Restaurant Review: Yank Sing, San Francisco, CA

Yank Sing, 40 Steven St

San Francisco is one of my absolute favorite cites to eat, second only to New Orleans. And when I'm in San Francisco and I'm looking for really good dim sum, I head for one place: Yank Sing (either at 49 Steven St or in the Rincon Center, 101 Spear St). Yank Sing was the first place where I experienced dim sum, a Chinese cuisine involving small, bite-sized foods served in steamer baskets or on little plates. 

Dim Sum carts at Yank Sing

Typical dim sum dishes are steamed buns and dumplings, fried puffs, roasted meats, steamed vegetables, and more, and the food at Yank Sing is exceptional and absolutely first-rate. At Yank Sing (as with other dim sum restaurants), servers come around with carts filled with steamer baskets and plates, and show you what they have to offer. And you get to know the carts and look for the dishes you want to sample a second time. More than once, I've waited for "that woman with the seafood puffs" or "the sesame balls cart." That's really the only drawback with Yank Sing - you have to wait for the cart that has the food you want. However, if you really want something, you can ask whatever server's closest to send the cart you want over to you.

But beware - it's far too easy to take things off the cart and keep looking for more, and before you know it, you've spent $65 on lunch for two (yeah, been there, done that). Dim sum, and Yank Sing in particular, can be quite affordable, you just have to keep an eye on what you're doing and exercise some restraint.

Sesame balls

Perhaps my favorite dim sum dish is the sesame balls, which are these delightful pastries, rolled in sesame seeds, with a little red bean paste filling. I've been known to stop by Yank Sing on the way to the San Francisco airport, just to pick up an order of these on my way out of town. They're totally bad for you, I'm sure. When you eat them, there's always oil residue left on your hands. So I'm 99% sure they're not a healthy treat. But darned if they aren't just super-tasty. I simply can't resist.

I'm always looking forward to my next visit to San Francisco, and Yank Sing is just one of the many reasons why.