Restaurant Reviews

Restaurant List:

Crepevine
Double Rainbow
Einstein's
Jasmine House
Marnee Thai
Pluto's
Powell's Place
San Tung

San Tung

There are two locations :

San Tung (#2) - located at 1031 Irving Street, between 11th and 12th Avenue, within walking distance from LITP.
San Tung (#1) is located on Irving Street, near 24th Avenue - you can come here to do lunch if you decide to do 'Bing' (Taiwanese shaved ice) afterwards, which will save you some time moving from lunch to dessert. Best place to park is along Lincoln Avenue, don't even bother trying to park around Irving and 24th Avenue.

Rating: 4 Stars

Type of Meals: Chinese food from the northern region of China.

Cost: Average dish is around $7-9 and portions are large.

Favorite Dishes: When you sit down, the staff will bring you a free dish of kim-chee (a Korean dish). This dish, made of pickled cabbage that packs quite a punch, is very spicy and not recommended for amateurs.

Be sure to try the Hot and Sour Soup. The soup is the best in the city. It reminds me of the authentic hot and sour soup I used to get in Taiwan. The chef makes this soup with tasty morsels of shrimp (instead of pork) and a peppery broth. Eating the soup will make you sweat but you will feel oh so good.

A must have appetizer is the Shrimp and Leek Dumplings - filled with shrimp and chives spiced with ginger and garlic. To really enjoy the dumplings, make your own dipping sauce at the table by mixing some soy sauce (black), a dash of vinegar (white), and a little bit of spicy oil (golden brown).

If you like chicken, try the Original Dry Fried Chicken (Wings) as a main dish. The chicken wings are deep fried first, and then cooked again with garlic, ginger and roasted red peppers. This dish is not too spicy and it goes really well with rice. Make sure the waiter gets you lots of napkins because it's finger lickin' good!

If you are a vegetarian (or you just want a great vegetable dish), the Dried Sauteed String Beans are a must. The beans are fried and mixed with a sauce that has Chinese pickles and garlic.

A lighter veggie choice is the Spinach with Bean Threads. Bean threads are also known as rice noodles or see-through noodles. If you have never had rice noodles, you should try them. The northern region of China is known for its noodle dishes, so it's not surprising that this place has a long list of choices. The portions of the noodle dishes are large, so they can be split between two people, or one hungry lindy hopper.

I think they make their own noodles. I suggest the Black Bean Sauce Noodles, Noodles with Peanut Sauce, Five Spice Beef Soup Noodles or the Combination Spicy Soup Noodles. Read the menu carefully, some of these noodle dishes come with a broth and some don't. I could actually go on and on about the noodle dishes. Although I haven't tried them all, every noodle dish that I have ordered has been excellent.

Ambience: Like your typical cheap Chinese restaurant you'll find this place a bit short on décor. You shouldn't have a problem getting a table after LITP and they have large round tables with lazy Susans that make it easy to share food among large groups.

My favorite part of the restaurant atmosphere is the owner - he's the bald headed man that exudes a lot of power and orders everyone around. He looks like he's ready to pick a fight with anyone that plays with their chopsticks but he is really a teddybear. Watch how fast he works a table…- Ping Chen, March 2001

Quick stats:

Rating:4 Stars
Cost: $7-9

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