Mission Chinese Food

Made it to the long-awaited Mission Chinese Food tonight! Danny Bowien is a very well-known chef and I've had my eyes on his restaurant ever since I first came to San Francisco. The exterior of the restaurant is very obscure and there's no signage to even indicate that it's Mission Chinese Food. Instead, it's a storefront for a different Chinese restaurant. No wonder I've walked past this restaurant a million times while out in the Mission and never thought twice about it.

We arrived at 6:30pm on a Tuesday night and there were plenty of tables open. By the time we were digging into our food though, there was a swarm of people waiting outside. I'm a big fan of going out to restaurants with a large group of people so we can order a bunch of different dishes to share family-style. We ordered the Tea-Smoked Eel, 3x Cooked Bacon and Rice Cakes, Salt Cod Fried Rice, and Braised Pea Leaves. It's kind of odd in my opinion though that they charge extra for a side of rice considering it's pretty impossible or at least difficult to eat the dishes without something to balance out all the spice and salt. I also got a bottle of Mission Chinese Beer because I was curious. Turns out beer with szechuan peppercorn isn't that great...

My favorite dish of the night by far was the Tea-Smoked Eel and the 3x Cooked Bacon and Rice Cakes a close second because I like rice cakes a lot... Other than that, I wasn't that impressed and everything was just ok. I don't really like Chinese food, authentic or not, and most of the dishes just seemed too greasy and overly fried or salted. No regrets but I probably won't go out of my way to go again except maybe to try the Westlake Rice Porridge.

Tea-Smoked Eel: fresh rice noodel, chinese celery, salted plum hoison, braised pork, cognac soy
Thrice Cooked Bacon and Rice Cakes: sweet tofu skin, bitter melon, szechuan pepper
Salt Cod Fried Rice: mackerel confit, chinese sausage, lettuce, egg
Braised Pea Leaves: pumpkin, pressed tofu, salted chili broth