The Hidden Chinatown of San Francisco

Golden Star Vietnamese Restaurant has been at its location, next to Portsmouth Square (11 Walter U Lum Place, roughly Clay and Walter Lum Place, between Grant and Kearny) for a long time. And they have always delivered consistent quality pho with proper broth.  One item that I recommend there, if you eat beef, is NOT the "Number One", but rather, their beef stew pho, which is number 24 (if I remember correctly). The beef has been stewed for a long time, with proper amount of tendons and pretty much falls apart as you poke it with your chopstick, and almost melts in your mouth. The broth is VERY flavorful, and obviously very different from your normal pho broth.  Even with a can of soda, it's well under $20. when I don't want roast pork, I'd go here.  You can definitely try the Number One, but every pho place has the number one, and there is almost no difference among them anymore, other than the broth.  The main problem with this place is they are only open from 1

A new "tea restaurant" (even though it didn't call itself that) has opened at 881 Clay St, intersection of Stockton and Clay. It is called G&Y Bakery Cafe.  They used a hard laminated menu with both sides crammed full of items, both Eastern and Western style breakfast so it's clearly a tea restaurant. Tables are quite clean as it is new. However, a sampling of their dish left the writer a bit wanting.  Went in in the afternoon for a late lunch, and ordered something pretty simple: beef stew with seasonal vegetables over rice. The item arrived promptly, with plenty of gravy to soak in the rice. And the stuff is pretty flavorful. The vegetables, basically choy sum, is fine. However, the same can't be said of the beef. The beef is tough to the point of almost inedible. There are a lot of tripe and tendons, and they didn't seem to have been cooked long enough to soften properly. Took me a bit to chew each bit before they can be swallowed.  The price is a bit o

Tea drinking has been a part of Chinese culture for most of China's existence. It was said that the first (Mythical) Emperor of China, ShenNong, was also an herbalist, and he discovered tea back in 2437BC (or thereabouts). The story was he and his entourage had always boiled water for hygiene. After a journey, they stopped for a break, and his servants went to boil water. As the water was boiled, leaves were introduced accidentally into the hot water, either fell from a tree or dried leaves were brought by the wind and some fell into the hot water. The aroma soon drew ShenNong's attention, and he tasted it, finding it extremely refreshing. And thus, tea was born.  However, tea drinking did not gain sophistication until millennia later. The first formal study and catalog of tea were found in Tang Dynasty, about 780AD, where a scholar claimed to have spent 20 years thoroughly documenting the process of planting, growing, harvesting, processing, brewing, and tasting tea. As trade