Back in the day, “San Francisco Chinese food” meant Rice-A-Roni, but let’s just say society's palate and, more important, cultural awareness, has evolved.
China Queen has an actual physical menu, which was a welcome change from the ubiquitous QR codes that have been popular as of late. They also have a menu in Chinese, for those fortunate enough to be able to read Chinese. Our really helpful and friendly server explained the differences between the two menus and aided us in ordering hot tea. She brought two types out for us to try to see which we preferred: a more unassuming black tea, as well as some pu-erh, which is a variety of fermented tea traditionally produced in the Yunnan Province. The pu-erh was complex and flavorful, so we opted for that, and the teapot was constantly replenished. China Queen has received a lot of social media buzz recently about their pork bao buns. These are so popular (and it turns out for good reason) that they often sell out early, but that night we were lucky and were able to sample the house special buns. These steamed buns are pan-fried with sesame seeds on the bottom and pork in the center, not the barbecue/sweet variety that one often finds in such buns, but rather a ground pork meatball. These were steamed perfectly and had a wonderful texture and taste with a lovely contrast between the slightly crunchy sesame seed bottom and the soft bun top. (Photo at top.)Instead of the typical scallion pancakes found on menus, China Queen offers scallion crepes that were wonderfully crunchy yet with a bit of chew, and while not the same as scallion pancakes, they still were an enjoyable side trip during our meal. The xiao long bao are of course soup dumplings, and these were deliciously prepared, but perhaps were a bit less soup-filled than one traditionally finds in such dumplings. Now, this does have some advantages; there wasn’t a gusher of hot liquid escaping when biting into it so one can dig in with abandon. The ginger-soy dipping sauce that came with them was also really good as well.
The pork chives steamed dumplings were traditionally served with a dumpling skin that was steamed just right and a filling that hit all the right notes; these came eight to a basket.
Our server saw every last drop of the tea from the cups being slurped up, and insisted on refilling the teapot "one more time," even though the dinner was completed and the table had otherwise been cleared. When we resisted, she insisted on just “half a pot, then.” We acquiesced; we’re only human.
China Queen, 3412 E Hebron Parkway, Suite 100 (Carrollton) 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.; 4:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. Sunday – Thursday; 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.; 4:30 p.m. – 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
