Apparently a Yum’s Bistro lunch is on the horizon, so its preorder time. While digging through Yelp pictures of the specials board to see if there is anything new these days, I came across a dish from the board 7 years ago that I have not seen in recent years:
fresh nagaimo with sauteed ostrich
(No. 1 in the picture)
Has anyone tried that dish before? (want to see if they let people special order this dish, if its good） and more generally, being an ostrich newbie, what does ostrich taste like?
Back in the 1990s, at the height of the ostrich craze (and people invested in ostrich farms as tax dodges) there was a restaurant on Clay St. in SF Chinatown which specialized in ostrich dishes and, oddly, clam chowder. It was located where Golden King is now, and one room had a deli counter where you could buy your own ostrich meat cuts. I believe it was called the Golden Ostrich. Now don’t ask me what I’ve been smoking,
I don’t recall much about ostrich except it was like beef, but even blander.
According to George Costanza, “You know, they say ostrich has less fat, but you eat more of it.”
If you reaaly want to know what it tastes like, you can buy ostrich from Polarica USA in the Bayview.
Ostrich burgers I’ve had are bland and useless, but I’ve had roasts (at the former Careme room) that tasted as intense as beef. The texture was more compact IIRC.
I wonder what cut of ostrich they use, or how those differ in general.
What kind of dish is the ostrich one? Like Sichuan style?
Ostrich is lean and mild in taste. Here it’s only sold as steaks and is imported from South Africa.
I prefer kangaroo. Also sold here as steaks. In Australia it’s as common as beef and all cuts are sold in the supermarket, roo including sausages. Damn, why is Australia is so far and expensive… otherwise I would make it there soon.
Thanks. Maybe I will call them up and ask them about it and see if they still know what cut of the ostrich it is and why they removed it from the menu. (Low demand? crappy taste?)
I don’t think Yum’s has offered this for a long time. Even his die hard regulars don’t order that since he does so many more great dishes.
Given that the #2 item on that 2009 menu is lamb brisket clay pot, it is also likely it was a limited offering at the time. Also, he only serves lamb claypot during winter season (same with snake bisque).
For lunch, Yum’s does a spectacular bean sprouts pork strips pan fried noodle, with the requisite yellow chives. Invest in $5 or so for a small side dish of his XO sauce (or regular house chili sauce/whatever they have or bring your own). Soy sauce supreme crab is stellar as always.
I talked to the staff about that dish. I was told that they haven’t offered this dish in ‘n’ years. (Cantonese saying for really really long time) He recalled that Chef Yum had really only made it a few times.
Super crowded for sat lunch last weekend. Must be the pre-Mother’s Day effect.
Gathering the names of some additional (preorder?) dishes that a friend* of Chef Yum’s regularly had (and my feeble attempt at translating). Time to go back for a feast. Salivating already.
Unfortunately my schedule has changed recently so I am not able to organize a meal there any time soon (without my kids in tow). So I’d high encourage all of you to organize yourself.
On my computer (Chrome browser under Windows 10) the globe gives me Microsoft’s translation. Right-clicking gives me the Google translation. Microsoft wins this round.
