Reviews:
Okay, we're Chinese (and I personally do not like to have Chinese food all the time). To say we have a new favorite Chinese place in Sactown is a pretty big statement.
Interesting they have a more focused menu than most similar restaurant.
The crispy noodle dish you see on all the pictures is my favorite (though a big oily). We love the jook and veggie dishes.
Not dim sum anymore, new owners, newly furnished and remodeled a bit inside. Arrived at 10:45am and the place had a wait at 12pm when we left. Not enough employees for sure with a full house of half impatient people.
The shrimp noodles- so good!!! Needed a bit more sauce. The noodles don't look like the regular dim sum place because I think they make the noodles themselves. So fresh and chewy.
XO fried rice- the sauce is XO- it has chicken and salted preserved fish. Very good as well- wish there was more XO sauce but that stuff is expensive so I understand.
Salt and pepper tofu/ so much and so crunchy and hot!
Also had the preserved egg and pork porridge- didn't take a picture because we ate it all already. It could be a little saltier but not bad.
Need more workers- there's a lot of Togo order. Would come back to try more food. Prices are higher than the old dim sum place for porridge and what not.
The food here is fantastic. Their dishes tasted simple but executed really well. The rice roll was exceptionally thin and had an enjoyable texture. The empress chicken was solid. I would recommend it even if the idea of boiled chicken doesn't excite you. The Fujian pan fried rice noodle blew us away. The top layer of noodles is crispy and hits you with a toasty aroma. The toppings and sauce are pretty mild in flavor but the combination of everything makes it a knock out dish. Seriously one of the best dishes I've had all year.
I came back because I wanted to try the rice rolls fresh as I had order it for takeout last time. It's good compared to other rice rolls I had at dim sum places but not as good as the ones I had in Canada! Lol I know, a whole different country - Canadian Chinese food is just next level.
Anyways, I highly recommend their dry style beef chow fun. It's perfect, the noodles are cooked Al dente, great ratios of beef, noodles and bean sprouts. The beef is tender and it has the wok-hey flavor! It's all you could ask for in a chow fun.
The beef brisket clay pot was not bad but the best dish I had was the chow fun and the shrimp rice rolls.
One of my favorite spots, food is pretty good the place is clean and nice decoration. Service is ok...
Definitely return often
My husband and I came here for dinner and got seated quickly. The server was able to help me identify which dish I wanted based on the photo I showed. The food came out quickly and was absolutely delicious.
Our favorite is the fujian fried rice noodle. It tasted so authentic and the flavor was just so rich. Also, the portion size is huge which is a big plus.
It seems like a lot of families come here for dinner and everyone around us spoke Cantonese, which felt very homey to me.
Great food with many dishes you don't see at typical Chinese restaurants. 10/10 would return. Service was prompt although the server does try and force Chinese upon you lol. They speak English and are very kind regardless. Very cute interior and quiet ambiance for dinner
Holy bonkers that was good. We had really wanted Ming Hui 2 to be good, but they were so inconsistent and then really expensive for less and less quality and quantity. Because of that we were a little hesitant to try Taste of Original but hot dog I'm glad we finally tried it.
Overall: Good proportions, excellent quality. The cooks know what they are doing. It will be difficult to try anything else on their menu because I will want to order these dishes again!
Salty egg pumpkin and shrimp: We love a good salty egg dish. It's basically like tempura but a little less crunchy and way better. Good amount of plump shrimp, but we actually preferred the pumpkin since the texture is almost creamy, like a hard boiled yolk or like a well baked potato. Not too salty, not too oily (we also love the salty egg mushroom at new hong kong wok, but that dish is really oily).
Fujian fried rice noodle: Whoa, I've never had a dish like this before. Kind of reminds me of like an e-fu noodle dish but with the really thin rice noodles. Anyway, mildly salty, very delicious with the flavor of mushroom and shrimp. The crispy noodles tasted like toasted marshmallows to me (not so much the sweetness but the soft crunchiness and smokiness), and I liked it a lot.
Green beans: I like to use this or gai lan as a baseline for restaurants. Perfectly cooked through, but maintained its snow pea-like crispiness. I like my green beans with a sweet sauce, so will probably add some fly by jing chili oil to the leftovers.
Food: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Ambiance: 5/5
Open on thanksgiving and everything we got was pretty good! Wish I took photos before I dug in but we got the salt pepper tofu, Chinese donut rice noodle roll, house special crispy noodle, liver kidney Congee, and wonton noodle and all were A+! Rare to have everything you order taste good.
The tables were a bit close to each other but other than that the inside is pretty cute!
My new favorite place for authentic Chinese food with great services!!
Not so busy for lunch on weekdays, but, weekends, prepare to wait... but, it's worth the wait!
Delicious authentic food. The Fujiyan noodle is a must when coming here. Sweet and sour pork was fried to perfection with a great taste. The bbq pork and sausage clay pot was tasty. I would skip the steamed roll. Overall, I definitely will come back and try their other dishes!
Wow the food here is good! Surprisingly authentic. My favorite dishes were the shrimp and beef rice noodles (they had the perfect bouncy consistency) and the scallop and egg white fried rice. The fried rice had perfectly loose/ firm grains of rice. We also had the spare ribs, string beans, egg and pork congee and walnut shrimp. All of them were really good! I appreciated the walnut shrimp wasn't heavily battered as well.
Overall, I would say seasoning isn't as salty as you would find in other Asian restaurants, but everything tasted fresh and delicious. Would return!
Update: tried more dishes
- Satay shrimp chow fun - this was just okay for me. Sauce was piled on top and noodles broke into small bits easily when you tried to mix it. Would not reorder. Satay seasoning could be heavier.
- Salted egg and pumpkin - was unique and good! The salty egg added umami and the batter was crispy. Shrimps were huge. Definitely a dish to share as it can get heavy over time. Would get again!
- Hot and Sour Soup - this was a thicker consistency than I usually like my soups. Could also be more sour and heavier on the white pepper. Probably would not reorder. I prefer the one from Tasty Dumpling instead.
- Beef and Mixed Mushroom - will be a repeating dish for me. Contains all my favorite veggies - string beans and assorted mushrooms!
Yes! New Hong Kong style cafe on Freeport Blvd. near Oto's Supermarket. The menu and taste brings me back to my childhood living in Hong Kong.
We had the steamed rice roll with pork and added eggs. The rice roll was thin and fresh. The pork has a nice flavor. The Satay Shrimp with scrambled eggs Chow Fun was surprisingly delicious. I'm not a big fan of wet noodles. I like either soup noodles or pan fried noodles. The chow fun wasn't soggy. It was lightly fried before the sauce was poured over and absorbed just the right amount of flavor from the wet sauce. The shrimp was crunchy and savory. It was so good that we ordered take-out the next day.
With so many options of noodles, rice and congee. we will be back to try more dishes. It would be perfect if they serve hot & cold tea with lemon, HK style milk tea and coffee. Maybe that will come soon (I hope).
Service is quick and prices are very reasonable considering the current inflation.
Great Chinese food. The line was long even on a week day. My mom and I are from bay area. Her friend recommended this place.
We were looking for somewhere new to try and we are glad we found this on Yelp. This is a great place for authentic and delicious Chinese food. We ordered the honey walnut shrimp, the honey BBQ spare ribs, garlic long bean and spicy cucumber. All dishes were great.
We wanted to get take out so we called in our order. Food was ready in about 20 minutes just like we were told on the phone.
When we picked up, the dine in area looked spacious and everything seemed newly furnished.
We will definitely be back!
Food was really tasty! I've been here twice and both times the food was so hot and fresh. I really like their rice noodles, I've only had the beef one so far but would love to try all the other ones. I have their preserved meat clay pot, it was delicious. I also really like their green bean, mushroom, beef stir fry! The service is quick! The place is nice and clean!
This is one of my favorite spots in the area.. Food and service is great. They recently remodeled the interior. Definitely check it out!
I visited Taste of Original for brunch on a Sunday. It was quite busy when we arrived but we were able to get seated promptly. The restaurant itself seems a bit newer, as a different Chinese restaurant used to occupy the spot. They have created an inviting and warm ambiance inside the restaurant with the cute decorations on the wall and the lighting.
We tried the steamed rice roll with shrimp and chives and the pork offal congee. Let me tell you, both dishes were fantastic! The rice roll had the perfect texture - springy and delicate. The shrimp inside was moist and flavorful. The service was excellent as we requested some extra sauce for the roll and the staff was able to hook us up! With their sauce and some chili oil, it was a dream combo. The congee was delicious too. The consistency was just right, and the offals had great seasoning.
Overall, I had an amazing meal and couldn't find any faults with my visit. I will definitely come back to try more of their offerings!
This place isn't too hard to find, a bit sad that the previous owner sold the place. But as they say, "Every closed chapter is a new beginning." The new owners here definitely put into more of the decor here, it is bright and vibrant. I mainly came here for the steamed rice noodle rolls and they have several options. I opted for the beef with cilantro and shrimp and chive rolls both with added egg for additional cost. I really liked the portion versus your normal dim sum restaurant portion. I definitely didn't feel like it was lacking in that department. The ginger chicken over rice was perfect, although the chicken seemed a bit anorexic. The ginger sauce over the top was well balanced. The cucumber was very surprisingly amazing, it had the perfect amount of spice, seasonings and citrus. Highly recommend to get that if you're getting any meat dishes or stir fried dish to refresh your palette. They have so many options here, from rice clay plot to comfort food like congee (various of options) and honey garlic spare ribs to kung pao chicken. They have vegetable dishes such as Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and garlic snow bean leaf and Choy sum. I feel like this place would be great for lunch or dinner and their pricing for their entrees is very fair in today's world. Highly recommended this new but hidden gem!
Me and my friend gave this place a chance when we were deciding where to go. We got to the restaurant early so it wasn't busy when we walked in. They had remodeled the interior from when this was Ming Hui Dim Sum. The remodel gave it a more opened look and feel which was very nice. We ordered the pig ears, beef chow fun, and beef tendon and brisket clay pot. The food was delicious and reasonably priced. The pigs ears had enough spice to keep us wanting more and the entrees were a good portion size. Definitely would come back again.
Really good HK canto style type of food. So hard to find around! The rice noodles are made fresh it seems. The one with the fried donut in the middle was really good because the fried donut was fresh and really crunchy. The shrimp and chive was was really good too and they give you a good amount per order. Congee was okay, it's congee. Not much to say about that. The salted egg pumpkin was SO bomb. I really wanted to eat it all in one sitting, but I packed some to go. I was slightly disappointed in their clay pot because I think they just cook it in a regular pot and transfer it to a clay bowl so it didn't have the hard rice at the bottom which is what clay pot rices are known for. It didn't have they clay pot feeling to it so you can pass on this is you're really expecting the real clay pot stuff. Fried tofu was good. Overall, it's still a really good HK canto style food spot and I'll definitely be coming back.
This Chinese restaurant is in the middle of an area with many Chinese restaurants. They have to be good to stand out from their comparators. They did! They're different, and they're good at both the delicious dishes and their excellent service.
Taste of Original is a new restaurant that opened in a prominent location with many Chinese restaurants here in the past. I expected they would be using the old tables and chairs and maybe a minimum or not even remodel. But I'm wrong! The very well-lit dining room with all the beautiful brand-new dining tables and chairs caught my eye when I walked into the dining room. It is so much better than most of the restaurants in the area.
We have tried many dishes we like and some recommended by the owner. All delicious, all very flavorful. I love all the dishes. Mainly, I like the Steamed Vermicelli Rolls. It is perfect!
I'm happy to have one more delicious place added to my yummy collection. Good food, good service, and a comfortable dining room! I'm sure I'll be back soon!
By yelp
