Han

I have not tried it. Actually there are many restaurants (Vietnamese) that I have not tried in SJ. I have tried quite a few already.

I mentioned several recs in "San Jose eats" (scroll down/next page) that might interest you. Not sure how it compares with LA but these places are the epicenter of Vietnamese areas. Pls report your findings !

Nathan, I also remembered having decent ice drinks with various choices of jellies and other yummy ingredients. Other things like the pho and rice plates are pretty similar to other Vietnamese places. -Han

One of the unique things about SJ is the abundance of ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese. The interesting places are located in large Asian grocery similar to Safeway but strictly Asian foods. Grand Century mall and LION market at Tully Rd. Those two places should give you pretty good idea and experience of the Asian food scenes. Check the archives for various places at these malls. For example dish like the grilled boneless tumeric flavored fish on top of a bed of dill, the whole thing is put on a hotplate is outstanding and cheap, large portion. This is authentic Vietnames dish (bun cha) seldom seen elsewhere. This is at the Grand Century mall to the left of the entrance and the second restaurant (Pho Tenh Long) on your left. At the Tully rd location there is a good sized food court that looks like a scene taken out of an authentic food court in Southeast Asia. Lots of choices and cheap. These places are great and offers authentic food that taste great although the place is not upscale looking. Also visit one of the stores that sells all kinds of vietnamese goodies and pickup some interesting things there like the mentioned banh mi's at Lee (also available near the LION market location in Tully). As for chinese, visit the slightly upscale Mayflower for HK style dim sum during the lunchtime located in the Ranch 99 market complex in Milpitas (Barber Ln). Also, don't forget to have a pho soup that you can find at many of these places !

Yes, some of them I have not even tried. But I have been to quite a number of them. There is this place in Newark (SUGIA something) that also offers authentic Szechuan. There is a very good Hunan restaurant in Fremont offering authentic Hunan dishes, some of the chowhounds had a big dinner there last year. Here is the link below: http://www.222.to/food/Default.aspx?co_id=848&loc=en We had things like Hunan smoked pork with cabbage that was superb and other dishes.

Gary Soup brought an excellent reminder of China Village in Albany. I think that is probably your best bet, I forgot about that one. It is probably the single most recommended authentic Szechuan restaurant by many gourmands. Most of the people there speaks English and their presentations are the best. Their food is also great. Slightly pricier than those other places but the ambiance is also better there. Good service, etc. Chowhound.com has lots of dishes with pics from that place - you should check it out especially comments from a lady (MW), you'll see. You must go on the day the acclaimed chef is in - call ahead.

If you want authentic Szechuan, not the Americanized versions, can you tolerate numbing hot dishes ? It actually will creates numbingly hot sensation in your tongue - not particularly pleasant to some/most. But if you are a spicy enthusiast, this will satisfy you. Dishes with names like water boiled beef (there is no water but instead the beef is cooked in spicy oily concoction with REAL Szechuan peppercorns), spicy pork lung (actually slices of pork belly in spicy garlic sauce), cumin lamb, and other versions of the same things. Here are the real deals, as authentic as it can be, straight from Szechuan in China in taste and presentation: -Szechuan Home in Union City -Little Sichuan in Fremont and also in San Mateo -Chili Garden in Union City and a few more places I can't remember in Newark and in SF. Some of these places can't speak English too well - you just have to find a waiter/waitresses who can actually speak decent/understanable english. Just call them up. You can also research chowhound.com for more info.

I am quite sure it's on Franklin and the nearest cross street is Webster. Enjoy and do report back your findings !

Here is the link for Ruby King http://yp.com/yppc.php?pi=CAF6457056&cid=sb Also, another tip that might be useful is the excellent chow fun at the famous Vien Huong just a few doors away. Their cha jiew noodle soup is also nice. Any food enthusiast in the area should know this place.

But why fight thru the crowds wile you can get the same quality at Ruby Bakery in Oakland or the slightly more expensive Napoleon a few doors down. The same thousand layer flakey crust and good custard too. And you get three for a dollar ! And this tip came from a person obsessed with Golden Gate egg custard but now happily switched stores. I also like the portugese egg tart with caramelized tops and crust from the hand torch. And the good one from SOGO bakery in Newark is my personal favorite. Great crust, not the flakey type but the harder pie crust type. It has nice goey custard but also has some delicious crunch from the excellent crusts. Some people might prefer the other type above with the flakey crust - it depends.

SF Area, how come no one mentioned about Mexican food ? I am no expert in the cuisine but found it to be a unique food in this part of the world. There are many Mexicans and places abound throughout Bay Area. Love a great burrito with special spicy pork and many other dishes. Also large population of Vietnamese. Not sure how it is in Aussie. With 8 hours, you can easily get both cuisines. For some view of the famous Bay Bridge, Alcatraz and maybe a bit of Golden Gate Bridge and some food, probably should go to Pier 39 (Fisherman Wharf). Then go to Ghirardelli, sip some drinks at Kuleto while enjoying the view. Walk a little bit along the wharf. Share an In and Out burger with everything in it. Sample some fre chocolates at the Ghirardelli. Then have a late lunch at Chinatown.

At Pho Thenh Long in Dynasty Mall in SJ, the grilled boneless fish (bun cha) is probably the single greatest dish there. The others are pretty mediocre IMO unless others found it otherwise. It is served in a heated platter with burning fire underneath. The fish sits on top of dills. I would just order this item with rice and leave plenty of tips to the waiters. Maybe the pho is ok, not sure as I forgot how it tasted. The other item was the thick fun noodle that has good charred wok marks and thick brown sauce that is quite ok but nothing spectacular - the combo variety is good. Two other places that has this spectacular dish is Minh in Milpitas and also another place in SF but the name escapes me. The portion at Pho Thenh Long will dwarf the others though, it's quite cheap at something like $12 or so for so much fish and flavor.

If you like Vietnamese Banh Mi (sandwich), I heard that Saigon Sandwich in SF has no equals in the Bay area. It is in SF, tenderloin area. Do a google search for it to get more details. I personally never got a chance to try it. But some reliable people I dined with quite often had recommended this and these people have downed lots of banh mis in their life so nothing impress them so easily. Check it out.

If you plan to visit the SJ area then the other areas like oakland, SF, etc pales in comparison. Oakland/SF might have couple places, but SJ has hundreds/thousands - that is the scale I am talking about. San Jose is about an hour or less from SF. You might want to save your time and explore other things like Berkeley area, Mexican food places, etc. I also visitted oakland regularly but for Vietnamese food, San Jose area is where you want to go. Like SF has chinatown, then in SJ, some of these areas are like VietTowns. They usually congregate around a central large malls. Also, there are plenty of pictures at these places fortunately. I have visitted SJ numerous times and have yet fully tried many of these places since there are so many of them. Be sure to post your findings ok. FYI, there is Indonesian bazaar held on Sunday March 14 in SJ -biggest in Bay Area or any place I have seen offering many many dishes under one roof, some great, some mediocre as usual at Napredak Hall, 770 Montague Expwy, San Jose if that interest you.

I am an avid fan of Vietnamese food. The epicenter is in San Jose area where there are soo many of the phos, shops and restaurants selling all kinds of stuff Vietnamese. If you are visitting Bay Area and look for this cuisine, you miss out if you do not visit the following areas: -Tully Road off 101 freeway, Lion Plaza complex. There is a food court inside chock full of authentic Vietnamese. The problem is many do not have English words. Some do. It might overwhelm you. The shops nearby is also great source of Vietnamese goodies like Banh Mi sandwiches, cakes, etc -Lee Sandwich shop also nearby on (King Road) and has many interesting goodies like the fluffy pork bun (white) that has outstanding fillings. -Dynasty Mall off Story road. Inside is the Pho Thenh Long that has bun cha grilled tumeric fish that is awesome (boneless). One order of that is enough to satisfy 3 adults - make sure you get rice. There is also food court nearby that has some interesting stuff. -For freshly made tofus, go to Binh Minh also on Tully Road off 101 (close to the 101 freeway). $1 for like 7 pcs enough for lunch. If you refry it at home, it will be even better - get the ones with the bits of clear noodles and mushrooms. -Tung Kee noodle house, various branches are great for cheap combo noodle- make sure to get FLAT EGG noodle and separate soup or you might not be too happy. -Vung Tau branch in SJ / Milpitas is also great for Vietnamese style NY steak with tomato fried rice, also the rice plates with broken rice and various meat cuts are great. -Too many to mention. You can also check chowhound.com (SF area) for more recs. But the ones I mention above is enough chow for couple of days and are the main ones, maybe I miss a few great ones. Let us know how your adventure goes !

There is a huge concentration of Asian cuisine usually in large malls. It would be a total miss to ignore Vietnamese, Dim Sums and authentic chinese restaurants found all over the Southbay. ABC dimsum in Milpitas (Barber Ln) is HK style and excellent. Also Joyluck in Cupertino is nice Also check Grand Century Mall in San Jose- Pho Thanh Long for their grilled (cha-cha) fish that is outstanding. The foodcourt is ok and has large selections of various things. Another place is Tully Rd in San Jose - foodcourt there is bewildering and quite delicious. For authentic Szechuan, try House of Yu Rong. This is not your plain vanilla americanized version. When they say spicy, it will make you sweat and your tongue seared to numbness. But they are delicious in its own right. For example, the boiled beef dish (sounds bad but it's tender beef in an oily spicy concoction). Or try SHANGHAI in Milpitas LION plaza (Dion Landing) that has a large steamtables filled with dishes not coommonly found elsewhere. Do not try to find sweet sour pork here. Things like lap chong (steamed chinese sausage), fried halibut, shrimps cooked in its shell but fried slightly different from the usual prep, radish with chili - all cooked in their unique way. The dish is there plain to see and cost like $5 for 3 items with steam rice (you must request it instead of porridge). Just outstanding taste and value. It is not gourmet but very hometyle. The list goes on and on.

I would recommend Yank Sing or Harbor Village in downtown SF for dim sums - come before the mad rush at 11 am or so. Look for places near where the carts come out. Be patient with the ordering, as carts will be coming in full force around lunch time at noon and the good stuff is probably around the corner.

I disagree that Chinese food in general is bad in SF. You guys probably need to find out where the good places are and know which dishes to order. I think the problem is there are many authentic places that churns out good stuff but the waiters speaks little english and the menus are in chinese. Well, there are authentic chinese and there are americanized chinese places. The two offers different tastes. One cannot say that the authentic version is worse or vice versa. Places like Jai Yun, Utopia, California Louie, Dragon River, Great Eastern, Yank Sing in SF to name a few are all offering delicious authentic Chinese. But again, you need to know which dishes to order. You don't go to these places and order sweet and sour pork or yang chow fried rice or some other americanized chinese. I am from the south/east bay area and there are tons of delicious authentic places here.

The tomato soup in puff pastry is definitely very good. You can share it with two persons. It's a large portion. I would skip the lamb cheeks.

You can try LAKUNI in San Mateo. It may not be Iron Chef stuff but it is something different. Here is my experience at that place (about 3-4 mo's ago): Lakuni is a small place with about a dozen bar stools. When we first entered the place, no one was inside probably due to the world series since most Japanese like baseball. The funny thing was the owner/chef told us that we are probably in the wrong place since they do not offer sushi/sashimis. We have not even said anything to him yet. Maybe because we (me and a friend) do not look like Japanese which is 99% of his clientele. But we finally told him that we wanted to try his cooking and that we found him thru another friend at a website. First we got a starter that looks like a root vegetable braised until soft in a dark sweet soy based sauce. Tasted a bit sweet, very nice and tender. Next, tuna sashimi in white paste dressing that is tasteless. Not my favorite. Grilled long and skinny fish: nicely browned and can eaten whole from head to toe. Fresh and good. Meat skewers: beef, liver meats on skewers. EXCELLENT ! This is definitely his forte. The seasonings are just right. Oyster in half shell baked with some orange seasonings on top. Very nice melding of flavor. Chicken on skewer is also good although I like a bit more seasonings. Ramen is very good. It has thinly sliced pork. The broth is tasty and the noodles has good texture. Teriyaki chicken is also excellent. You can't go wrong with this dish really. But the teriyaki sauce has good flavor. Total bill is $50 - what a deal !!