Yao's restaurant taking Chinese food to new heights

Well they said the guy that runs Fu's Garden is a partner, and I think Fu's Garden is hardly authentic. But they also said some of Yao's Mom's dishes would be on the menu. Hopefully these are authentic.
Yao's restaraunt is going to have to be pretty darn good to keep me coming back when cheaper and most likely better food lies 3 more miles down the road on Bellaire.
I'm still going to pay it a visit.
I wish the site was updated so I could view the menu already.

 

speaking of bellaire- my favorite chinese food restaurant is Chinese Cafe in chinatown off of bellaire or bissonet- cant remember. Have any of you been there and if so, how does it compare to traditional chinese food? is fusion that much different than real chinese and is yao's serving fusion, real or both?

and was yao's favorite soup on the menu?

 

The Chinese Cafe near the Galleria is much better then the one on Bellaire.

The best chinese food in town is Phat Ky on 59 and Wilcrest.

 

Are they in the menu?

 

yes, Sir.$10000/h.start at 3 hours.

 

Bottled water can be very filling!

 

If your looking for authentic Chinese Food try these 3 restaraunts on Bellaire a few blocks East of Beltway 8; Tan Tan, Sing Sing (sp?), and Tan Do.

Dirt Cheap and Great Food.

Tan Tan: Rice Cakes, Soups (Won Ton)
Sing Sing: Family Meals, Seafood, Peking Duck
Tan Do: Peking Duck, Sizzling Black Pepper Spare Ribs

 

I would not consider the top three restaurants authentic Chinese but they are good, cheap and open late (Tan Tan & Sinh Sinh). One question though arent the three restaurants above owned and operated by vietamese and not chinese people?

 

chinese cafe on belliare is waaay better than the one on richmond. the richmond one is americanized. very obvious with their lunch plates.

another good one and even cheaper is hunan star (fu xing) in the Welcome shopping strip.

i agree, i will go and check out Yao's restaurant but i don't like paying too much money for chinese food knowing that i can eat a full meal for under $4 and have leftovers.

 

You have to narrow down the definition for SF Bay Area. Areas are generally divided into three parts, Penisula, East Bay, and In land. Traditionally, only towns in the wesy side of the bay were considered the "real" bay area. Today, a 2,000sf house in Palo Alto will cost you > 1.2mil!

 

I think TanTan and Sinh Sinh are owned by Vietnamese. Tan Do maybe by Chinese. Im not for sure though. I dont mind the owners as long as the food is good. My wife is asian, I am not, but Id like to think I'd know good asian food by now since I've been with her for 10 years, and thats basically all she likes to eat.

If you can recommend some more authentic restaraunts and/or dishes please recommend them. Im sure my wife and I wold love to try them.

 

phat ky is good...

anyone know of a good cuban place? someone mentioned a dish called cuban steak being really good. i found that odd because i heard they dont have beef in cuba.

 

Never heard of Tan Do.

Sure it's not Tay Do, the one in Hong Kong City Mall on Bellaire/Boone?

Others in the Bellaire area that I know of:

A Dong (Bellaire and Wilcrest): Pretty good when I used to go, but haven't been there in a few years.

Saigon Pagolac (Bellaire and Corporate): If you like Vietnamese 7 course beef or surf and turf, self-grilled at your table. Plan on taking a shower afterwards, your hair and clothes will smell like grease from all the grilling when you're done. But the food's good. Kinda greasy though.

Thai Spice (Bellaire and Mary Bates): #40 and #23 everytime baby! #40=crispy whole fish, #23=tom yum soup. Warning! unless you can handle really spicy food, request the #23 to be not too spicy. #26, fresh baked mussels, ain't bad either. For both #40 and #26, it's all about the sauce that accompanies each dish. It's the sauce makes these dishes what they are.

Golden Palace (Bellaire and..Hillcroft?): Have been for Dim Sum only. Haven't been there in a few years...is that place still there?

Much prefer Sinh Sinh over Tan Tan for quick/late night food. Tan Tan seems to be more popular with younger crowd and attracts more thuggish ruggish types, especially out-of-town thuggish types, especially late nights on weekends. Not really sure why though, since their food is really crappy compared to Sinh Sinh, which has much better food, with much less drama AFAICT. But hey, if they wanna eat their crappy food and have their senseless shootouts, as long as it's at Tan Tan instead of Sinh Sinh, I ain't complaining!

 

oops never mind, guess there is a Tan Do.

 

go to fengs kitchen for dim sum. 59@ bellaire.

 

HongKong Food Street @ Bellaire (between SinhSinh and Wells Fargo) serves good authentic Hong-Kong style food (try chicken and abalone congee or wonton/dumpling noodle soup)..

Aly restaurant @ Bellaire (across the big HongKong Mall) serves good and affordable Peking Duck ($22 for a whole one)

 

^^Yea Hong Kong Food Street! I was going to mention that one but forgot the name. Their food is a little more pricey though, and one time the Waitstaff didnt know what chinese sausage fried rice was??? I hear they have a cook that only does congee!

Been there, my friends love it, but cooking at the table really aint my thing. After a hard days work sometimes I just want my meal served to me. Id like a recommendation on what I could order for myself while my friends get giddy over cooking at the table. I've never had the 7 courses of beef. What is it?

This place is GREAT!
The wife loves #40=crispy whole fish, and #26, fresh baked mussels. She usually gets some seafood soup in a red broth. I like the Half Fried Chicken that comes with sticky rice. The deserts are great too!

You should try Tan Do. Its not as fancy as Sinh Sinh, or Tan Tan, but they make up for it in food and service. It seems to be my wifes restaraunt of choice right now. Complimentary Soup for Appetizer, Hot Tea, and/or desert is often given to customers.

What I find with Tan Tan is that it is much easier to find something good on the menu. Although I do agree Sinh Sinh is better, it took us a few times until we found just the right items to order (the Rice Cakes do not compare to Tan Tan). Once we did, these dishes are excellent and much prefered over the above average food at Tan Tan.

 

I went last night for dinner w/ a friend of mine. Both big rockets fans so we figured we give it a shot.......first things first.....the place is really expensive and honestly the food isnt worth the price. The food is just ok, not even pf changs quality.....the menu isnt very big, only had a few things that ive even heard about.....the ambience is good, i like the basketball decor, and the bar is stocked....good environment.....my friend is a big guy, and he kept complaining about the booth....he had a hard time gettin in and out.....esp gettin out . All in all if I had to give it a review.....EXPENSIVE, i was dissapointed as i expected alot more from the menu and quality wise for the price.....but the bar and ambience were a plus so Id give it 3 out of 5 stars.....i recommend going just to experience it, but its one of those 1 time stop restaraunts.....

 

Had dinner there last night.

Lets just say, they have room for improvement.

I knew with this being their first true weekend to be open, that I shouldn't expect them to have everything working. And I was right;
- The music in the bar area was way too quiet (for the kind of bar that it looks like). It has some real potential though, especially with those huge TV's as a neat hang out spot.
- The waitstaff was still working on some basic stuff (our waitress didn't know what Bombay Saphire was, so we told her it was gin that came in a blue bottle, and that we had about six of them whilst waiting for our table, so the bartenders knew how to make'em, only she came back 3 more times to ask what saphire was, and another time to make sure that we wanted tonic.) Poor lady was nice enough though....

I was willing to forgive for any service problems and long waits and all that kind of crap, but the food

SUCKED!!!

Big time dissapointment. It was like watching Yao funble away an offensive rebound

The selection was incredibly limited. Its like they had 4 variations of the same dish (ie Beef with Basil, Shrimp with Basil, Eggplant with Basil, etc.....)

We ordered 2 of the house specialty soups. Including Yao's favorite, and both were average at best. I've obviously had better on Bellaire, but I've also had better at General Joe's Chopsticks.

And the Peking Duck. OMG I almost cried when I tasted it, it was so bad. The meat was dry and tasteless. How on earth does duck meat get dry, its so fatty?!! And they served it with a salty bean paste, and not the sweet bean paste that is traditionally served with. I was tripping balls over that.

Chicken wings and Beef with Basil were OK but nothing to come back for. The Green Beans and the Fried rice were tastier than the other dishes, but also nothing to slap your mama over

I guess I just don't know who they were trying to appeal to. The food choices weren't exactly PF Changs, but also not Bellaire (especially because of what they charged). They need to pick which way they want to go, or else I just don't see them making it.

I love you Yao, but sorry I gotta give you three thumbs down.

 

Uh oh, could this be a foreshadowing of the quality of Yao's play for the rest of the season?