There are a few dishes we missed greatly.
So apparently @JeetKuneBao and @avantbored had already mentioned Shanghainese restaurant Yuan Fen Private Kitchen in Rowland Heights so I thought I’d bring it up in this topic.
It’s a decently appointed hole-in-the-wall family run place. Maybe only 2 people or so running it all. Only tried two things myself, I believe a sliced fish soup with bamboo shoots and pickled vegetables and some kind of tofu with sausage. Both were pretty great! Family has been before and tried more and have said its good so I’m looking forward to going again.
FYI the restaurant location is in a slightly awkward location. The initial signboard has arrows pointing onwards to the actual restaurant. It’s in a pseudo-alley and you have to walk a little further in. Restaurant was empty when I went on a weekday for lunch so not sure how it’s like if it gets busier (though the low number of reviews on Google and Yelp have me suspecting it’s a bit of a hidden gem right now).
As a side note, S&W China Taste is my go-to for Shanghainese in the area.
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Heading out to SGV tomorrow and craving some Taiwanese. Been meaning to try Good Shine but just saw on yelp that the original owners sold and the new owners are settling in. Anyone been there recently or have the scoop?
Will pop by Auntie Qin just for SJB and the crepe with cruller thanks to @avantbored’s pics here.
Anyone know of any frozen SJB other than Mama Lu? Have been buying Mama Lu and it just doesn’t cook that well. Could be user error though. I followed staff instructions to steam for 10-12 minutes and then pan fry. When I’ve made them fresh I’ve done more of the guo tie pan fry/add water/cover and steam but when I tried that with the Mama Lu SJB they did not rise very much. For contact my favorite SJB are at Min Min (sadly they don’t sell them frozen) and Pine and Crane.
Also who’s got the best frozen dumplings these days? I used to buy from Mama Lu but found Min Min’s superior (and also the lady who works the register there is so lovely!), I always head out with a cooler and ice packs.
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Dispatching from Shanghai!! My mom loves the spring rolls at S&W!
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I think you can get frozen XLB at Auntie Qiu.
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Majestic Poultry for dumplings/wonton. Note they are reseller but in general their quality are hard to beat.
Resident chef thinks trying to cook frozen SJB is a fools errand. Frozen fillings have too much water to throw water/oil ratio out of balance. May be a hack would be either pad dry or refrigerate to rid of the moisture after steamed.
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With the caveat it’s for a bag of frozen fish dumplings, I still go with Qingdao Bread Food and then You Kitchen.
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For frozen dumplings I like Qing Dao Bread Food as well.
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Thanks! The Mama Lu ones have sesame on the bottom so I usually pat dry after steaming and then pan fry.
Will check out Majestic!
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Oh a friend has been looking for fish dumplings as they’re pescatarian, thanks!
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Ive gotten this before at Alhambra Auntie Qius recently but hadnt tried it yet! I think they offer SJB too but didnt go for it.
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CiaoBob-fluenced… Auntie Qiu’s SJB rockets up to the #1 top spot in my ranking of SGV SJBs.
Piping hot meat soup in abundance (beward the scalding gusher on the first bite!), fantastic texture on the bao skin, and delicious meat filling: Auntie Qiu’s SJB checks all the boxes.
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Well Auntie Qiu on the favorites list thanks to @avantbored and @CiaoBob. Limited stomach space so got the SJB, egg crepe with cruller + ham and XLB.
SJB was super juicy and flavorful, maybe a bit too much juice for me. My preference for jian bao is the shui jian bao that you get in Taiwan where the dough is fluffier. I’d have to compare to Min Min again to see which one I like better, but for sure the environment at Auntie Qin is way ahead of Min Min.
Egg crepe with cruller was great, I added the ham sausage but it didn’t add anything extra to the flavor so next time I’ll skip. I will try it with the crisp next time instead of the cruller as I want more crunch.
XLB was stellar. I would even say it’s better than DTF. The skin is not as delicate as DTF but the filling is more flavorful and packed an umami punch!
On my list to try next time - one of the sticky rice balls. Waitress also said the popular noodles were the hairy crab and the loins head.
And yes they have frozen XLB. I picked up some frozen potstickers will report back once I make them.
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So glad you enjoyed it. The SJB are definitely juicier than most that I’ve had, which I really like, but I can see that it might not be for everyone.
I went with the pork chop noodle soup last time and it was fantastic. But I love lions had meatballs and will try that next time.
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DTF’s American outposts make XLBs which bat a “corporate average” in my book, and that’s on a good day…
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there are taiwanese people in monterey park? Every chinese person i know is cantonese there! (that grew up in the 80s/90s).
Most of us taiwanese lived in Diamond Bar, Walnut, Arcadia in the 80s/90s
best thing at Auntie Qiu is the crispy fritter mochi with black sesame.
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In the late 1970s Monterey Park was marketed in Taiwan as the “Chinese Beverly Hills” by a Taiwanese American real estate broker. They were so successful that in the 1980s, the indigenous population of Monterey Park derisively coined their city “Little Taipei.” Probably at the same time that Taiwanese American Lily Chen became mayor of Monterey Patk,
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Agree. That black sesame you tiao is a true highlight.
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interesting. purely anecdotal which means it means little - i know zero Taiwanese people from MPK, and we immigrated to LA in the mid 80s and my own professional network is heavily taiwanese.
I was just discussing this with my wife who was born/raised in MPK (went to public school her whole life in the area) since the early 80s and she said she also knew zero taiwanese/chinese people - all cantonese
but then on the flip side- the oldest taiwanese restaurants are all in MPK - i do remember when we first immigrated here we would go to MPK/San Gabriel to eat taiwanese food (Old Country Cafe being one specifically) - with only Mandarin Noodle House and Lu’s Garden still around
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