Mooncakes in San Francisco's Chinatown

After dim sum, the second addiction we encountered in Chinatown was the sweet bean paste filled Mooncake from the Eastern Bakery on Grant Street. This was the first Chinese bakery in Chinatown. Former president Bill Clinton ate a Mooncake here. A photograph taken in the bakery captures him munching down. After eating just one bite, we were at the bakery every day purchasing a Mooncake for the next mornings breakfast. We bought a wooden Mooncake mold and are determined to try making them ourselves. We were warned that it takes a lot of patience and practice to get them right. The Mooncakes we liked the best were filled with red bean paste. You have the option of buying them with or without a salty egg yolk baked in the center. The egg yolk set in the dark bean paste represents the full moon. The combination must be an acquired taste and not one that we warmed up to. We preferred the Mooncakes plain. The tops of the cakes are usually imprinted with a beautiful design of Chinese characters or symbols. We're not sure what ours read, but sometimes the characters represent longevity or harmony. See more about Mooncakes than you will ever want to know at wikipedia.

Now I think we are ready to go to China!

Dim Sum in San Francisco

Yank Sing Dim Sum

You's Dim Sum

Dieter and I had our first encounter with dim sum while vacationing in fantastic San Francisco. We read a couple of guide books that suggested a dim sum meal at "Yank Sing" so we went there first. Here we experienced the Chinese Sunday tradition of selecting steaming dim sum as it rolled by on carts served by a persuasive wait staff. We could not resist trying everything and most every cart that passed our table left a plate of steaming dim sum behind. Before we knew it we had spent $60.00 on little plates of dumplings. We were not disappointed at all. The restaurant was full of families dressed in Sunday best and the atmosphere was lively. We liked it so much we decided to try dim sum again someplace else before leaving San Fran. In Chinatown on Stockton Street we passed a few dim sum carry out places and decided on one with a few tables called “You's Dim Sum”. Here the taste was equally as good as "Yank Sing", but the presentation was casual. At the counter we were given a cafeteria tray, a pink one covered with a piece of plastic wrap. Then the delicious looking dim sum in steamers just out of the of the kitchen were presented. Our selections were piled high on the tray. Total price $6.00, I repeat $ 6.00 for the both of us to be full to the brim. We loved the soy sauce and asked what brand they used. The reply was “you won’t find this brand because we make it ourselves here.” We sat at one of the few tables with our trays and all the while we could hear the chop chop chopping of food preparation coming from the kitchen and occasionally someone would walk out with yet another gigantic tray of steaming dumplings. Apparently Chinatown has more Hong Kong style dim sum restaurants than Hong Kong. And some people claim it is even better. I must confess that we had to go back to “You Dim Sum” the following day for one last taste. There I spoke to two police officers that had each purchased a bag to go, I mentioned to them “if you eat here, I made the right choice for dim sum “. He laughed and told me his boss the chief of police, a Chinese women, comes here when she wants dim sum. To get the full dim sum experience, we recommend both restaurants be tried.