Hang Ah

You can hang ME, better yet shoot me, if I ever go back to this Chinatown institution. My niece was in town and wanted dim sum on a Sunday night. I racked my brain trying to think of a place that served dim sum in the evenings. Perhaps I would have been better served to use the Yellow Pages. In any case, my all time favorite, Canton Teahouse has been closed for years, so I remembered a small hole in the wall, off the beaten path type place and once I figured out the name, gave them a call and they confirmed that they served dim sum all day. I asked if a reservation would be necessary and the woman on the other end of the line seemed amused as she said “no problem”. There were five people there when we arrived.

 

My heart sank as I looked at the dim sum menu (it was already beating irregularly from the garish and bright paint on the walls), with not more that ten items on it. There were some standards like the Siu Mai pictured above, and Ha Gow, my favorite dim sum dumpling made of shrimp steamed in a rice wrapper, but the selection was dismal. Still we went ahead and ordered some, supplementing it with an order of steamed rice and Chicken in Black Bean Sauce. The only condiments were chili oil and an inky black soy sauce. They did not look right. The pepper flakes looked black and gummy in the oil and there were no black beans, nor was there the scent of garlic. The opacity of the soy sauce immediately put me off of using it at all. The Ha Gow was bad and tasted as though it had been washed in some kind of disinfectant. I didn’t bother with a photo. The Sui Mai was okay, but nothing without some condiments on it.

 

There were no baked pork buns, only Char Siu Bao. Okay, I can live with that, but the dough was a bit off in flavor and my niece wouldn’t even touch them based on looks alone. The filling was actually good, but the dough made the whole item sub par. I was wondering if things could get worse.

  

I was hoping the one bright spot would be their foil wrapped chicken, a delicacy I remembered loving as a child. I haven’t seen it on a menu in many years. After trying one, I carefully thought about what might make this item appeal to a child. Oh yes, it came to me. It would be similar to opening a box of Cracker Jack and looking for the small prize, tearing open the paper envelope and finding something wonderful inside. The expectation was where the thrill came. The chicken was a thigh joint with bone, that had been marinated in Chinese 5 Spice and that inky soy sauce. Come to think of it, I never found a great prize in Cracker Jack either.

That leaves us with the Chicken in black Bean Sauce. I used the photo to fill the spot where I would normally place a shot of the restaurant itself, but it was hard enough to sit there and eat, so I wasn’t about to remind myself of it later with a photograph. The chicken was okay and had every ingredient required of that dish, but it had an uncharacteristic sweetness and was too salty. I now have to wonder not only why I thought it was a good restaurant at one time, but also how it could possibly remain in business for 80 years. I now have a renewed respect for Yank Sing in San Francisco and Golden Unicorn in New York City.

1 Pagoda Place San Francisco, CA 94108 (415) 982-5686