Yank Sing

Having had an extremely tame New Year's Eve, we trundled down the foggy, cold streets of SF hoping to find a place open on New Year's Day that was not in a hotel. First checked out the Union Square sales but finding that nothing was open until 11:00 at least, we renewed our efforts to find sustenance. After our experience at Y Ben the previous morning, Michael was reluctant to seek out another dim sum palace -- not me, as I could eat dim sum every day. But he quickly agreed that the rather more genteel confines of Yank Sing were different enough to give it a try.

So we wandered down to Rincon Center; fortunately it was just around 10:30 and a bit too early for the crowds to arrive (it goes without saying that they were open..nice that the Chinese celebrate New Year's on a different day than we do). We quickly got a table...not a good table, kind of crammed next to a pillar and in a main traffic lane, but we were sitting and eating. Since it was, after all, New Year's, I ordered a couple of glasses of champagne.

The dim sum was delicious. Yank Sing is by dim sum standards very upscale and clean and that is reflected in the prices (the location also contributes to this I'm sure). The most outstanding thing we had were soup dumplings...in fact we had a repeat order. We also had great shiu mai. The Peking duck was not so good, kind of chintzy on the duck, the hoisin sauce was watery and the buns rather doughy. I can't remember everything we had. I do know that we ran out of appetite and there were still things we wanted to try...green beans, pot stickers, pork buns, and the like.

By the time we left the big room was packed although there were still seats available out in the enclosed courtyard. The experience clearly was not as authentic as at other places both in the food and the clientele. On the other hand there is nothing wrong with tablecloths, clean bathrooms and pleasant professional service and you don't get something for nothing. The bill was about $75 not counting the champagne, tax and tip. I suspect the Peking duck ran this up a bit and it was not worth it, but the rest of the food was excellent. Was it 5 times better than Y Ben? Not in my book, but those who put a higher value on creature comforts might disagree.