alhambra, and other places on the north east side of LA but SF, nothing. No authentic Japanese, no authentic Chinese, no authentic Vietnamese, no authentic Korean, no authentic Taiwanese, no authentic Malay/Singapore/I…
- dumpling specialist
- chongqing xiao mian
- mr zsechuan
- jiang nan
- the pancake house
And that’s it, these were hard to find for sure.
Vietnamese is uber hard to find, but yummy yummy is really good, bunbo at cordon bleu is legit too. I like the buncha At tin.
If you’re saying that there is no good korean, oh boy you’re in for a treat, go to Daeho!
For thai: zen yai is uber legit, be sure to ask for “thai spicy”
Then go to 85C get some good taiwanese pastries, and then to little sweet to go get a hong kong style coconut drink with sago.
For Japanese, just avoid the over hyped places, go to kuishinbo!
Also, go to yemeni kitchen, pakwan, doppio zero, gusto pinsa romana,
Maybe "The Mandarin" was authentic, I don't think I went there, but having lived in SF for 11 years I never found any authentic asian food in SF. I found some in Fremont. There's plenty in San Gabriel, Alhambra, and other places on the north east side of LA but SF, nothing. No authentic Japanese, no authentic Chinese, no authentic Vietnamese, no authentic Korean, no authentic Taiwanese, no authentic Malay/Singapore/I…
What? This statement is so hyperbolic. - Pho in general in the US is pretty close to Pho in Ho Chi Minh. i.e. Turtle Tower doing Chicken Pho is pretty good and close. - Dim sum is dim sum. The places in Chinatown serve a Ha Gau or Siu Mai and largely the same in Hong Kong... how is it not authentic? - Japanese... Nigiri, sashimi is.... authentic? To say there's zero authentic Japanese seems too. Seriously, sashimi ho…
Maybe "The Mandarin" was authentic, I don't think I went there, but having lived in SF for 11 years I never found any authentic asian food in SF. I found some in Fremont. There's plenty in San Gabriel, Alhambra, and other places on the north east side of LA but SF, nothing. No authentic Japanese, no authentic Chinese, no authentic Vietnamese, no authentic Korean, no authentic Taiwanese, no authentic Malay/Singapore/I…
Hmm, restaurants from Japan have opened locations in SF though. E.g. Hinodeya, Mensho, Tsuta. Did you feel even those weren't authentic? Similarly, Crystal Jade (RIP) re Chinese food.
To people who enjoys food: you never know what you've missed if you never been to Sichuan or Chongqing.
The weird thing about Chengdu is that they don’t have kungpao chicken, which is actually just Beijing-style Sichuan food. You can have inauthentic Chinese food even China.
Gongbao jiding is traditional Sichuan dish. You might simply did not see that on menu at chengdu. Sichuan has 80million people, chengdu 16million, it’s expected to see highly clustered food style even in a city.
To people who enjoys food: you never know what you've missed if you never been to Sichuan or Chongqing.
The weird thing about Chengdu is that they don’t have kungpao chicken, which is actually just Beijing-style Sichuan food. You can have inauthentic Chinese food even China.