It seems like they make their own noodles. I may go this weekend. I will report back.
I will write up a longer post later. The rou jia mou was fab. Everything was made from scratch and tasted ‘clean’
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Celestial Flame and Qiwei Kitchen are closed according to Yelp.
I’m adding two Teochew Vietnamese restaurants and plan to add a few more. Also, I understand that Teo in SoMa still has a full Teochew menu, but the servers would prefer you order Teochew hot pot as the main meal.
- Noodle 21 (San Pablo)
- Yummy Trieu Chau (San Jose)
I’ve been to Noodles 21 and it was good, though I’m not familiar with Teochew cuisine.
Had a quick glance of the menu. They have the fish balls. fish cakes, ho fun that are common in Teochew cuisine. They refer to Teochew on the menu as ‘Chow Jou’.
What characterizes Teochiew Vietnamese?
I had a tea smoked chicken leg which was quite delicious
It’s Chaozhou in Mandarin Chinese, of course.
All the “Vietnamese Teochew” restaurants list their dishes in both chinese characters and Vietnamese. Presumably the owners (or their families) are from Vietnam and also have Teochew heritage. Please let us know on a separate thread if you know more about any of these restaurants! (I’ll gather some info next year when I have a chance)
In terms of food, all have Teochew (“Trieu Chau” ) noodle soups (wet or dry style), which some list alongside Chinese American, Vietnamese, or Cantonese dishes. @sck’s description of “fish balls. fish cakes, ho fun” plus egg noodles are the common threads, and some have other Teochew dishes (e.g. kidney dishes, satay). Other than the language on the menu, I’d like to learn how/whether the owner’s time (or family or mentor’s time) in Vietnam changed the food in any stylistic way.
I found this discussion on Quora about Cantonese and Teochew influences on Southern Vietnamese food. It sounds analogous to Chinese-American food; perhaps these restaurants exist to serve Vietnamese immigrants hankering for what they thought of as “Chinese” food at home.
Interesting that the author considers “Hu Tieu” dishes to be Teochew-influenced. I’d thought of them as Cambodian, but they might be pass-through cuisine thanks to the Hakkas, the Johnny Appleseeds of Southern China cuisine. (Interestingly the Thai dish “Guay Jub” is of Teochew origin, but many Thais refer to it as “Vietnamese noodles” – another example of the Hakka sowing the seeds of their cuisine along the way.)
I was reading that some Teochew Chinese fled to Vietnam. Some later born in Vietnam don’t speak Teochew. It would be interesting to know what the background is of the owners of Noodles 21.
For me, the menu at Tung Kee / TK Noodle is representative of Vietnamese Trieu Chau
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/11.14.96/noodles-9646.html
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Thanks.
Does Metroactive pay by the word?
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Not for much longer. I had it for the first time today. The owner commented that they are closing down at the end of the month. I will write up a separate post.
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CBI Boiling Fish (Cupertino) just opened, from the owners of CBI in Milpitas. No full menu available yet. They claim on their webpage to be the first Bay Area Chinese restaurant to accept Bitcoin.
What region does it represent?
Ha, whoops!
Sichuan.
Pending. a full menu, maybe Chongqing focused if the titular name refers to Wanzhou fish.(e.g. https://www.chowhound.com/post/wanzhou-grilled-fish-chongqing-style-929759 )
You need to start a new thread. This one takes too long to scrool through. Anyway,
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Did this restaurant ever come to fruition? Not that they needed the money.
Yes! There’s one in Cupertino, not as elaborate as the ones in Asia, and one opening soon in Fremont.
(Whoops, I need to fix its name in the Regional List)
