Satisfying My San Tung Jones
When I last wrote about San Tung, I was miffed. I had stupidly ventured there for take-out on a Wednesday, completely forgetting that they are stupidly closed on Wednesdays, which is a completely stupid closing day. Gave me a fried chicken Jones the size of Texas.
Finally, Mackie and I made it there last night. After a minor protest, I convinced her to eat in. Good move. The line was out the door but tables turned quickly. Nothing like eating the food hot off the wok.
The hot and sour soup (small for $5.95) was excellent – hot (both temperature and spice), peppery, generous bites of firm, tasty shrimp. [N.B., don’t shoot me if I don’t get all of these prices right. I forgot to pick up a take-out menu and I’m going from a combination of memory and menupages.com. I know for sure that some prices have been raised since they were last updated on menupages.com.]
Then, salvation! The fried chicken arrived. When you order, make sure you order the “Original Dry Fried Chicken (dry)” ($9.00) and not the “Dry Fried Chicken (wet).” The naming convention is bizarre, especially since the dry dry fried chicken comes with some sauce which is undeniably wet. But this is the stuff you want…it is food fit for a king. Mackie and I always go for the diced. The wings look like a pain to eat but many faithful disagree with our call.
The fried chicken was incredible. Chunks of lightly battered chicken, deep fried to a crisp exterior but still soft inside. The chunks sat atop a slightly sweet, soy-ginger sauce with a hint of garlic. A bunch of hot chinese red peppers were thrown in for all you flame lovers. Mackie and I agree – this is one of our all-time favorite dishes. Period. No qualifiers.
Very good, but not up to the level of the fried chicken, was the combination chow mein ($8.00 plus $1.00 for homemade noodles). The mix of sauce and homemade, pan fried noodles was very tasty. The dish contained pieces of shrimp, beef, and chicken, maybe a little pork, some calamari that I could have done without plus a slab of bok choy. My (minor) complaint with this dish is the somewhat gooey, almost gelatinous nature of the sauce. Looking a bit like bad oyster sauce, it made the noodles' appearance unattractive, despite the taste being pleasant. Make sure you order the homemade noodles – worth the extra buck.
The steamed rice was steamed rice.
The portions were generous – we took home some of everything we ordered. The fried chicken reheats flavorfully, with some loss of crunch. I'm eating it as I post. (Yes, Mackie, I left some for you.)
One aspect of San Tung that needs serious improvement is the service. The problem goes beyond the language barrier and general rudeness that are often found in authentic Chinese restaurants.
Pacing was a real issue. Our fried chicken arrived when we were barely halfway through our first cup of soup. The noodles arrived shortly thereafter. The table became more crowded than a Tokyo commuter train at rush hour and it proved impossible to enjoy all the dishes while they were hot. We were forced to ask for the remainder of our soup to go far earlier than we wanted.
Even with some price increases, San Tung offers excellent value. We had an great meal with lots of leftovers for $34.25, including tax and tip.
Parking in the ‘hood can be a bit challenging. We opted to use the funeral home parking lot on 9th Avenue between Lincoln Way and Irving Street, paying the evening flat rate of $8.00. I resented paying 25% of the cost of our meal for parking but it beat the alternatives.
Go to San Tung. Eat fried chicken. You'll be happy or my name ain't Grumpy.
San Tung Chinese Restaurant
1031 Irving Street
between 11th Avenue and 12th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122
415-242-0828
Map
No web site
Food inspection score: 94
Symbol of Excellence: Yes
Shameless self promotion via Bauer's Between Meals, tsk tsk...not a bad idea actually, enjoying reading your blog, will continue to visit.
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Shameless? You betcha! Self-promotion? Yer dern tootin'! If I don't promote myself, no one will. And it worked!
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