Redefining window shopping.
The first time I visited San Francisco, I flew in from white New England and was looking for what the Chinese-American mecca of San Francisco had to offer up to my palate. My quest began at the Imperial Tea Court, where I asked the two Cantonese-speaking boys manning the shop for recommendations. They suggested Yee’s Restaurant (文仔記) as a good place for a quick bite.
Mystery items scrawled on pink paper, in Chinese, pasted on wall.
Roasted pork+soy sauce chicken+rice.
Yee’s can be identified by the hanging barbequed meats (燒味 siu mei) in its window. 燒味 siu mei is a popular style of Cantonese rotisserie which involves various types of meat barbecued with different sauces. It is commonly served on a plate of rice, with some veggies thrown on the side, and makes for a hearty lunch. The most popular 燒味 siu mei item is 叉燒 char siu, which is pork barbequed with a s3kr3t red sauce. Unfortunately, the 燒味 siu mei at Yee’s is not so good; it’s skinny and dry. Fortunately though, the chicken (both varieties) is delicious.
For a simple meal, I highly recommend the Soy Sauce Chicken Over Rice (油雞飯). The other dishes I’ve sampled (from friends’ plates) were also pretty good, but I usually default to a plate of 燒味 siu mei + rice
Aside from the food, the restaurant ranks high on my authenticity scale for another reason: The pink plastic bags, bare yellow light bulbs and crowds of old Chinese ladies remind me of markets I’ve been to in Hong Kong as a child.
- Address: 1131 Grant Avenue: Google map; Yelp entry.
- Rating: 7.5
- Good for: a casual and quick lunch
- Price: $
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