david lake wrote: > > Recommendations please for DIM SUM and SHANGHAI-STYLE food for two > Aussies in SF late February.We think WE have the best outside China,so > please prove us wrong!! For Shanghai style food, you may be right. I've only seen xiao long bao once here and they're not like they are in Yu Yuan (of course, eating them while standing on the bridge overlooking the pond may have had something to do with that :-). The best South Bay dim sum I've had in a while has to be Canton Delight in Cupertino, more or less behind the Target store off Stevens Creek. We had our Christmas party there in 1996, and it was quite a feast. Being the only non-Asian in the group of 8 or 10 of us, and having the president of our company (a Hong Kong native) arrange for the meal in advance, may have helped -- if nothing else I had the chance to eat things I've never had before. (Then again, I love jellyfish, tripe, and the like, but the meal we had also included whole steamed Monterey Bay prawns, Beijing duck, these incredible steamed oysters in a light sauce with scallions, and enough other courses that even I can barely remember them.) They *did* have xiao long bao there, with the red vinegar and shredded ginger, but they didn't have the same taste as the ones I ate so many of last September. (Honest to goodness, I ate 22 xiao long bao standing there at the Yu Yuan. They have a richness that reminds me of nothing so much as a really rich schmaltz in homemade knedluch, just to completely blow the minds of members of a whole range of cultures...) There *used* to be (and may still be -- I just haven't been there in about five years so I can't verify its presence, quality, or consistency) a spot at 4 Embarcadero Place in the City, right next to the Hyatt Regency, called... Harbor Village? Surely someone in the city knows. (Oh. If our Australian visitors already knew that here, "the City" means San Francisco, the only thing to say is "Good on yer, mate." If you didn't know that already, you do now!) I'm working on a recipe for xiong yu, given to me by the housekeeper at the apartment I stayed at in Shanghai last year. For Bay Area types who've never tasted this, it's -- well, it's like a cross between the pla chu chee at the old Bowling Alley Thai restaurant, teriyaki (in that it's got soy, sugar and vinegar), and bacon. The first time I tasted it I thought it was meat, and eventually Mrs. Wang ended up making it about six times during the three weeks I was there. Amazingly great stuff. Any Shanghai natives here know the best kind of fish to use for it, or should I just go in to Ranch 99 and ask the guy behind the fish counter in Mandarin? Or do you know whether there are any South Bay restaurants that prepare xiong yu? Oh, and in some kind of cosmic weirdness: Ben Xu, our graphic designer here, is from Shanghai, lived in Australia for 7 or 8 years, and has the same birthday as me (today, in fact...) So there's some serious alignment of mystical forces going on. Have a great visit, and while you're here, be sure to try to find stuff you *can't* get better at home. (What would that be? There's a whole discussion right there...) --Scott "Huo dao lao, xue dao lao, hai you sanfen xuebudao" Fisher
San Francisco Bay Area, CA