In the spirit of Lunar New Year, here are three Chinese restaurants located in California that are all worth a visit.
Hong Kong East Ocean Seafood Restaurant
I'll start with Hong Kong East Ocean Seafood Restaurant, located just across the bridge from San Francisco, in Emeryville. Hong Kong East Ocean opened in 1989 and has been serving delicious dim sum and other Chinese dishes since.
San Francisco Bay
Before I get to the food, I want to emphasize that the view from just outside the restaurant is spectacular, as you can see from the video above. I suggest coming during sunset, but if you can't, you'll find that the scenery is beautiful at any time of day.
Fried Sweet Rice Dumplings
I do suggest coming with a group if you can, because you will want to try as many things on the menu as possible, like we did. We started with the fried sweet rice dumplings. Cut open these crispy orbs and you will find a mixture of savory pork and shrimp.
East Ocean Jumbo Shrimp Dumplings
These dumplings are usually referred to as har gow, but at East Ocean, they are called "jumbo shrimp dumplings" and appropriately so because they are stuffed with extra large, sweet and plump shrimp.
Shrimp Tofu Skin Roll
Tofu skin is made from the protein that coagulates on the surface when soy milk is heated. The skin is skimmed off the top and then used as the wrapping for these rolls that had chunks of succulent shrimp tucked inside. Once assembled, they are flash fried, leaving the edges crispy and the center soft.
Shanghai Mini Dumplings
What East Ocean calls mini dumplings are commonly referred to as soup dumplings or xiao long bao and they are a staple of Chinese cuisine. For more information about xiao long bao, see my previous dim sum post.
Pan Fried Rice Noodles
These rice noodles are individually rolled and pan fried with XO sauce and bean sprouts and then topped with scallions.
Sui Mai
These sui mai, or steamed dumplings filled with shrimp and pork, were excellent. The dumplings are made with wonton wrappers and topped with fish roe.
Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaves
Sticky rice in lotus leaves is a Chinese dish I especially enjoy. The dish starts with a heap of pork, dried shrimp and sun-dried scallops, seasoned and combined together. That mixture is then surrounded by a generous layer of sticky rice. Finally, all the ingredients are swaddled in lotus leaves until completely covered and then steamed in a bamboo basket. Unwrap the package once it's heated through, discard the lotus leaves and you'll be left with a savory and slightly sweet treat.
Meizhou Dongpo
The second restaurant on my list is Meizhou Dongpo. I'll start by explaining the name. "Meizhou" refers to the ancient city of Meishen and "Dongpo" refers to the Chinese scholar and chef, Su Dongpo. The restaurant, which specializes in Sichuan cuisine, got its start in Beijing, China in 1996.
In 2013, the restaurant opened its first U.S. location in Beverly Hills, California. Today, there are over 100 Meizhou Dongpo restaurants in China and four in the United States, all located in Southern California.
Dongpo Style Mung Bean Jelly
Sichuan cuisine comes from the Sichuan province located in south-western China. (In the West, it is referred to as "Szechuan" cuisine, based on a phonetic spelling.) Sichuan cooking is known for being spicy and flavorful, as well as for its use of chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, which create a numbing sensation on the lips and in the mouth, known as "mala." Every dish below incorporated the Sichuan peppercorns except the vegetable, keeping my mouth tingling and buzzing for the entirety of the meal.
The first dish we tried was the Dongpo style mung bean jelly. Though the long strands in the video look like rice noodles, they are actually jelly made from mung beans. The jelly strands are then tossed in spicy chili sauce, sesame paste, garlic, scallions and cucumbers.
Mapo Tofu with Beef
Next, we ordered the mapo tofu made with chili sauce, ginger, scallions and garlic. Meizhou Dongpo adds cubed beef to this dish that is traditionally made with ground pork. I enjoyed the beef, but I much prefer the traditional, ground pork version.
Garlic Wok Fried Yu Choy
Yu choy is a wonderful, leafy vegetable with a tender stalk. Meizhou Dongpo prepares theirs with lots of garlic and cooks the vegetable to the point where the stalks are still a bit crunchy, which is a nice contrast to the soft leaves.
Hot Chili Oil Poached Sole Filet
I love a significant amount of spice in my food and I have learned over the years that my spice tolerance far exceeds most people's. That said, even I was a little apprehensive when I saw the amount of chilis floating in the sauce and on top of the sole filets.
Surprisingly, even though I ate an ample amount of chilis, the dish was not nearly as spicy as I had expected. It was however, delicious.
China Moon
China Moon is the final, and farthest south, of the restaurants in this post. The restaurant is located in Laguna Niguel and has been serving up authentic Mandarin and Sichuan cuisine since 1993.
China Moon has received great reviews by diners and food critics including both the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. We sat down excited to see if the restaurant lived up to the hype.
Chicken Potstickers
Though understandable, it was disappointing that many of the most popular menu items, such as the Peking duck and the soup dumplings, were sold out due both to the popularity of the restaurant and it being the Lunar New Year. Nevertheless, we still had a great meal. We started with the handmade chicken potstickers which were steamed and then pan fried perfectly, revealing a crispy underside and moist filling.
Cucumber Salad
The potstickers were followed by a crispy and refreshing cucumber salad, garnished with garlic, chilis and sesame seeds.
Garlic Noodles with Prawns
Next, we shared the garlic noodles with prawns. The egg noodles were coasted in garlic, butter, parmesan, diced jalapeños, chives and then topped with six, lightly fried, crispy prawns.
Steamed Fish Filet
The other seafood dish we ordered was the steamed fish filet. The cod was flavorful as a result of being steamed with sweet ginger soy, as well as bright due to the addition of a generous topping of scallions and cilantro.
Orange Chicken
I am generally neither a chicken nor an orange chicken fan, but this dish was an exception. Unlike most preparations of orange chicken, this one was not cloyingly sweet or greasy. The chicken was lightly battered and fried and was then tossed in an orange-infused sauce with actual julienned orange peel and chili peppers to balance the sweetness.
Shaken Beef
Our final dish of the evening incorporated eight ounces of filet mignon, broccoli, red onions and cherry tomatoes all tossed in a black peppercorn sauce with a fresh drizzle of lime. The beef was exceptionally tender and with the squeeze of lime and some chili sauce, I thought the flavor was perfect.
That wraps up this 2025 Lunar New Year post. Happy New Year to all, or as they say in Cantonese, "gong hei fat choy!"
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