Suppenkuche

About

Excellent! Really huge portions, with very well cooked steak, chicken, venison, and more (circa $18 for entree). You really have to be a meat lover to enjoy the food here, but if you are it is so much better than most meat heavy US restaurants. It is also accompanied by really good spatzle (small twists of potato pasta commonly eaten in Germany and Switzerland) and other great vegetables including delicious red cabbage. If all that isn't enough, the restaurant also has an amazing range of German and Belgian beers - including some rare ones!. I've been to Germany a couple of times and I really believe that this place could hold its own against the restuarants there.

Directions

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525 Laguna St
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 252-9289

Great Eastern

About

After an uninspiring trip to Gold Mountain Restaurant, did a scan of Yelp, Chowhound, Zagat et al and skeptically came down to this place for Dim Sum. Having lived in Hong Kong for two years, I'm fairly particular about my dim sum and compare what I get here to excellent experiences there.

Great Eastern's dim sum is very impressive. The Cha Siu Bau (barbeque pork steamed buns) tasted freshly made with nice soft white bread around them. Rather than the gloopy, bright red pork which is often served here, and which has a too bold flavor for me, the filling was much subtler in flavor and slightly drier. The bau were a lot smaller than those in other restaurants which I often find overwhelming.

The Siu Mai (pork and shrimp dumplings) were different to ones I've had in Hong Kong, larger and slightly heavier on the meat. Again however, they tasted really freshly made and both the shrimp and the pork had an excellent flavor. 

The Xiu Long Bau (small dumplings with pork and soup inside) were some of the best I have had in San Francisco. They were small, unlike the crude offerings at some of the restaurants here, and they did not have thick wrappers. The soup had a warm, distinctive flavor - my only criticism is that there could be slightly more of it.

The glutinous rice wrapped in steamed bread was a surprise treat. As with the Cha Siu Bau, the bread was really soft and fresh, contrasting nicely with the sticky chewiness of the flavored rice inside, which is like the rice you often get in jung or leaf parcels.

We also had shrimp and snow pea dumplings. I was again struck by the freshness of these. They were small, but stuffed full of the different vegetables, demonstrating the real fresh, exciting mouthful which dumplings can give.

Although the waiter clattered down a pot of jasmine tea to begin with, he was happy to change it when we asked him what other teas the restaurant had. I was impressed that they offered black Bo leih, oolong, jasmine and sau Mei white tea. When went for the oolong, which was high quality and added to the general sense of authenticity given by this restaurant. 

Sitting downstairs, I also found the atmosphere in Great Eastern calmer than that of most Chinatown restaurants I've been too. When the check came, we were surprised at the reasonableness of the price considering how much we had eaten.

Directions

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649 Jackson St
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 986-2500

Pizzeria Delfina

About

Delfina's is probably the best place I've been in the city for Italian style pizza. They keep their ingredients list and range of pizza's simple. Their dough is nice and floury and homemade. They throw it out really thin in an authentic way, so that it isn't spongy and doesn't overwhelm the toppings at all. 

A lot of places get wood fired ovens, but don't really know how to use them properly - under or overcooking the pizza so they're too crisp or chewy. Delfina's can't be faulted on this. It pizza's are cooked to the point where the dough bubbles up a little and gets slightly crisp, then they're pulled out and whisked over to your table.

I like the way Italians stick to just a small list of ingredients on their pizza's, using these to great effect. So, I had the Napoletana ($10), which came without cheese. It has just thick, bright red tomato sauce that tastes fresh and has a strong, earthy tomato flavor with hints of herbs. It important to have this, because otherwise the sauce would have been overwhelmed by the saltiness of the anchovies and capers, together with the soft fleshy black olives. All the ingredients tasted fresh and had strong flavors which made the whole pizza fairly striking. I would perhaps argue they could put a few less capers on to tone things down a bit, but that's personal preference. Otherwise 8/10 with ten being the Italian benchmark.

Delfina's also offers some slightly more unique toppings. My companion went with the Salsiccia ($13.25) which had really interesting tasting fennel sausage scattered across it. Although interesting to try, I didn't really feel this produced such an exciting overall pizza. It went nicely with the soft, fresh taste of the bell peppers. I was also pleased to see the use of fresh mozzarella, kept in moderation so that it didn't overwhelm the other ingredients. This, together with the sausage, made the pizza a little more watery than ideal but not so much that it was really damaging. Overall, the pizza was strikingly fresh and simple in a way I really liked. Probably around 7/10 for me.

I was pleased to hear the waiter explain to the table next to us that the couldn't make a pizza with half one topping and half another. "This would affect the cooking time," he explained politely. I'm all for chefs asserting their authority / wisdom over the food they prepare and this, for me, showed that Delfina takes its pizza seriously.

The service was always friendly and the waitress took the time to explain some of the different Italian wines on the menu even though the restaurant was pretty busy. The restaurant has a lively, fashionable atmosphere, but felt a little cramped to me. Why don't I give the whole restaurant five stars? Largely because its still not (quite) as good as the pizza's in Italy and I want to keep a star left to strive for.

Directions

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3611 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 437-6800

Fo Kee

[caption id="attachment_109" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Silk Tea and French Toast at For Kee Cha Chaan Teng"][/caption]



About

This cha chaan teng (tea restaurant) is hidden away in the back streets of Sheung Wan where it has been serving regulars for over 50 years now. Cha chaan teng's like these started up in the post-war boom to cater for factory workers who just had a short time for lunch, but had some spare money and wanted to try a few new things.

Unlike the famous Lan Fong Yuen in Soho, there's no pretension here and no sense of being a tourist attraction. The restaurant is really back to basics, with stools and plastic cups, boxes and cans of ingredients stacked up in the corners and just a big menu decorating the wall.  This place caters to a really local crowd and is a great place to come to soak up a more authentic Hong Kong scene and watch ordinary people.

It's also a good place to eat some cha chaan teng food at really pleasing prices. The silken tea here is made in the traditional way by straining it through a pair of stockings, producing a syruppy, slightly sweet drink that tastes strongly of the canned milk used and not at all like any other kind of tea. It goes nicely with the super sweet french toast that is smothered in a sugary sauce.

Alternatively you can get bowls of noodles,  particularly the beef brisket, club sandwiches, burgers, and all kinds of other fast food snacks. Cha chaan tengs offer a sort of crude fusion of east and west, often with interesting results.

Directions

For Kee, 200 Hollywood Road (entrance on Tai Ping Shan Road), Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, closes at 5pm.

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Photos

[caption id="attachment_111" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Classic Cha Chaan Teng Atmosphere in Fo Kee"][/caption]



Notes

To read more about cha chaan teng in Hong Kong, take a look at this New York Times article or my own project website . Also have a look at the description of Lan Fong Yuen on Tasty Treat's blog.

Tibetan Food

[caption id="attachment_97" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Chili Beef, Tingmo, and Tibetan Tea at Tee Dee's"][/caption]

 

About 

Settled by Tibetan's who fled their country after it was occupied by the Chinese, Delhi's Tibetan Colony is a pocket of Tibetan culture in India. There's a sense that the people here cling particularly tightly to their culture and traditions in an attempt to preserve their identity despite displacement. One important part of that culture is the food and the colony offers the chance to try some really exiting Tibetan dishes.

Searching around on the web, it seemed like Tee Dee's restaurant was the place to go. I wandered around the maze of alleys for a while trying to find this place, asking different people who recognised the name but could only give me vague directions. Finally, more by chance than anything, I managed to track it down. Clambering up the stairs, I entered into gloomy interior that had a vaguely spiritual atmospher, the people were murmuring softly in the dim light. A group of monks dressed in rich red robes sat around the table in the corner, slurping at bowls of noodles.

Almost everyone I knew who'd been to the north east of India had raved about the momo (R 50) dumplings you could get, so I was expecially eager to try these here. They didn't dissapoint. Despite being large dumplings, stuffed full of pork, they didn't taste heavy at all. The wrapper was perfectly soft, with none of that chewiness some dumpling suffer from. The meat was also really soft, with a butterness to it which made each dumpling melt in the mouth. 

I also had the chili beef (R 60) which I'd read was a typical Tibetan dish. Taking the waiters advice, I chose the dry version, which reminded me a lot of some of the beef dishes in China but had less onion mixed in with the meat and overall tasted heavier. It felt particularly hearty with quite tough, slightly fatty pieces of beef fried with garlic and a nicely fiery scattering of chili. I could sense people up in the mountains eating this to fill them up. It had a slightly crude, yet very wholesome flavour that I enjoyed a lot.

With this, I got the tingmo, which is a dense steamed bread, twisted so that you can tear of different spongy strands. The bread was nicely soft and tasted freshly steamed - it would have been perfect to eat with the gravy version of the chili beef, but with the dry version was a bit redundant and added to the almost overwhelming heaviness of the meal.  

I also had the Tibetan tea, which was very soft and milky, adding to the overall feeling of eating very wholesome filling food. Eating and drinking all of this, I really felt transported to somewhere in the Tibetan plateau where life was rustic and food needed to be substantial and filling, just piqued a little by garlic and chili. 

Directions

The easiest way to get to the Tibetan Colony (Majnu Ka Tilla) is to take the yellow line metro to the final stop Vishwavidiyala. You can then walk to the colony in about 15 minutes, or take a rickshaw. To walk, turn left when you come out of the metro and walk along Mall Road, crossing the perpendicular roads Brig SK Mazumdar, Lucknow road, and Timarpur road. Then take the fourth left onto the slightly dusty Magazine roads, which winds round to the left a little and then to the right. Follow the road to its end and in front you will see the Majnu Ka Tilla Sihk temple which has a big white dome. Cross over to the temple side of the road, and facing the temple turn left. Keep walking along here for about 5 minutes and you will see the Tibetan colony on your right. It has a gate marked 'Tibetan Colony'.

Because the alleys of the Tibetan colony are such a maze, its hard to give exact directions to the restaurant. The best thing to do is go there, make your way towards the centre of the colony and then ask people in the shops for Tee Dee's. It's described as behind the Tibetan School, but that may not be so helpful. Its on one of the larger streets, possibly the one leading off the main square, and is upstairs with a large flight of stairs leading up towards it.

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Cost 

Dishes between R 50 and 70

Sitaram Dewen Chand - Chole Bhature

[caption id="attachment_92" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Chole Bhature from Sitaram Dewan Chand"][/caption]

About 

Chole Bhature is probably the best of all the street foods I found in Delhi. Rather than something really fancy, this is  hearty food for the 'common man' - eaten by people across India. But its subtle taste really can carry it above this staple dish and make it something quite special. The chole is a stew made primarily of chick peas softened until they are just breaking apart and sunk into a thick sauce which is full of spices. Some raw onion is often scattered on top to add a bit of crunch to it all. Although to my knowledge there's no meat in the dish, the hearty sauce and the chick peas have a really satisfying meatiness about them, tasting very earthy and substantial in flavour.

The stew is eaten using bhature - breads made out of maida flour. These have two layers pressed together, so that when they are fried the air in the middle expands and inflates them into a hollow ball. When you get them you press this flat like deflating a beach ball. The result is a really light, slightly spongy bread. It's floury, fine layers are perfect for scooping up the chole, the dark sauce of which soaks into the softness.

The best place I found for Chole Bhature was Sitaram Dewan Chand a stall in Paharganj that was recommended to me by the Eating Out in Delhi blog.  Every time I went to this stall, the counter was crowded with people all jostling to get to the front, elbowing each other out of the way, and snaking their arms into any space possible in an attempt to give their money to the guy. As though there was not rush at all, the old guy would just sit their, casually taking money from each person and passing out a little plastic disk. Behind him the other staff were bustling away, ladling chole into little dishes and laying a few onion and a carrot piece on top, heating up the bhature on a bit hot plate, then passing out both to the clamouring crowds.

To me what made the dish so good at this place was the sublety of the spices in the chole. I also had chole at a few other places, and while it was hearty it didn't really have the strong, dinstinctive flavour that this one had. In each bite you could really taste the balance of the different ingredients giving it an earthy, yet strong flavour. A green spicy sauce was just lightly mixed in, adding an extra layer to the taste. And with the heartiness of the chickpeas and the sauce, there was also this slightly more spicy kick which slowly built in the mouth.  The meaty sauce here goes perfectly with the softness of the bread, which were made really well at this stall so that they felt spongy as you tore each piece off.  The layers of the bread had a few herbs sunk into them, adding an extra dimension to their taste.

Directions

From the Rama Krishna METRO - Exit on the Rama Krishna side and walk along the street past the front of the Rama Krishna Mission. At the end of this road, turn right onto Main Bazaar and walk a little way along, passing the Metropolis Hotel on your left. Just afte the hotel, the road curves round to the left, with the Main Bazaar continuing straight on. Follow the road round to the left, passing the Imperial cinema on your right. Keep walking about 100m, looking out for the stall on the left hand side of the road. It has a plastic covering outside and is normall pretty crowded with people. 

The address is 2246, Chuna Mandi, Paharganj. This road is often called “Rajguru Marg” and runs between the Main Bazaar and the Desh Bandhu Gupta Road. The restaurant is on the ground floor of the building with Hotel Chanakya in, so look out for this sign.

Little Chili

 

[caption id="attachment_87" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The Laat Zi Gai at Little Chili"][/caption]

 

About 

This is a good solid sichuan restaurant in North Point. The food's not quite as good as that at Sijie or Mum Chau's private kitchens, but it also costs a lot less. Its easily possible to have a meal here for under HK$100 each and there are big bottles of Chinese beer for HK$10. The English menu was a little lacking in guidance, but they has most of the standard Sichuan dishes.

The dan dan mihn came in a huge bowl and was excellent value for HK $18 – a meal on its own. The noodles, although not home made, had a satisfying doughiness and were much better than instant noodles. The sauce lacked the complex flavor of some version’s I’ve had, but it was thick and enjoyably spicy, much better than the translucent, oily sauces some places try to pass off. Plenty of broken peanuts and chopped spring onion, added good texture.

 The laaht zi gai came in a large metal pan, justifying the HK $68, and giving you that immensely satisfying job of fishing through heaped chilis to pick out the nuggets of meat. The restaurant got the first fundamental law right by using chicken on the bone. The pieces weren’t that meaty, which is a double edged sword; giving the meat more flavor but meaning you need Cantonese chewing skills to tear it off.

With much less oil than most versions, the meat was beautifully dry and crisp. There were plenty of chilis and peppercorns to give flavor, but these were disappointingly supported by salt and an ambiguous reddish powder. The resultant, exciting spiciness, came close but fell just below, the spiciest version I had in Beijing. 

Directions

Take the MTR to North Point and get off at exit A1 - turn left on the street in front of the exit (Java Rd) and walk along here for two blocks. The restaurant is on the corner of Java Road and the perpendicular North Point Road - It is easy to spot because it has a neon sign with three chilis at the front. 

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Cost

About HK$50-HK$100 per dish.