Friday, April 18, 2008

God Heard My Prayers

Up until this week, I had yet to like a xlb in a restaurant in the Bay Area. I know others like Shanghai Dumping on Balboa in SF, Shanghai in Oakland and/or San Mateo, but I find them all meh. Follwoing a posting on Chowhound from Yimster, Wil and I went to check out Sunny Shanghai in San Bruno. We were rather determined as our first attempt was on a Tues (when they're closed). On the next attempt we hit jackpot. The xlbs were magnificent. They had the thinnest skins I've seen for xlbs in the US. The soup was plentiful - it filled full my soup spoon when I bit into the dumpling. The filling was lighter in flavour but still complex. The broth was more chickeny than porky, but still had that great sticky mouth feel from gelatin. Very nicely folded too.

They ran out of orders of the stinky tofu, but gave us the four remaining pieces. Not as stinky as some in smell. A bit more deep fried on the outside texture and softer, more silken tofu inside. Different than Tw stinky tofu. Wonder if it's a Shanghainese vs Taiwanese stylistic difference?
Baby bok choy with tofu skin. Light and clean in taste with the cabbage still crisp.
Red cooked lions head was light and airy instead of the usual overly dense meatballs. The sauce was savory without being too rich. Not that overly cloying brown sauce seen at many Bay Area Shanghainese restaurants.

I really love this place. Might be habit forming as it's close to my office. The xlbs were perfect and the food was homey, lighter versions of Shanghainese food that I'm partial to. What else can I ask? Well, the bill for two for all this food was $26. And cheap too!


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