Yank Sing
Neighborhood: SOMA
101 Spear St
(between Howard St & Mission St)
San Francisco, CA 94105
Rated: ♣♣♣1/2
My lunch buddy and I decided to be spontaneous last week and get some dim sum at Yank Sing. What a splurge! I had only been to Yank Sing for dim sum 2 other times, and never really got exactly what I wanted since I went with my Caucasian co-workers. I didn’t want to scare them with the traditional Chinese dishes. ☺
The scene:
Yank Sing is very fancy so be prepared to shell out $20-$30 per person on dim sum.
The food:
What sets Yank Sing apart from other dim sum restaurants are their original dishes such as the succulent sea bass and the red cabbage salad. The sea bass is definitely my favorite, but it’s $18 a plate! Their house made chili sauce is bomb too. It’s similar to XO sauce minus the seafood. I believe they also sell it at 99 Ranch Market.
Shu-mai (meat balls) – I’m not a big shu-mai fan, even though it is a traditional dim sum item. I always found it too meaty, nothing special. However, Yank Sing’s version of the shu-mai is so flavorful and juicy! It’s almost like the meat in a xiao long bao (Shanghainese soup dumpling).
Har-gow (shrimp dumpling) – This har-gow really wasn’t any different than any other har-gow.
Beef cherng-fun (noodle roll filled with ground beef) – By far, my favorite dish at any dim sum restaurant. They put way too much cilantro in their cherng fun though. I am not a fan.
Fried tofu – Again, nothing mind blowing. This was just cold, lightly fried tofu with soy sauce. I love tofu, so I usually get this at any Chinese restaurant that serves it.
Jin Dui (sesame ball filled with lotus paste) – This is THE BEST jin dui ever. I could just get an order of this and be satisfied. The doughy skin was thin, chewy and crispy. The inside dough is orange in color, which makes me assume the dough is made from yams. I could be wrong. The inside filling is a sweet lotus paste rather than the red bean.
We ended up spending $25 a person for only 6 dishes. It’s a little outrageous, so I don’t think I’ll be coming back any time soon. I may come back to get an order of jin duis to go though.
Wow, that is pretty expensive… I went with a group of six before and spent $30 a person. However, we ordered a lot more food. Dim Sum requires more people, samiam!
[…] Not my top choice of dim sum dishes at most restaurants, but I will almost always get it at Yank Sing. It’s super good […]