Beijing Restaurant in San Francisco

Beijing Restaurant
Neighborhood: Mission Terrace
1801 Alemany Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94112
(415) 333-8182

Overall: 4.5 stars
Food: 5 stars
Ambiance: 3 typical Chinese decor with photos on walls
Service: 5 stars, very nice and helpful

You know you're in a Northerner's house when all you hear are rolling RRR's in the spoken Mandarin and you can hear playful bantering in the background.

Although the decor and the physical restaurant itself is rather mundane (red lanterns and red exterior paint) and kitschy (photos of regulars, Yao Ming are taped on walls and flat panel television with Chinese pop concerts in the background), the food is 100% Beijing style.

We ordered only from the "Beijing Specialties" section:

1. Stir-fried Liver in Spicy Garlic Sauce
- the liver was tender and the sauce was pure spicy delight. The gravy would have been excellent over a plate of rice or with a steamed bun.

2. Sweet and Sour Pork Meatballs
- The American sweet and sour sauce is laden with ketchup, red food coloring 5 and processed white vinegar. Authentic Chinese sweet and sour is actually a very heavy sauce, traditionally made with black vinegar that is more similar to Worcestershire and reduced with a lot of sugar to a sticky, thick-as-molasses syrup. This sauce is decadent, and drizzled over bite-sized, deep-fried pork meatballs.

3. Chive Dumplings (Jou Cai He Zi)
These are like Chinese empanadas, filled with chives, eggs and garlic wrapped with a flour pastry. The pastry is then pan-fried in hot oil until the skin is bubbling and charred, and the juices from the filling run over your chin as you bite into it.

4. Sour Cabbage and Pork Belly Clay Pot (Suan Cai Bai Rou Sa Guo)
This is the real deal. The cabbage is house-made and the pork is sliced so thin that it disintegrates in your mouth. The broth is rich in pork essence and they give you lots of fen pi (the slippery glass noodles) to slurp down with your soup.

I took my father there to sample the food, and he was very pleased with the meal. This is a great family restaurant, with authentic Beijing-style food at a great price.

Our entire meal came out to $39 and some change, and we had tons of leftovers for the next day.