I had some classic Sam Wo dishes, starting with the BBQ Pork Rice Noodle Rolls ($8), which were quite good and pretty much the same as I remember from my earlier visits. The rice roll exterior is a little thicker than dim sum cheung fun and had a nice bouncy texture. There was charsiu sliced into matchsticks within and the same pungent sinus opening Chinese mustard served on the side as before.
And I also had the Sliced Fish Porridge ($12), another Sam Wo classic. This was also quite good. There were lots of thin slices of a delicate white fish, cilantro, and ginger slivers in the rice congee.
Maybe my perspective has changed due to inflation but they seem reasonable to me in 2025 Looking at the older menus they do seem to have increased the prices after reopening, but that’s probably to be expected with a change of ownership.
It’s not a concept. It’s just a misappropriated name for dim sum/yum cha. They probably feel it justifies the prices or makes it more accessible to people who know nothing about Chinese cuisine.
The title of that Peter Chang blog post just sets my teeth on edge. As if tapas is the concept that brings people together and fosters connection. I have been to tons of Chinese restaurants and watched large tables of Chinese families having a great multigenerational time together over dim sum without the restaurant being ridiculous and calling it tapas. Why pretend to be Spanish when you have the perfect culture yourself. Spanish people aren’t marketing tapas as dim sum. Arguably they should be.
What got me wondering from the Peter Chan url was this: How Peter Chang Elevates Amish Food Tradition:
Peter Chang blends innovation with tradition in his culinary approach. He crafts modern dishes using locally sourced Amish ingredients, staying true to the essence of Amish cooking while introducing fresh, creative elements. This approach preserves the heritage of Amish cuisine while offering diners a unique and exciting culinary experience.
This guy is all over the Effin’ place…”preserves the heritage of Amish cuisine…”
Seriously it’s like he understand nothing about Chinese cuisine or is trying to something else like marketing gibberish, aka as Chinese Tapas and Amish cuisine heritage. Seriously WTF.
I had a late ducky lunch yesterday at Sam Wo. I started with another rice noodle roll, this time with duck ($9) which was very good. The duck was quite juicy and tender. There were some mung bean sprouts inside for crunch.
And I also tried something new to me, the Shredded Duck Dry Mixed Noodle ($16), which was quite good. This was a bowl of wheat noodles with a good amount of duck along with hoisin sauce, cilantro, green onion, and lettuce for crunch. The duck, like in the rice noodle roll, was quite tender and juicy. There were some nice fatty bits of duck skin in there as well. The noodles were fine but I would have liked them to have been a bit more al dente.
I really don’t like duck much. I’ve only liked it in 2 different preps: Remember Yet Wah? I always went to the one on Clement/23rd. I always had to order the pressed duck. It was little cubes of layers of duck, really special. I’ve not found it elsewhere and, of course, no more Yet Wah.
The other way is Peking duck, crispy skin in pancake with green onion slices, hoisin, like they serve at Yank Sing dim sum.
Looking at the older menus they do seem to have increased the prices after reopening, but that’s probably to be expected with a change of ownership.
