Super popular already, but tons of parking behind the building despite the area, so yay.
Kudos on the clear effort put into designing the space. Tons of cultural elements adding interest on every wall, every surface. Just about every detail had thought put into it, even in the restrooms.
Menus double as order sheets. Fun and interactive, though my San Francisco heart decries the excessive paper usage, especially with each diner given their own sheet. Slightly less room for order errors, though still there given the servers enter orders into the system afterwards.
Early dinner time, not even 7 pm yet. They're already out of several items, including two now crossed-off on the feature board. My Irishman muses whether they're having a soft opening given they're running out of dishes too quickly.
We wanted to start with beef dumplings - also out.
We settle for garlic edamame alongside chicken and mushroom noodle soup and moo shu fried noodles to share. Desserts look promising - we'll get to that later.
Every aspect is polished and well-presented. Even the tea and water cups, though I expected traditional jasmine brew rather than the out-of-place Lipton teabag adding an American breakfast diner element to an otherwise thoughtfully executed Chinese space.
Our noses catch the arrival of the garlic edamame before our eyes do. They did justice to the name of this appetizer for sure. The pods serve up a heavy dose of garlic with each bite, though never once loud, raw, or bitter. It's a lovely contrast to the mild edamame beans inside the pods, with our garlicky fingers serving as proof of how much we enjoy the morsels.
The colorful moo shu fried noodles are next, and it looks appetizing, though I'm finding the proportion of food to servingware at this place a bit off, which further highlights not-quite-generous portion sizes. Enough amazing fast-casual places spots serving hearty servings for the money around for this not to stand out.
As for the dish itself, too much savory going on. Chinese fare carries deep savory elements such as black bean paste that can be a bit much for me if applied with a heavy hand - I prefer lighter, fresher flavor balances. I've a ton of favorite Chinese restaurants, especially in San Francisco, the largest expat Chinese community in the world, so it's not necessarily a norm for me.
The soup finds its way to the table shortly after. Slurp. Good noodles. Nice chew. Clearly fresh, in case you weren't glued to the noodle-making performance from the open kitchen while your were waiting for a table. Sip. Bland. Even for me, someone who appreciates the subtle sweetness of white rice or bread by itself. I douse the bowl in the provided soy sauce. Better, though now it's soy sauce soup. Not what I planned to appreciate when I ordered.
Asked if we care for dessert, my eyes spy an unusual offering, and I immediately light up: Black sesame mochi. Rich, nutty black sesame ice cream + mildly sweet and chewy mochi cake. Yes, please.
They're out of that, too. Nooo.
My Irishman orders us green tea mochi. I know he's not big on grassy matcha notes, so I switch the order for mango mochi, my mochi standard. The server suggests we mix and match. Cool, done!
The mochi comes out as a pair as opposed to the four-piece set I'm used to with mochi orders in restaurants. I'm disappointed that the mochi clearly isn't Mikawaya, My/Mo, or some other uber-yum quality brand considering both the effort put into the decor not matched by the quality of offerings and the tradeoff we're getting for the markup we're paying to enjoy this tidbit here. The quality is subpar and it shows.
A place fails at mochi when I take bites and instead of just enjoying myself, I'm musing that I should drop in on the local Asian mega-supermarket as I leave the area later - to stock up on quality mochi to not order it out and get disappointed again. I imagine people don't make their visit decision based on mochi desserts even if they did notice the lesser quality for the operators to care all that much.
Nice decor. Quick service. The flavor balance on entrées runs too hot on some items, too cold on others. The point of a restaurant is the flavors, so I'm not impressed. Oh well, it looks like they'll do well enough. It is the only hand-pulled noodle joint in town, after all. read more