A very long time ago, I took Mom and Dad to Lai Ching Heen for lunch well before it was renamed Yan Toh Heen. Of course a steamed fish would be lunch’s highlight. We were offered the kitchen’s choice of pink garoupa as the day’s best of various weights; no question – bring her the largest. She heard the variables and constant and didn’t do the arithmetic among the choices, because at that point it was a rounding error.
I suppose I am one of the CH people who has raved about their XLB in the past. I will say that I have had very satisfying XLB at Koi Palace and I have also been to Shanghai and had lots of good XLB there too so I have a basis for comparison. That being said my observations have been that: 1) Like many restaurants QC can be an issue at Koi Palace. You can sometimes order the same thing as last time and it ends up being not as good as the last visit and vice versa. 2) In general it’s my observation that there has been a decline in the quality of the XLB and other items since the association with Martin Yan. Dragon Beaux -their joint restaurant in the city is kind of meh when i’ve been there-been there twice and not in a while.
We haven’t been to KP since the spring when we ordered Crab roe XLB and I thought they were decent enough but seemed indistinguishable to me from normal XLB-no satisfying crab taste like in the past. Similar to what the OP described.
Regarding the Pomelo skin dish, we had it at a restaurant in Hong Kong (Fu xing?) and it was jaw-droppingly delicious. Completeness blew us away. I can attest that when done right it’s out of this world. The texture of the pomelo skin was sublime. It absorbs the flavors of the stock its cooked it in so the quality is very dependent on how good the broth is.
Greetings from Asbury Park.
Don’t know about palaces, but here is a sick Jersey koi recently found in the back bays of the Shrewsbury river for you:
Phto credt @corvette_johnny 's uncle.
@NotJrvedivici will need to plan a visit to Bagdahd btb, since it’s rumored his spirit animal is wayward koi (I think he has this tattooed on his ankle). I understand he may have a few Koi palaces to visit.
As a former defensive lineman that ankle tat should help him with introductions.
Don’t be coy Viking, you know it’s a tramp stamp.
Yeah that’s true. Do you recall them ever at Harbor Village? I can only recall them back to the early Yank Sing days for SF.
[quote=“Souperman, post:19, topic:10621”]
It’s worth noting that San Francisco’s Cantonese population (unlike Vancouver’s or Toronto’s) historically came directly from Guangdong without a sojourn in Hong Kong, which might reflect of tastes as well as acquired skills.[/quote]
True it has historically (if we’re talking about the 1800s) come from the Guangdong province but if we’re looking around the late 1950s a majority of them did come from Hong Kong. There were some big Cantonese seafood restaurants that developed in the suburbs later on (I’m thinking HK Flower Lounge) and I don’t recall when about May Flower and Harbor Village. Though I think Vancouver and Toronto received the bulk of HK immigrants right before the handover.
Yikes! I don’t recall them being that bad, but I rarely get them during dinner time (and probably prior to what hyperbowler noted about the non-hand made skins). They seemed consistent.
Probably opening up a can of worms, but what would @Souperman and @bbulkow say is the epitome of XLB? I tend to think DTF would be the gold standard in CA. Relatively small with a thin wrapper that does not break. With a good savory and juicy filling. I’m trying to recall the one I had in Arcadia, and thought maybe there was a touch of sweetness to it (I think I just prefer it straight savory haha).
Wow, I didn’t think that they had such machinery. Wonder if there’s a small home version haha.
The weird thing is, I’ve seen these giant soup dumplings where you can drink from it with a straw. And the one from Joe’s Shanghai didn’t exactly fit that mold. Not sure where to place that category. I recall seeing a picture of a giant soup dumpling at The Bamboo Garden in Milbrae, but I haven’t tried that nor their version of XLB. I’l
Ah makes sense. Yeah pretty much, anything north of San Mateo to SF and a bit of Oakland is where I would predominantly eat. Most far out might be Fremont for Yum’s. Have you ever tried Shanghai Bistro in Newark though? I enjoyed their pan fried dumpling and thought they did a good job on the XLB.
Ha fair enough, though I think Tai Yuan (old Tai Wu in Daly City) does a good job on their dried scallop soup dumpling. I recall getting it a few times in Toronto (Shark fin soup dumpling that is) and wanted a stronger umami taste from their superior stock.
Ah gotcha, I was just going through some of Charles’ list when I went to Toronto. Thought Skyview was very good, give that a try when you’re more towards Richmond Hill.
Oof wow. Yeah I recall seeing it for 100 a pound at Sea Harbour just earlier this year for that Australian coral/East Star (haha whoops not north) grouper.
We enjoyed the fish at that time though I really don’t think it was worth that additional price. Though I think its more of an amusing family story now with my dad being a little speechless.
Oof x_x;
Oh that’s very true, though I think Koi’s held up pretty well in terms of consistency. There wasn’t a big drop in quality that made me go I’ll never come back here (mostly the price keeps me away haha).
I felt Dragon Beaux was a little more of a modern take versus the more classical dim sum found at KP. I thought they did an okay job but still prefer KP more.
Wow I definitely want to order a version in HK when I have the chance!
_> I wonder how they taste…
I think you’d enjoy this:
Oh dear… lol. Thanks for the link. This’ll take a while to read through.
I’m pretty sure they had them at Harbor Village, but not positive. As for “early Yank Sing days” do you mean 1958 (Broadway & Powell), 1962 (Broadway and Stockton), 1974 (Stevenson St.), 1980 (Battery St.) or 2001 (Rincon Center)? 
Really interesting. Do you know the name of dish? I’m interested in trying it!
Great review! Thanks for posting!
Well carp/koi really pick up the flavors of the water they live in so around here that would be a combination of brackish salt marsh combined with lawn run off, agricultural waste, benzenes, dioxins and other assorted chemicals that are leaching from the shallow water table.
Think Sacramento Delta run off right before it hits the bay and you will be close.
Uh… … I only recall the days with a clear teapot haha. I’m guessing battery st. at that point.
They were fried maitake mushrooms with garlic chip as per that flyer. Not sure if you can order it on the side as this was part of the set though.
Mmm…
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It’s possible Battery St. had XLB in the latter days; it existed up until Rincon Annex opened in 2001. I only ever got takeout from there. Yank Sing (Rincon) used (uses?) a cheap knockoff of the Jenaer Glass “Museum” teapot; It’s likely the same one was used at the Battery/Clay location.
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I guess there’s only one way for me to find out! haha 
That looks like what I recall from memory, I just don’t recall if I ever got XLB at that point in time.
Ha yep! Good luck
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I sort of forgot about this KP discussion until I was wondering why there wasn’t more chatter about their dinner items (the same thing that @Night07 wondered about) and searched to see if there was any discussions for it.
House soup in a winter melon. $15. Not huge, but perfect size for two adults. Got some mushroom, shrimp, duck skin?, ham, etc. and winter melon to be scooped into the soup. Great flavor. Great deal. The other soup of the evening, goji berry squab soup seemed a little too ‘warm’ given a couple of us had a sore throat. So the winter melon soup was perfect.
Lamb stew in pot with lettuce on the side. $32. Good flavor. The thin pieces were fairly tender. The thick pieces was tough and could use a lot more cooking. We ordered on the spot so I wonder if its possible to preorder.
Herbal steamed free range chicken with Chinese yam. $22. Not bad though Bosum Yum’s version with fish maw is better. Chunk of range chicken with goji berry, red ‘berry’?, big chunks of nagaimo/ yam. The yam had a pretty raw texture. Some may like it, but I prefer them well cooked.
Foie gras, truffle, sakura shrimp fried rice. I think it was $28. The star were the sakura shrimps, who added a briny saltiness and savoriness to the fried rice. Couldn’t detect the truffle taste. Didn’t care or the foie, which I supposed were the fried big chunks which didn’t taste very attractive. Overall, a bit greasy. But more elevated than many fried rice out there.
Complementary sweet dessert buns. I don’t know how anyone can possible make room for these after a full meal.
Overall, a good meal.
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Excellent review. Recently, I had a few meals (lunches and dinners) there. I like the place.
Maybe it is just me, but I never like the idea of truffle in a highly mix dish. First, I think the truffle flavor will be highly undermined. I am pretty sure they use Chinese black truffle. I have never against Chinese black truffle. I have some at home. I just don’t think their flavor will come through. I think all the truffle dishes these days are just too much.
Second, I totally agree with you about the buns (sweet egg custard). They always give these out. I much rather they give out oranges or apples. I usually either tell them not to give me the buns… or if they already did, then I take them home for late night snack.
I suppose if I eat a live grouper or two they will upgrade the desserts… and like you I had the buns late night and lunch the next day. Got plenty of leftovers for every dish.
Anything in particular that you like or don’t from dinner?
Wow, the little wintermelon soup looks pretty good. Looks better than the half melon soup that we got haha. I just tried the steamed chicken with fish maw at yum’s recently so I’ll post a little thing later but still KP seems to have done a great job.
Ha, this reminds me of a restaurant in Toronto named O Mei. One relative ordered their uh super set (giant lobster or alaskan king crab) and got the works for desserts. Five different types of desserts and if you wanted more, just ask! When his friend went there for dinner and ordered the non-super set, got only one dessert soup. If you’re ever around, I’d say try their four/five way cooking for their giant lobster/king crab but mind you, its pricey (even adjusted to the USD exchange rate).
In any case, your post brought up a big meal I had at Koi (in which I’m terrible really at remembering to post my meals).
After eating dim sum, I was enamored by well… the XO sauce. Free XO sauce with purchase of the half set? I’m there!
I have never had poon choi before, and neither have my folks. Note, the meal is suggested for five/ten people. I do not suggest going with less people for the meal.
In any case, it turns out that the deal for the jar of xo sauce is when you order the to go poon choi. We dashed the unappealing thought of lugging a tub of cooked food back home, and instead, opted to go and eat in house (also went on a weekday cause its… well cheaper…).
Starting off our meal I’m delighted to report that you do indeed get XO sauce with the poon choi (also smart move to ask them to get a to go container when you leave with those delicious dried scallops).
This thing is pretty impressive. Just on top, there were large shrimps, goose feet, chicken, duck, abalone, beggar’s purse tofu, fat choy, shitake mushrooms, sea cucumber, dried scallops/conpoy, and well broccoli. Underneath all that, there were two additional types of tofu (stuffed with fish and the egg tofu), roast pork, napa cabbage, pork (I presume more like the pork tenderloin), radishes, pork skin, dried mussels, and bean curd while swimming in this delicious umami-filled well… brown sauce. That sauce is delicious and the napa cabbage and radishes underneath soaked it up! I’m probably missing an ingredient or two, but in any case, KP has a good variety of stuff.
For dessert we had a pipping hot almond milk with a black sesame tong yun. Not too sweet, but it was difficult to finish this after our meal.
Additionally, as you two mentioned… those custard buns that no one can possibly eat after dinner.
For five people, this meal would be more than enough. For three people this is definitely overkill. We had four boxes of left overs and made a great lunch/dinner the next few days.
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Whenever I go to Koi Palace for dinner, I ordered mostly steamed fish, fish with two preps (魚兩吃) and geoduck clam with two preps (象拔蚌兩吃). To be honest, I don’t really dislike anything from them. I find that the simpler the preps, I better I like them. For example, I like blanch geoduck more than stir fry geoduck. If I have to pick one thing I don’t like about their dinner, then it is the free milk custard buns. What’s up with that?
