San Francisco
With Amy joining us for the day, Pearl, Sue, Ophelia, and Amy had a day full of tea and fun up until dinner. Driving up later, I only made it for dinner at Dumpling King, which was chosen by Grandma Lai for her birthday.
Known for their xiao long bao (both pork and crab), Dumpling King is quite good. We ended up with way too much food, including a very decent spicy cold cucumber, house special fried rice, Singapore-style noodles, a solid beef chow fun, the aforementioned xiao long bao, and so many other dishes I lose track.
A pan-fried "pizza" noodle was kind of showy and a favorite of Mason's, while the deep fried calamari was done in what seems to be the more modern style of heavier breading. Sheng jian bao were nothing special yet still very good, ditto for the fried tofu. Chicken wings, as befits so many Chinese restaurants in San Francisco, were excellent. About the only pass was dessert, which was very stylish panda-themed custard buns as well as equally pretty black sesame buns; instead, we had one of Schubert's customary excellent cakes for Grandma Lai's birthday.
Was great to see both sides of the families-- both the Lai family and Lu families turned out in force to celebrate, and of course, happy birthday to Mrs. Lai!