Wei’s opened a few months ago in the old Korean fried chicken space. They serve classic pickled fish soups from the Sichuan, Hubei provinces.
We got their top two fish soups. A flavorful, aromatic, highly satisfying meal.
Old pot sauerkraut fish soup (large) with snakehead fish, and 4 included ‘side dishes’ that actually went into the pot itself- yuba, sweet potato glass noodles, baby cabbage and tofu. The yuba and glass noodle was made for taking in all the flavors from the soup. the fish soup was seasoned. Tanginess from the pickled vegetables and the snakehead was delicate and went well with the broth. We all liked it.
Sauerkraut was more of a convenient translation for them but the vegetable wasn’t really sauerkraut.
Green sichuan pepper sauerkraut fish soup (small) with snakehead fish and 2 sides dishes- wood ear and lotus root. This one has a bit of ma la from the peppercorn, and shared the same broth from the other pot. The two side had more crunch to it but didn’t soak in the soup as well. They said its a bit spicier, but its not very spicy, which was totally fine.
It might be interesting to compare the sauerkraut fish rice noodles and sauerkraut beef rice noodles at Taste of Old Street which is in soft opening at 5336 Geary in San Francisco. One of the yelp reviews the dish as using “pickled greens.” Listed on the menu on the left side, middle.
Reports from recent local Chinese diners that quality may have taken a dive in recent months after the initial launch. The reports said that the food was mostly prepackaged from China and reheated here, including the Vietnamese farmed fish, and pointed out to balance tenderness of the fish and thoroughness in cooking, there was some tradeoffs made that might have led to post-consumption digestive issues.