Koi Palace takeout menu during the pandemic. Mostly dimsums and noodle/ rice dishes.
Daly City:
Milpitas:
Dublin:
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Yup, it’s times like this where you remember restaurants who treated you well. Koi Palace is not one of those for me.
How does it work with pick up? Can you phone in orders and just go there to pick them up?
I am curious. What happened?
I haven’t gone. Though I think they’d like phone orders more than via any of the delivery apps if they use them.
Their service is terrible. Simple as that.
I have had both excellent service and indifferent service at koi palace. Worst service I’ve ever had at dim sum has been at Ton Kiang on Geary.
This is pretty much my experience too, having dined here 100+ times. It can vary from 1/5 to 5/5 depending on who’s your server. It’s never rude at its worst, just absent.
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Wait… Roasted Pork Royale? <_< Was that in their actual menu?
Yeah, that’s what they call their standard plate of char siu.
Weird, I never noticed that before haha. I was thinking at some point this was a Chinese big mac…
I just gave KP a shot over the weekend.
They have some interesting specials at KP but their operating hours are a sliver just around lunch.
They’re also doing frozen dim sum that you can steam at home as well. I grabbed a few as well but uh… didn’t take any pictures currently.
Starting off, we noticed they had the baked bbq pork chops! Well… they always had it, but I tend to go to Koi during the early opening hours, about two hours before the rice and noodle chef appears. Frankly, I thought they did a great job on the pork chops. There were three large pork chops that were breaded like a cutlet without any bones. The pork was pretty juicy and the fried rice had enoki mushrooms incorporated into it. The sauce had a good tomato tang.
We got the stir fried beef chow fun which turned out pretty good as well. Only issue is that the take out container keeps a little too much moisture from the hot stir fry even if you live relatively close to the restaurant.
We got the XLBs and uh… I might have turned a little too hard going left… but they were still pretty juicy inside. The frozen ones that you buy don’t have the metal foil container however.
The shrimp dumplings were on the colder end (the baked pork chop dish took a little longer than they expected) so that was a little disappointing. The frozen ones were a little disappointing to me as they were proportionally more expensive than the other dumplings and also they kinda cracked 
The shrimp rice noodle rolls were quite good, shame they don’t have a frozen one. I figure that one might be a little harder to emulate.
Siu mai was good if not uh… upright (I blame the left turn). The frozen ones were also quite good as well! I kinda wish they had the scallop version but I’ll take the classic.
I really can’t recall the last time I ever ordered roasties but got their rose wine soy sauce chicken. If you wanted chicken feet though, sadly they’re not attached. I really enjoyed their marinade, there’s a hint of rose but its rather fleeting. The chicken had a smooth texture but a hint of chew.
Gotta get the pork royale as well! Yeah its char siu haha. I thought they did a good job. The cut was a little leaner than I expected but I have a partial liking to that (I really don’t like it when there’s one fatty portion that you try to chew… and chew… and chew…)
Anywho, two other items that were frozen that I grabbed were their steamed bbq pork buns (quite yummy) and 2lbs of their black bean spare ribs. I still don’t know how the restaurants do it, but the bones on the spare ribs are relatively soft. I may or may not have an extra bottle of spicy soy sauce and vinegar as well…
Anywho, I thought they did a pretty good job for to go. Sadly it still doesn’t match having it freshly served when you sit down. I’d lean towards the frozen items actually and have them pipping hot at home. I do recommend that baked pork chop over rice as well
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Alright! Koi Palace has opened for in person dining but… I’m uh not too fond of that idea as of right now even if the bay area is still doing a pretty good job with masking. The good part is that they’re open at later hours and definitely can grab some dinner options at the right time!
Anywho, lets start off at the top at 12 o’clock. Sirloin cubes in wined wasabi. Honestly the little wine wasable dipping sauce really isn’t needed as the sirloin cubes are delicious without it. A sweet marinade but the slight wasabi sauce gives it an extra oomph.
At 3 o’clock, we have pan seared pork chops with soy essence. Very moist large chops that are boneless. Honestly its a lot of meat, but the seared soy sauce gives it a very umami taste, and … I just might love juicy pork chops.
At the 6 o’clock position, the main item of the night! Black pepper crab. Not really spicy at all (unless you consider black pepper spicy), it had a really great sauce. Sweet with some basil and a peppery aroma, delicious. I really wonder how much better that crab will be when its in season…
At the 9 o’clock position, we have the whole dried scallop stuffed in daikon ring with pea vines (though… they’re really not daikon but hairy melons. Probably a mistranslation). I always enjoyed the braised sauce that comes from the conpoy and the hairy melon’s ability to absorb the sauce. Coupled with the pea sprouts a nice combo though… its on the tinier end.
At the very top
Lastly, we ordered the duck soup with aged tangerine peels. There were a few peels somewhere in the soup, but a combination of duck and winter melon. I honestly never really tried this soup before but it was quite delicious as well. A more… mmm… flavorful fowl soup I suppose compared to chicken. There’s that duck flavor versus chicken you normally encounter.
Anywho, the price of the meal… wasn’t… cheap (then again, was Koi Palace ever cheap…?), but this meal honestly brings forth some sort of normalcy that was barely less than a year ago. Really glad to see that they’re around and picked up an order of frozen abalone siu mai!
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What do you mean they are open at later hours? Later in the night?
How much was the soup? Was that a nightly special or a regular item on the menu?
Yeah! They’re open from 5:30-8:30 pm. I normally don’t go for individual dishes and eat over rice during lunch hours, honestly not sure why, just never really preferred eating like that.
They have a take out menu now. Soup’s definitely on the pricier end of $38 but, I never seen it before so just wanted to give it a shot. Two large soup containers in addition to the half duck tray with other soup bits
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Hmmmph…Sakura Shrimp & Squid Ink Fried Rice. The squid ink is intriguing…
It was a while back in November, but opted to go to KP again (more for proximity than anything else).
At the very top, we have the wine stewed oxtail in pumpkin bowl (well more like pumpkin chunks). The sauce was delicious and the oxtails were huge but not many pieces.
Going clockwork, we have the honey smoked sea bass. The sea bass was juicy and moist and just delicious. I didn’t think the sauce was needed.
After that there is the clay pot rice with Chinese cured meat. The classic three cured meats of Chinese sausage, duck, and cured pork belly were wonderfully aromatic. Salty though but that’s cured meat for you.
Lastly we have the Jiang Nan style spicy crab meat and tofu. Not too spicy but enough of a kick. More savory than anything. Mmm… I liked it enough, but I think I’d rather just order a whole dungeness crab haha.
And of course the rice that goes with the cured meats. There was a nice soccarat and the grains were pretty evenly distributed and not mushy and clumped together.
All in all, a solid meal in this chilly weather!
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How does claypot rice in a PET container works? Did they give you the socarrat?
They cooked it then separated everything lol. Its… not quite the same but I’ll take it over nothing. And yeah, I’m not sure if you can see it in my rice picture, but it was the top portion of it. Parts still had a good crunch (though that’s probably due to proximity than anything)
Huh a welcome surprise for me as I explored the little fish tanks outside the main lobby area in Koi Palace as I was grabbing some frozen dim sum:
Langoustine! I’ve never really seen them in the bay area and I think I only tried them once at Twist in Las Vegas. At any rate, I had no idea why this was being imported into the tanks but I had to give them a try.
I ordered them steamed with vermicelli and minced garlic (the soy sauce came in a separate container) and I thought that the langoustine were delicious. Essentially miniature lobsters, I liked the more dense flesh compared to shrimp but I don’t think its worth the price premium (48 a lb).
I did order a regular Boston lobster though for a seafood bonanza and a quick comparison. This was cooked Vietnamese style and mm… to-go isn’t the best way for this dish. The outside should’ve been a bit more crisp due to the frying but unfortunately the steam was trapped in the foil and made things a bit… soft 
Anywho, I’m hoping the langoustine means there might be some mantis shrimp imported in the future!
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