Crazy how XLB’s is on so many menus now.
XLB is now considered to be “dim sum” by many. Every dumpling place is expected to have them.
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its easy when you can just buy them in secret from certain dumpling makers in SGV
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Zheng Dou Kee: It’s very good overall. Great value, especially breakfast. Looking forward to try a few more dishes in the future.
Wonton only. The flavor is generally there, don’t know anyone else makes it better locally. I need to try Tam’s again though. Manger mentioned one missing spice is en routed from HK so the flavor be should leveling up later. Beef Chow Fun is good except for inconsistent beef chewiness; it’s due to how the meat was carved. Hopeful that will change.
Beef Offal. We ordered this because the menu say “most famous beef offal”, written in Chinese. Still caught us by surprise how rich and deep the flavor was. Asked the manager what else is good:
“Authentic Chao Chou hand crafted” beef ball, #49, so popular it’s currently out of stock; waiting for another shipment. (Imported meatballs? Pique my curiosity.) Fish Paste Noodle, #37, will try soon. Good HK milk tea is rare, they have it here. Ask for hand pull if they are not busy.
Min Min: Excellent SJB. Perfect. Be mindful it’s piping hot.
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Yeah I want that beef offal and daikon!
You like Min Min more than Kang Kang?
Never tried Kang Kang. Judging from the photos, Min Min has better bao, and is less oily. Will stop by when I have a chance.
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Yes IMHO Min Min > Kang Kang
But then again, You Kitchen also > Kang Kang
As does Kingburg Kitchen > Kang Kang
As does Tasty Noodle House > Kang Kang
A pattern emerges…
SAT SGV analogy: Kang Kang is to SJB as Savoy is to Hainan Chicken Rice
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i tried replying using the email function, but it keeps bouncing. sigh
that noodle palace has a direct lineage to laoxi noodle house. their first menu:
is pretty much the same as the menu from laoxi from the same time period. moreover, i actually saw the wife show up and go into the kitchen while i was eating at noodle palace. i got the impression that the owners were her in-laws. don’t know if they’re still in charge, but they’ve clearly got someone else cooking back there as they’ve expanded to include shanxi regional oat noodles, which previously had only been offered by the now defunct shanxi noodle house in the ESGV.
they do offer the shaanxi roujiamo, as well as liang pi - the latter seems to have emigrated to most of china, so i can’t call it exclusively shaanxi anymore. but i’d hesitate to categorize them as shaanxi given the lineage and predominantly shanxi cuisine on the menu.
there are some places that describe themselves as northern, like northern cafe in MP which IIRC also serves the belt-sized noodles and also offers the big plate of chicken first associated with uighur omar way back in the day, which i now just associate with northern cuisines and not uighur exclusvely. i would have put the late liangs’ in that category after they abandoned the taiwanese franchise menu. god i miss that place. i would have categorized them as one of the first authentic pan-chinese places in the SGV. as far as i know, no one else does the fried/steamed noodles that used to be on everybody’s table when you walked in there. but liang’s also offer mao er duo, which is shanxi.
or the beef roll to 101 noodle express
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Really!?! I will have to go to all these places to try I love kang king sjbs
Also I can’t believe that so many dim sum restos offer xlb it almost always universally looks terrible or is poor quality
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Why not? Money talks. Most customers either don’t know or don’t care that xiaolongbao has nothing to do with Cantonese gastronomy.
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I get why they do it but it’s just really weird that people order it especially when most of the xlbs look they they are frozen and mass produced
Chong Yuen Fong opens in Alhambra replacing Crepe Love.
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I didn’t know Min Min messed with SJB. My fave soup-filled bun! I used to put away over 15 of Kang Kang’s SJB when I was a kid. I’m still defensive of theirs even though the Alhambra location’s quality has declined in the time I’ve continued to eat there.
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I used to put away 1 order of SJB and a 3 item lunch box back in the day at Kang Kang Xiao Mei.
If anyone is interested in a little SGV history
Next door was a Chinese movie theatre back in the 80’s and 90’s. Showed the latest in HK and TW cinema. I think there was another Chinese theatre a few plazas away from Focus Plaza. Wasn’t uncommon to grub at Xiao Mei before watching a movie next door!
Also I don’t know if they are still there but some of the non-Chinese staff at Xiao Mei could speak Mandarin and a little Taiwanese/Cantonese. At least the basics and food terms.
I have a little nostalgia for that place lol.
Also my impression of Min Min Pie House was suppose to be a replacement of Beijing Pie House. They have xian bings on the menu and kept the “pie house” in their name. Didn’t know they were Shanghainese.
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Even the Koi Palace/Dragon Beaux/Palette group in SF started offering XLB awhile back. Correct me if I am wrong but they brought the multicolor XLB thing to the US (or invented it???) @chandavkl
Is it even a secret? I mean, Gwenyth Paltrow talked the dumplings from Mama Lu’s awhile back, so…
Mama Lu taking over the Chef Tony Pasadena location? That’s what Yelp seems to say.
Probably. First time I saw it was at M Y China, the collaboration between Koi Palace and Martin Yan.
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FWIW, there’s still a storefront with a ‘kang kang’ sign above it on las tunas near temple city blvd. i have no idea if it’s actually open. IIRC, there was a kang kang on garfield near garvey as well.
i think he’s referring to folks who make them at home and sell them using the apps popular with ethnic chinese.
most recent batch of frozen Mama Lu XLB weren’t so great. Thick skins, bland. Hoping it was a fluke.