Pre-Mother's Day @ Sun Tung
Been rather backed up in my fooding entries. Attempting to catch up now! =)
San Mateo, CA
On May 13th, pre-Mother's day, I took my mom out for lunch to avoid the crowds on Sunday. Besides, Mom works on Sunday nights so Sunday doesn't work out most of the time. See, my mom is a non-fancy, non-frou-frou person. Though I tried to persuade her to choose a nice restaurant for Mommy Day, she selected Sun Tung in San Mateo. We wandered around B Street looking for a Shanghai place her coworker had raved about. Sun Tung (or Shandong) serves up Shandong dishes as well as Taiwanese dishes and their special weekend menu caught our eye.
We stepped in the restaurant at 2:45pm, close to their lunch closing time at 3pm. Still, we were greeted warmly by the woman behind the cash register. She kindly asked whether we wanted hot tea but we asked for ice water instead on this hot Saturday while she dropped off the checklist of weekend specialties. As my mom perused the menu, I looked around this teeny 30 seat restaurant. The table behind us was finishing up and had a small box of marinated pig ears. I love the slightly chewiness of the flesh contrasting the crunchier cartilidge. Mom selected for us the zha zhang mian ("Chinese Spaghetti" on the menu), the jellyfish in mustard sauce, and pork dumplings. I also ordered the pig ears and the ci fan tuan.
The first appetizer that came out was the pig ears from the deli case. I'm not certain, but they look homemade or prepared. The zha ziang mian was okay, but I think I would have preferred fresh hand-pulled noodles instead of spaghetti-like noodles. The crisp and firm jellyfish shreds were very refreshing but with a nice big mustard, sinus-clearing kick. The dumplings had a fairly thin homemade skin. Very good, but I wonder how the other dumplings are.
The standout though, was the ci fan tuan. I think it was described in English as Chinese donut stuffed in sticky rice or something along those lines. I think this tops even the memory of my first and most delicious fan tuan - though a few more zha cai pickles couldn't hurt. =D The donut they used was unlike you tiao - it was extra fried and crispy. Plus, they were rather generous with the rousong. Perfect balance of ingredients - not overly ricey like other versions I've had. This was most similar to the very good version at the former Taiwan Point on Irving St. in SF.
Anyway, for $23 including tip, we left stuffed and with most of the food minus the dumplings. The staff members were sitting down to their lunch, which looked VERY very good. Will definitely return!
San Mateo, CA
On May 13th, pre-Mother's day, I took my mom out for lunch to avoid the crowds on Sunday. Besides, Mom works on Sunday nights so Sunday doesn't work out most of the time. See, my mom is a non-fancy, non-frou-frou person. Though I tried to persuade her to choose a nice restaurant for Mommy Day, she selected Sun Tung in San Mateo. We wandered around B Street looking for a Shanghai place her coworker had raved about. Sun Tung (or Shandong) serves up Shandong dishes as well as Taiwanese dishes and their special weekend menu caught our eye.
We stepped in the restaurant at 2:45pm, close to their lunch closing time at 3pm. Still, we were greeted warmly by the woman behind the cash register. She kindly asked whether we wanted hot tea but we asked for ice water instead on this hot Saturday while she dropped off the checklist of weekend specialties. As my mom perused the menu, I looked around this teeny 30 seat restaurant. The table behind us was finishing up and had a small box of marinated pig ears. I love the slightly chewiness of the flesh contrasting the crunchier cartilidge. Mom selected for us the zha zhang mian ("Chinese Spaghetti" on the menu), the jellyfish in mustard sauce, and pork dumplings. I also ordered the pig ears and the ci fan tuan.
Marinated pig ears, "Chinese spaghetti"
Jellyfish with mustard sauce
Ci fan tuan - Chinese donut, pickled mustard, and pork shred/fluff
Pork dumplings
The first appetizer that came out was the pig ears from the deli case. I'm not certain, but they look homemade or prepared. The zha ziang mian was okay, but I think I would have preferred fresh hand-pulled noodles instead of spaghetti-like noodles. The crisp and firm jellyfish shreds were very refreshing but with a nice big mustard, sinus-clearing kick. The dumplings had a fairly thin homemade skin. Very good, but I wonder how the other dumplings are.
The standout though, was the ci fan tuan. I think it was described in English as Chinese donut stuffed in sticky rice or something along those lines. I think this tops even the memory of my first and most delicious fan tuan - though a few more zha cai pickles couldn't hurt. =D The donut they used was unlike you tiao - it was extra fried and crispy. Plus, they were rather generous with the rousong. Perfect balance of ingredients - not overly ricey like other versions I've had. This was most similar to the very good version at the former Taiwan Point on Irving St. in SF.
Anyway, for $23 including tip, we left stuffed and with most of the food minus the dumplings. The staff members were sitting down to their lunch, which looked VERY very good. Will definitely return!
posted by Manda at
5/21/2006 06:27:00 PM
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