I didn't know I would end up trying this place out, but it turns out I did! And it was quite an experience indeed - this style is very popular in China right now, but it has yet to hit the states. Guess Fresh Elements can lead the charge.
Anyways, this place is quite small. It's highly recommended to call to reserve because of the limited seating and the time it takes for each party to finish a meal. Upon entering, you're hit with humid air and steam - they didn't even have any ventilation on when we entered, and it was pretty much prime dinnertime. It was the same experience to me as being in a sauna, and I am not joking; glasses fog. Eventually half an hour later they turned on some fans, but it's sort of weird that they weren't on when they first opened for dinner - did they want to steam cook all the patrons? The floor's a bit eerily wet feeling from all the... sweat, and it seems like the place could be a ton cleaner and hygienic for the price point. The decor is alright for a Chinese place, and it's cute watching all the live sea critters floating around in tanks in the back corner. The service is just sort of inattentive but nothing I'd hate them for - they are very generous in giving napkins.
Let's talk about the food. When you first start at your table, you're given a selection of six pots filled with soy sauces and garnishes to them - a standard soy sauce, a spicy soy sauce, chili peppers, garlic, green onions, and chili oil. They rotate them out between customers as you finish filling up your small dipping bowl with them, so fill generously as it's a bit awkward if you want to keep refilling your sauce. The food is mainly placed on an adorable stacked serving tray that rests next to your table, so that's pretty neat to see. They charge for tea. To start off the meal, you decide whether you want congee or soup resting at the bottom of your steamer - that's right, all the food drippings and droppings fall right into the piece de resistance, which will also incidentally be the last part of the meal! A lot of people pick congee, just because it seems better suited for all the different sweat mixtures that'll be dropping into it. I will spoil the conclusion of the congee to you now: It did not taste any different at all than if I had just boiled plain water and rice together. Despite stuff sweating into the congee, I just didn't taste anything particular at all and needed to flavor the hell out of it with soy sauce...
We didn't order any appetizers or dim sum type of things because, while enticing, it seems sort of very convenient to pick those items up at the nearby Ranch 99 or Dim Sum King and serve an upcharge as well, so! I also like how some of their wares have "Dim Sum King" inscribed on them. It sounds like the best things to get here are the seafood items, even though they cost an arm and a leg. I must warn about the fish, though - there are a lot of tiny, spiky bones in them, since they're sort of on the small side, so be veryyyy careful or there's a good possibility to poke your mouth out or get something stuck in your throat.
Clams were good and small, sweet shrimps were good but small and double the price of what I've recently bought bigger ones for, sea clam was pretty nice as well, and I also had a black fish but I forgot which one - it was quite small yet tender yes, but way too many bones that had me worry for my gums. A main thing to try is the chicken w/ cordyceps - it was my first time trying the cordyceps mushroom, and it was pretty awesome! Too bad there wasn't much of it - it has sort of a springy, flexible, and just ever so slightly chewy texture, sort of like if intestines were micro sized, crunchier, and hollowed out. The chicken itself was a huge letdown, very boney, lacked mass, and on the bland and dry side. The vermicelli pairs well with many things, but they don't give you much for how cheap vermicelli is. I'd also recommend the enoki mushrooms, which cook well through steam; I've also had the watercress, which were good but bitter if they weren't steamed long enough.
The steaming experience is their main selling point. I would probably rate them higher for being the only one of its kind, steaming experience in probably all of Northern California, but the price to satisfaction ratio is just so disparate, and I would get soooo much more at almost any other place for the price, AND leave with plenty leftovers. I wasn't even stuffed for the amount of money that went in this Chinese meal (We enjoy being stuffed for this money!). It seems the average cost is maybe $40-60 a head. If other restaurants alike crop up, I can see this place failing because of the pricing alone. It's not even healthy because I had to douse everything with the soy sauce... I don't like soy sauce. read more