STOCKTON STREET: EATING THE WOMBAT!

Actually, wombat is NOT available on Stockton Street. I’m not entirely sure if wombat is even edible. Australian recipes for wombat do not prove anything, as Ozzies also eat spaghetti sandwiches and vegemite.
So perhaps the only thing that can be established is that they have a sense of humour.


EAT HERE NOW

There is no wombat on Stockton Street.
Try some dim sum instead. Noodles? Maybe phở gà? How about bánh mì thịt nướng?

All of that and more can be found within mere seconds of getting off the number one California bus.
There's a row of four honest food places just awaiting your happiness in that first block between Clay and Washington.


YOU'S DIMSUM 得意糕點
937 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.

Little more than a hole-in-the-wall, but there are tables at which you can sit while eating. This place defines 'lack of ambiance', unless you like unadorned eateries that make no apology for merely providing flat surfaces for your very temporary convenience.
Cheap, no-frills Cantonese snacky offerings. When the taro croquettes ('wu gok' 芋角) are fresh out of the hot fat, they are delightful little blobs of scorch-your-mouth heaven. Even cold, the yummy crust just flakes away.
Jindui (煎堆), which are fried balls of glutinous rice flour dough stuffed with lotus paste ('lienyong' 蓮蓉) and covered with sesame seeds, are also delicious when hot, though less so when cold. Still good, though.

The selection in the morning is far better than during the afternoon, but even then you will be able to find many of your favourites: shrimp hargau (蝦餃), siumai (燒賣), various types of rice-noodle sheet (cheung fan 腸粉), and especially charsiu buns (叉燒包), which most tourists cannot resist.
Standard items also usually available: spring rolls ('tswun kün' 春捲), radish cake ('lo bak gou' 蘿蔔糕) and water chestnut pudding ('ma tai gou' 馬蹄糕).
Prices are low, the quality and selection is decent, and the staff may not understand your questions at all, so just point.

Please don't ask about vegan edibles, they don't have any.
If you want vegan, you are in the wrong place.
Possibly even the wrong universe.


LITTLE PARIS COFFEE SHOP 小巴黎咖啡室
939 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.

A variety of Vietnamese sandwiches, including ones with ham (foh tui 火腿). Some of the best phở in town, also a selection of other dishes and snacks, and specialty drinks. But you should really come for the sandwiches, or pho, and a cold glass of cà phê sữa đá (ka-fey nai bing 咖啡奶冰 - Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk and ice cubes).
The same people have been running it since the years when I lived nearby, and they still have the same customers.
A very comfortable place to just sit and relax while the coffee drips. You'll be wired to the eyebrows soon enough.
At times it is pleasantly noisy.
Go on, have something more to eat. And perhaps another coffee.


SAN SUN RESTAURANT 三陽咖啡餐屋
[麵飯粥粉]
941 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.

Mien - fan - jook - fan (wheat noodles, cooked rice dishes, porridge, and rice noodle).
A very extensive selection of noodle dishes, plus fish balls that are just about divine.
This place is quick, tasty, and affordable. Many people praise the satay sauce, but personally I know mine is better (a recipe may show up on this blog later - or not).
Excellent Hainan chicken ('Hoi-naam kai fan' 海南雞飯).
Their ingredients are fresh, their bowls and cutlery are stainless steel, their prices are low.
Because their menu is long and intimidating, and this restaurant is popular with both students and people revisiting the old neighborhood for the day, I don't go here often at all.


JOY HING B.B.Q. NOODLE HOUSE 再興黄毛雞粉
943 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.

A small friendly place that specializes in soup made with 'yellow fur chicken' ('wong mo kai' 黄毛雞), which is a leaner and more flavourful free-range bird than the bland supermarket pullet. But they also have an extensive menu of other things.
The wong mo kai features in their phở gà: Vietnamese noodle soup (phở) made with chicken (gà) instead of beef. A superior dish, very comforting and satisfying.
They also do a nice version of wonton soup noodle (雲吞湯麵).

Particularly good offerings listed on the wall but not in the menu:
清湯牛腩粉 Clear broth brisket rice-noodle.
黄毛雞湯圓 Yellow fur chicken soup balls.
鮑魚粥 Abalone congee.
鮑魚滑雞粥 Abalone and chicken congee.
火鴨粥 Roast duck congee.
生滾蝦球粥 Freshly cooked shrimp curl congee.
生滾肉片粥 Freshly cooked pork slice congee.
香菇牛崧粥 Black mushroom and meat floss congee.

[Note: in the last-named, 崧 is used as an elegant substitution for 松, with which it is homophonous. And 松 (pine tree) is itself merely a script substitute for 鬆.]

The last time I was there I had fish with blackbeans over rice (豆豉龍利魚球) and Vietnamese coffee ('yuetnaam kafei' 越南咖啡 - cà phê sữa đá). I have no idea what kind of fish 龍利魚 actually is, but it's sweet in taste and not laden with bones. It was very good.

Watching the white couple at another table quarreling was also very good.
The gentle young waitress managed to keep a straight face during their snap & scratch fest.
She's a calm diplomat. I would've smacked them fiercely.
Kudos.



COFFEE, TEA, CHAOS

For a sweet snack and some hot milk tea or coffee, you also have a number of choices on Stockton Street. Cantonese people just love their snacky-time. They are very European in that regard. Surely it's always time for coffee and a pastry?


NEW CAFÉ HONOLULU 新檀島咖啡餅店
888 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.
[Formerly the South Hollywood Café, to distinguish it from sister-enterprise North Hollywood on Pacific Avenue.]

This place has the usual selection of Cantonese bakery items, plus some nice pastries. Table service, or to go. Plus bubble tea, hot lunch specials, and some semi-American fast-food offerings. Hamburger over rice? That's about as old-school Chinese-American as you can get!
Sometimes the wait-staff seems a mite preoccupied, so I don't go here much.
They bake good bread, and they have charsiu bao in case you were wondering.


GOOD MONG KOK BAKERY 好旺角包餅店
1039 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.

This is where you go to pick up mantou and large bao in Chinatown. My roommate swears by this place, but I seldom go there myself, as I do not wish to poach on her turf - especially since we're no longer romantic partners. It might prove sticky.
Even so, their steamed chicken buns ('kai bau' 雞包) and stew-meat and vegetable buns ('choi yiuk bao' 菜肉包) are something I am very fond of. There's often a line of people outside, and you'll have to be quite resolute. But it's worth it.


NAPOLEON SUPER BAKERY 拿破崙餠屋
1049 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.

Fresh high quality baked goods, including some very interesting chive and cheese rolls if I remember correctly. Not so many traditional Chinatown pastries. This is a good place for you to try something new. I remember something crumbly and rich with red bean paste - sort of a rolled sweat bread with a texture halfway between cake and streusel, enfolding a blob of sweet paste similar in some ways to bakery marzipan.
The chestnut cake is highly praised, as are the egg-tarts.
There are tables, there is coffee.


THE AA BAKERY & CAFÉ 永興餅家茶餐廳
1068 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.

Marvelous cakes ('dan gou' 蛋糕) in various sizes, consisting of fruit chunks in whipped cream between layers of angel food. You can have a birthday wish enscribed while you wait, or you can special order a cake and really make a good impression at the party. In early autumn, they have a staggering selection of mooncakes, including some very weird fillings - durian and salted egg yolk?!? I'm sure that the quality of that last item mentioned is very good, nevertheless I think Hell will freeze over before I try it.
They have tables where you can sit and watch the tourists get all confused. The stuff looks very good, but the counter staff cannot really explain what it is to people who have never had it before.
Hint: just point and tell them you want one - it ain't gonna bust the bank. You can ask them what it's called at the same time, and figure out what it actually is later.

Usually there's a lady selling joong (粽) at the front door. Glutinous rice ('noh mai' 糯米) filling with pork and a salted egg yolk wrapped in bamboo. Because of the "disinfecting" qualities of bamboo, it will keep for a while.
Buy a few for snacking at home or lunch at the office.


MORE MEAT

After reviving yourself with a hot beverage and a bakery product, go off and pick up some roast meat product (siu mei 燒味) or savoury stewed odd meats (lo mei 滷味). You can take it home to fress as is, serve it along with other dishes at dinner, or incorporate some into a fabulous new creation never before seen.
Roast duck ('siu ngaap' 燒鴨), barbecue pork ('charsiu' 叉燒), roast pork ('siu yiuk' 燒肉), salt water chicken ('lo sui kai' 鹵水雞), white boiled chicken ('paak jek kai' 白切雞), soy-sauce chicken ('si-yau kai' 豉油雞), crispy chicken ('ja-ji kai' 炸子雞), painted octopus ('lo sui mak-yu' 鹵水墨魚), goose ('ngoh' 鵝), plus gizzards, and simple side dishes that go well with such things.


GOURMET DELIGHT B.B.Q. 新凱豐燒臘店
1045 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.

Tender roast pork, delicious roast duck. Fried chicken also worthwhile.
My roommate prefers the roast duck and roast pork from a different place in Chinatown, which is indeed very delicious. But when I want to stuff myself on tender juicy full-flavoured roast duck, this is one of the places I think of. Man, I could eat an entire bucket of this! I have never been disappointed here. This place just about screams good old-fashioned 燒味 and 滷味 counter. 嘩, 真係好食!
Yeah, you can please be mighty glad that you don't see me feasting.
Duck grease all over my face. Oh lordy yes.



PREPARE TO PUSH

The next two places will probably not appeal to many Caucasians. This is the most crowded part of Stockton Street, so know what you want before you wade in, and it definitely also helps if you have an open mind and can spot what's good and fresh.
Other customers are not necessarily your friends, and the people who work here are far too busy to babysit you.


DUK HING CHINESE DELI & MEAT 德興燒臘肉食公司
1151 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.

More 滷味 than 燒味. If you can't recognize what it is, just point.


WING SING DIM SUM 新永勝點心快餐
1125 Stockton Street, San Francisco, CA 94108.

Crowded, cheap, and extremely popular. Lots of dim sum, plus low-priced lunch specials.
Yes, they have char siu bao.


* * *I'm hungry again.
That was predictable.


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Please refer to http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/02/stockton-street-your-other-food.html for previous mention of Stockton Street, and also note the clickable label 市德頓街 ("si-tak-twun kai") below.

Other useful labels: 唐人街 (Tong Yan Kai - Chinatown), 真好食 (delicious!), 腸粉 (cheung fan - sheet rice noodle).


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