Daly City - Koi Palance - 2005 (MOVED)

RATING (* Poor to ***** Excellent)

Type of Food: Chinese - Cantonese

Food: ****
Service: **
Ambience: ***
Value: ***

OVERALL: ***

Koi Palace Website

GENERAL: If you are Chinese or Asian living in the SF Bay Area, you've probably heard of this place and how expensive it is. I would never return to overpriced Chinese restaurants since an authentic Chinese meal typically means low overall quality; however, I'd have to say Koi Palace is an exception - I just won't go every week since I'm not a billionaire YET.

FOOD: This place offers the best Hong Kong-style Cantonese - or nouveau Cantonese - food you can find in the SF Bay Area. Seafood is the core offering - HINT: Cantonese restaurants that do a good job with sharpfin soup can probably cook a fish or crab well too. All other dishes that we've tried are decent too, like their meat and vegetable dishes. The secret of this place is ingredient - it sticks to the best of everything, down to dried mushrooms and baby bokchoy.

Lunch and weekend dimsum offers a great variety of high-quality dimdums (of course everything tastes exquisite after a 2-hour wait). For some reason desserts don't seem to be too outstanding, but the host dimsums were delicate and delicious (like Cantonese rice dumplings that don't stick to your chopsticks - a litmus test for the quality of its wrap). Be adventurous here. I would only recommend the hotpot ONLY IF you don't like to do it at home. It's interesting that so many people are willing pay for someone to boil water and put raw food on their table....

SERVICE: Compared to other Chinese restaurants, Koi Palace offers decent service - or at least they are good enough not to splash gravy on your shirt. Most waiters actually speak English and they are patient enough to explain what you're really orderings - but somehow they always end up recommending the $20/head sharkfin soup or $10/bowl frog saliva dessert.

If you've been to Hong Kong you know that you don't get friendliness for less than $25/head at these fancy restaurants, so you occasionally get some smiles here - when they are not too overwhelmingly busy and just want to get you out of the door. They are lucky that, due to my exposure to HK culture, I truly value and appreciate HK-style efficiency, otherwise this place would have gotten one star from me.

AMBIENCE: It's not a PF Chang (it's in an office park!), but it sure beats the Golden Dragon. It's traditional Chinese with a modern twist - fairly typical in HK nowadays. The place is decorated with taste but with the usual Asian sloppiness in details (don't lean on the cabinet with teapots because it will tip over). It also looks and feels overutilitized - the place looks exhausted from hostings hundreds (if not thousands) of people day in day out. Maybe it's the food or something in the food, but everyone there looks excited - bringing the place a party atmosphere.

VALUE: Given the fact that even decent tea costs money, value is not what the owner has in mind. If you want a value Cantonese meal with seafood, this is NOT the place to be. I did have a friend who once commented: Imagine having the same amount of seafood at equivalent quality and quantity in an American restaurant that is just as popular - you'd be paying through your nose! That comment lifted this place from a two-star to a three-star in value.

BOTTOMLINE: If you like Cantonese food, appreciate having your dishes delivered to you fast but ungracefully, and you can survive the chaos of an over-popular restaurant, this is your place. Just come with lots of money and don't calculate how many Panda Express orders you can place with your next bite.

LAST WORD: Warnings - 1) Do not order dimsums during dinner hours even if the waiter tells you they are available - they taste like reheated leftover from lunch; 2) when the waiter recommends something it's usually very good - but do check price first; 3) order live fish if possible, but ask about the exact weight since you're paying by the LB.

SF Bay Area, CA - Shalimar Fremont - 2005 (MOVED)

RATING (* for Poor to ***** for Excellent)

Food: ****
Service: *
Ambience: *
Value: ***

Shalimar Website

GENERAL: I've made it clear in the introduction that I'll write about places just because of its food and nothing else. Well, this is one of those places that has got nothing else. If you appreciate authentic Indian food and succulent grilled meats, all with LOTS of spices (and grease), you'll have a good time here and you will know why this little shack (well, four of them now) is one of the most highly acclaimed Indian restaurant in the US.

FOOD: This is not your everyday healthy vegetarian or everything-curry Indian restaurant. It's really a Pakistani / Northern Indian grill house. They know how to grill things - chicken, lamb and beef (no pork, sorry!), all grilled to perfection. Curries are great too, very aromatic from all the spices (so are the grilled meats). Naans are the best you'll find in the Bay Area, if not the US. Try garlic naan if you're not meeting a customer within 6 hours. Even the vegetarian dishes are delicious and, as usual, spicy (not hot, but aromatic).

To complete your adventure at Shalimar you must 1) take some onions and hot pepper, pour some lemon juice and mint dressing on it, and eat with your grilled meats and 2) have some hot milk tea after the meal. These will complete your exotic foreign experience without getting to far from 101 or 880. Beware: Grease is a problem here with all dishes, but if you set your expectation right (ie don't over-indulge!) you'll be ok. I was also disappointed by the specialty lamb chops - maybe because I hate all overcooked meat.

SERVICE: I don't know what to say about service - there isn't much of it. The one in Fremont is hosted by men who really hate you and want you to get lost. The one in Sunnyvale is more friendly - but still no service. Everything is self-served - but even then things often run out (like onion or tea, even plates on one visit) and rest assured that no one will respond to your plead unless you're bleeding or going into labor right in the restaurant.

AMBIENCE: Want to eat Pakistani food under a Humphrey Bogart poster? Try the new Shalimar Sunnyvale. The Fremont restaurants looks more like a company cafeteria - only more dirty. You know what I mean now.

VALUE: Good value if you like the food - no value if you don't like it. I know VERY FEW people (those who just can't handle the greasiness) who walk out hating the place, but when they hate it they really do - because there's nothing else to like about it. This place it by no means a cheap Chaat house, especially if you have a big appetite for meat, the frankly the prices are reasonable.

BOTTOMLINE: Shalimar reminds me of Southwest in the early days - it's a no-frills place that gives you what you need. Southwest gets you where you want to go - but not a complete flying experience as we're used to, an Shalimar give you a wonderful meal - but not a complete dining experience as we know it. Set your expectation straight, set your meat-loving instinct loose, and get ready to gain a couple lbs!

LAST WORD: This place is packed - lunch and dinner. The best time to go is strange hours - like 11:30am for lunch or 5:30pm for dinner.