Came to this little hole-in-the-wall last week. It totally hit the spot for my mega-Beijing/Shanghainese craving! I came with two other girls and among the three of us, we ended up ordering five dishes and 3 soy milks! The soy milk is definitely recommended; they're all homemade and really yummy. I had the cold (sweet) kind, which ranked right up there with other dou jiang I've had in my childhood and throughout China/Taiwan.My favorites of our meal was the Beijing Meat Patty (as it's called on the English menu), or the 北京餡餅. The beef-and-chive patty was really thick and juicy. I also liked the preserved vegetable and shredded pork noodles, or 雪菜肉絲麵. The broth was clean yet savory, and the noodles had a good chewiness to them. They tasted homemade.I also really liked their Beijing plain dumplings in soup (净水饺), which were filled with pork-and-chives. The filling was just right in terms of saltiness, and although the wrap was a bit thicker than I would like, it's definitely still delicious. My friends and I got the spicy and sour soup (酸辣湯) though we weren't crazy about it - it seemed overly spicy, which overwhelmed the sour taste.

In short, I really like this place, and writing about it makes me want to go back. There's an English menu if you're not great in Chinese, and also large photos of menu items all over the restaurant. I guess when in doubt, just point!

For more details and photos, feel free to check out my blog at http://farfromdomestic.wordpress.com/

My friends and I were actually on our way to Mido Cafe when we discovered this hometown noodle joint. Since it was still the early days of Chinese New Year, Mido was closed. I personally think it was an act of providence.

It was a gorgeous day and we sat outside, people-watching (during our 45 minutes there, we saw accidentally fashionable men - the ones who don't care what they look like they automatically look cool - and a guy in a trench and 80's sunglasses who we thought might have been a communist spy-cum-writer in another era). The menu was surprisingly accessible, as it had Chinese, English AND Japanese. Among the three of us, we ordered the signature beef brisket curry in soup noodles, fresh prawn wonton soup noodles, and pork ball soup noodles.

The Reader's Digest version is: We loved all of them. The broth was the same for all three, very light and savory. My other friend told me the broth has Chinese radish in it, so maybe that was what gave it a certain "je ne sais quoi". Whatever it was, it was great. The beef brisket curry came out in a separate bowl from the soup noodles. The brisket was so tender, and it fell apart perfectly. I did not expect that from a mom-and-pop shop, but what a pleasant surprise. (They are "Supreme" after all).
The pork balls and wontons were also a WIN. And incidentally, I loved that they had homemade chili sauce (the northern, oily kind) on the table. I kitted out my soup noodles accordingly.

My only gripe about the whole thing was that the drinks were nearly as expensive as the noodles! But, for a place that makes soup noodles this good, I'll support the cause.

Check out the entry for this place on my blog, along with more details and photos!
http://farfromdomestic.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/beef-brisket-supreme/

I visited Veggie SF with two of my friends in early January and was pretty disappointed. I will concede that it's a really cute place, with kitschy knick-knacks and a retro feel, but the food was definitely not worth a return trip, IMHO.

The appetizer we ordered kind of set the tone for the evening. On the menu, it was listed as organic chips and salsa. When it came out, it turned out to be Garden of Eatin's corn tortilla rounds dusted with cayenne pepper. The salsa seemed pre-packaged too. At $20-$30ish for a small portion, we felt completely gypped! I could have gone to Taste and gotten a whole bag of the chips myself for $19. At a veg restaurant, if something like that is listed on the menu, I expect it to be homemade tortilla chips with homemade salsa.

I ordered the Taipei rice with tofu and textured vegetable protein. My friends ordered the veggie burger and lasagna. Out of all three, I'd say the only good dish was the veggie burger. Even still, we wished there was something more substantial for the "patty" - they used beets which, while thick enough, lacked texture. Perhaps falafel?

My rice was nicely cooked, though for me, the amount of TVP (half the bowl!) was too much and it completely overwhelmed the dish. I also thought they went heavy on the sauce, making the whole bowl oversalted. My friend's lasagna was kind of disastrous: the pasta was soggy and way overcooked, and the tomato sauce was bland. Definitely made me miss the lasagna back home!

Overall, this place was a letdown for me. If I'm in the mood for vegetarian, I will definitely be heading up the escalators to Life. Yes, it's a bit more expensive, but the quality - with fresh ingredients nicely prepared - far trumps the extra $50 or so I'd spend.

I will not be coming back to Veggie SF, nor recommending it to my friends.

Last night my bf and I had a frustrating experience at Tapeo. Granted, I will concede we showed up in Soho on a Saturday night without reservations; naturally we'd have to wait for a spot anywhere. But, when the host told us it'd be about 15 minutes before we got seated, I believed him (naively, I guess). After we got drinks and chilled, waiting for a pair to vacate one of the 20-ish bar stools in the place, I realized we'd been duped.

After nearly half an hour, nobody budged. After 40 minutes passed, I really wasn't amused, but by then we were already invested. I really should have known better when he said 15 minutes - after all, it's the host's job to get as many customers as possible, right? I think we got seated about 45 minutes after we arrived. I understand it's hard to estimate when people will leave, especially at a place like this where it's easy to linger over a glass of wine. But that being said, I really don't appreciate when wait people stretch the truth to get a customer.

Regarding the food itself, I'd say it's an approximation of Spanish tapas - good try, but not quite right. I was really looking forward to the patatas bravas and tortilla, staples of mine when I lived in Madrid, but I was a bit disappointed. The patatas were not crispy on the outside, and the brava sauce was a bit too ketchup-tasting to seem like the real deal. There wasn't enough kick to it either.

The tortilla was kind of blah. It was still quite runny when we first got it; it did firm up after it cooled down, the way they usually serve it in Spain, but even then the egg was still a bit soggy. And IMHO, there wasn't enough onion The mixed mushrooms al jerez were nice, but the top layers of mushroom lacked any taste of sherry while the bottoms ones were soaked in it. The winner of the night were the albondigas, or spicy meatballs. Good cumin flavor and nice accompanying tomato sauce.

Alas, we did not order the famed pork belly. Perhaps if someone wants to go next time, I'll try it. But I certainly won't go of my own accord. The food here isn't up to the level of authenticity I'd hoped for, and I'm still a bit miffed about the deceptive service.

I came here for lunch with a colleague last week. We got the "light" lunch set, which didn't turn out to be super-light after all, and a bucket of cajun fries to split.

The light lunch included your choice of soup or salad, a main course, and coffee or tea, from $58-88, I believe. My friend and I both got the salad with wasabi vinaigrette dressing (one of three choices); she got a pasta with mussels and cream sauce, and I got the grilled vegetable penne with tomato sauce. Oh yes, and the cajun fries (I never met fries I didn't like!)

My favorite part of the meal was the salad. They served mixed greens with bits of spinach, frisee, and other good stuff. The wasabi vinaigrette was pretty genius; I was afraid the wasabi would overwhelm everything, but there was only a bit of a bite. The cajun fries
were quite good too; very hot and crispy. I would have liked more seasoning though! There were bits of red flakes on there, but I couldn't taste much. Even some more salt would have helped. Those ain't cajun, son!

The two pastas were simply okay. I think they're the HK-ified version of what Italian food tastes like. My penne with red sauce was easily something I could have made at home, but better. The cheese on top looked like it was melted in chunks and left to coagulate; the sauce itself didn't have much flavor. The grilled veggies were fine, but again, a little bit bland.

My friend's shells with cream sauce seemed like it sat too long in the window. I say this because the cream sauce was not much of a sauce, but rather like a hard casing once it got out to us.

The dining room was quite nice; it was bright and airy with vivid colors. Kinda reminded me of the Giraffe chain in London.

I would give this place a so-so rating and not get any pastas next time. The salads could be al right.