I have always been very fond of shrimp and in particular shrimp fried rice. I first tried this dish from the Chinese restaurants that I used to visit in England and usually had it for go. It became somewhat embarrassing when I used to go for my shrimp fried rice from my favorite restaurant, so I tried from various other Chinese restaurants just to vary it a bit. Hence my reviews here are for specifically the shrimp fried rice from the local restaurants here.
My first review is the Spicy Basil Fried Rice from the Thai Kitchen & Noodle. Understandably the shrimp fried rice is prepared differently from say a Thai place and the Chinese way and both can be very good. The Thai style of preparation for the shrimp fried comes out usually darker in appearance and has more vegetables in its mix and can be a bit spicier than the Chinese version. The Chinese shrimp fried rice can also vary from on restaurant to another but is usually whiter in appearance and has less of the vegetables. You could think of the Thai version as being almost like a complete meal by itself whereas the Chinese version can be used as a substitute for rice with other dishes such as chicken, beef etc. I personally like the shrimp fried rice by itself and sometimes spice it up with a bit of red chilli powder or just simple chilli oil. Yummy.
Ok, enough of the introduction and I will move to the actual dish from the Thai Kitchen & Noodle.
When you buy something like this, you usually have an idea of what the taste is going to be like. After all, that is the reason for craving for some kinds of food when you feel hungry. On my first bite, I didn’t know what to make of it and it was only after a few spoonfuls that the taste somehow grew with me. The authentic Thai flavor was there but it was a bit marred at first and when eating with the rest of the vegetables the full-bodied taste came out. I would give marks of 6 out of 10 for taste and 6 out of 10 for quantity. I have definitely tasted better.
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ShrimpFriedMan
June 27, 2011 at 6:58 pm
This is my second review of shrimp fried rice where I am trying to locate the best dish in my local restaurants in Dublin, CA.
Since I will be doing regular reviews of this famous dish from various restaurants, I thought it maybe astute to put down some common standard ratings that users maybe interested to learn.
These items include the following:
Cost:
Quantity:
Freshness of ingredients:
Overall value: (which includes taking into account all of the above and taste)
The dish I ordered from Bangkok 101 was Thai Fried Rice to go. If you check their menu, they also happen to have the Spicy Fried Rice. I was a bit dismayed that I found this out only after placing the order since the cashier did not mention of any other dishes, because personally I would have gone for the Spicy Fried Rice. For me the shrimp fried rice tastes the best when it has a spicy kick to it, but that’s just me, others may prefer it without the spice.
I thought the presentation was good but didn’t think that the quantity was ample enough for what I paid. You can tell they used fresher ingredients to prepare this dish and one can tell this by the color and from the aromatic smell.
I thought the dish was good but I have tasted better. It had the authentic Thai taste but it was slightly toned down compared to other Thai shrimp fried rice where you can tell right away of the authentic Thai flavor. Maybe they made the dish to suit the American palette.
They also gave a side dish of a salad and I found this ok by salad standards but it did complement the main dish somewhat.
My rating:
Cost: $10.92 including tax
Qty: Med.
Overall: 3.0/5
I thought the dish tasted ok and with some chilli embellishments, it could have been kicked up a notch. I would have given it a higher rating but the quantity and the higher cost, the rating came to only 3.
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ShrimpFriedMan
July 4, 2011 at 6:06 am
China Village based in Dublin, CA is tucked away in a small shopping precinct and you can easily miss it. When I went there around 6pm, I found a fair number of diners already sitting around for their evening meal.
They seem to have a good loyal base of customers and when I examined the menu, I can understand why. Chinese food compared to Thai food are not only cheaper but also gives you more portions.
This was true of the shrimp fried rice that I ordered.
I was more or less knew what I was expecting when ordering the shrimp fried rice in Chinese style compared to say ordering shrimp fried rice in Thai style. Where in the Thai style it is more of a complete dish that you can eat without other dishes. I am not saying that you cannot do the same for the Chinese style but I always found that the dish is somewhat complementary to other Chinese dishes. Some of the shrimp fried rice made in the Chinese style can taste amazingly good on its own.
Okay, onto the review of the dish.
The portions were generous and was packed into one of those standard take-out containers. The rice was slightly sticky and had all the ingredients you had expected. With the shrimp fried especially the Chinese style, I always try to ‘season’ it more with chili-oil, salt and sometimes chili powder. I have often found that leaving the dish for overnight in a fridge and having it the next day improves the flavor.
With this particular dish, I would give the following scores:
Taste: 3
Quantity: 4
Value: 3.5
I was a bit let down by the taste but the dish tasted what you would have expected. I think if they added spring onions and a bit more fresh ingredients, it could have tasted better. I found that it wasn’t that oily as some dishes could be and for those who are health conscious, this maybe a good thing.
I did actually order the dish with another one of my favorites which as Chicken and Cashew nuts. I naturally had the shrimp fried rice separately to make my review here and when I did mix the two and ate this way, I found the combination wasn’t that great. For some reason I had experimented here since I normally order Beef and Black Bean Sauce and it seems to complement the shrimp fried rice really well. I accidently decided to eat the Chicken and Cashew nuts separately and I had an eye opener. The Chicken dish was far better by itself!
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ShrimpFriedMan
July 14, 2011 at 8:50 pm
The YuYu Chinese restaurant is situated just off Village Pkway, Dublin on Amador Valley Rd. There was ample parking and when entering the venue I was impressed with the brightness of the whole place, though it was a small restaurant.
I also noticed that many of the clientele in the restaurants were of Chinese descent and gave me the impression that this place may be offering good authentic Chinese food. It usually happens that a good sign of the quality of the restaurant is measured by the type of clientele and if in fact they are Chinese as in the case of the Chinese restaurant or Indian as in the case of Indian restaurants.
Having had a bad experience previously on the Chicken & Cashew Nuts dish from the Full House Chinese restaurant, I decided to opt for Kung Pao Chicken. The whole order came a shade under $18 with the Shrimp Fried Rice being around $8.
The service was friendly enough and the take out food was made for me in under 15 mins. It was served in the normal containers and I was impressed by the weight and this is usually a measure of the quantity. But we all know that quantity cannot displace quality.
The shrimp fried rice seemed to have a good appearance in color and this made it more inviting. In addition to the two dishes, they also provided a small tiny cup of chilli-oil which was a nice touch. As mentioned previously, chill oil and chilli powder really complements the shrimp fried rice without making it too hot.
Tastewise, I found the rice to be a bit undercooked and dry and I felt they could have done a lot better here. However, the shrimps were almost cooked to perfection having a very opaque white look tit and happens when you have just cooked it al dente. I have tasted better and I would rate this dish as above average. I noticed that this dish and an unusual vegetable which doesn’t normally with these dishes and unfortunately I cannot put a name to it. It is sort of like a celery reddish but hard and is often found in Chinese soups. It lacked salt and sprinkling a bit of salt brought the taste up for me.
With this particular shrimp fried dish, I would give the following scores (out of 5):
Taste: 3 (marred by the coarseness of the rice)
Quantity: 4
Value: 3.5 (good price)
The Kung Pao Chicken wasn’t too bad and had a good texture, smell and taste. Usually in meat dishes the freshness of the poultry or beef determines the whole flavor of the dish and this was above average.
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ShrimpFriedMan
July 15, 2011 at 9:44 pm
The Full House Chinese restaurant is like a hole-in-the wall restaurant nestled between the Ranch and the CVS store in the shopping precinct of Dublin just off Reagent St.
My initial thoughts when venturing into this restaurant was that it was very secluded and most likely family owned. As a result, I would expect some more care and attention to the quality of food offered. When I gazed through their takeout menu, the prices looked very good for the dishes.
As usual for this review, I ordered shrimp fried rice along with chicken cashew nuts. The total bill came to less than $16. Unlike the previous review I did of ‘China Village’ the dishes were served in flatter containers as you can see from the picture. The advantage of serving like this is that you can see the quantity of shrimps which some restaurants can disguise by using the tall containers. In this case, there seemed to be plentiful of shrimps for this shrimp fried rice dish.
I gave the following marks based on my explanation shown later.
Taste: 2.0
Quantity: 4
Value: 2.5
Here is a perfect example of a dish where despite the quantity of the amount, the overall value is let down by the taste. I find it surprising that many people today do not put much emphasis on the taste of the food but lean towards more points for quantity. Have we become a nation of ‘plenty’ where size is more important that quality?
Although the taste of the dish was not completely bad, it did have something good going for it which was the shrimps were cooked to perfection. However, this dish is not at its best if the rest of the ingredients and food are not in harmony with the whole dish, which unfortunately was the case. The rice was cooked in too much oil and I did not sense any freshness of the ingredients in the vegetables or little of it that was served with this dish.
The complimentary dish ‘Chicken and Cashew nuts’ was not the saving grace for this restaurant and unfortunately if I were to rate this dish too, it would be in the mid ‘2s’ also. Unlike the chicken and cashew nuts I ordered from the previous restaurant China Village, this dish did not have an appetizing taste and the taste was marred with the chicken which in my opinion was not the freshest one gets. After a few morsels, I did not feel inclined to eat this dish for a later date and so I gave the dish to my friend who enjoyed it. The cashew nuts were quite soggy and did not have the crunch you expected from this dish.
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jerryl
February 2, 2012 at 9:14 pm
We ate there last night. It was opening date under new ownership but the cook and menu are the same as before. The place is newly redecorated and us very upbeat and pleasant. It is situated in a quiet minimall across from ACE Hardware (former Blockbuster store).
The food was excellent. My wife is Thai so I have eaten in Thai restaurants quite often. She had one of the specials and also said that it was outstanding. We ordered take-out meals for my son and his wife and thay said that it was the best Thai food they had ever eaten!
I understand that the noon buffet is very popular. We were there for dinner. I highly recommend Real Thai Kitchen.
I have always been very fond of shrimp and in particular shrimp fried rice. I first tried this dish from the Chinese restaurants that I used to visit in England and usually had it for go. It became somewhat embarrassing when I used to go for my shrimp fried rice from my favorite restaurant, so I tried from various other Chinese restaurants just to vary it a bit. Hence my reviews here are for specifically the shrimp fried rice from the local restaurants here.
My first review is the Spicy Basil Fried Rice from the Thai Kitchen & Noodle. Understandably the shrimp fried rice is prepared differently from say a Thai place and the Chinese way and both can be very good. The Thai style of preparation for the shrimp fried comes out usually darker in appearance and has more vegetables in its mix and can be a bit spicier than the Chinese version. The Chinese shrimp fried rice can also vary from on restaurant to another but is usually whiter in appearance and has less of the vegetables. You could think of the Thai version as being almost like a complete meal by itself whereas the Chinese version can be used as a substitute for rice with other dishes such as chicken, beef etc. I personally like the shrimp fried rice by itself and sometimes spice it up with a bit of red chilli powder or just simple chilli oil. Yummy.
Ok, enough of the introduction and I will move to the actual dish from the Thai Kitchen & Noodle.
When you buy something like this, you usually have an idea of what the taste is going to be like. After all, that is the reason for craving for some kinds of food when you feel hungry. On my first bite, I didn’t know what to make of it and it was only after a few spoonfuls that the taste somehow grew with me. The authentic Thai flavor was there but it was a bit marred at first and when eating with the rest of the vegetables the full-bodied taste came out. I would give marks of 6 out of 10 for taste and 6 out of 10 for quantity. I have definitely tasted better.
This is my second review of shrimp fried rice where I am trying to locate the best dish in my local restaurants in Dublin, CA.
My first review can be located here…
Thai Kitchen & Noodle that I did
Since I will be doing regular reviews of this famous dish from various restaurants, I thought it maybe astute to put down some common standard ratings that users maybe interested to learn.
These items include the following:
Cost:
Quantity:
Freshness of ingredients:
Overall value: (which includes taking into account all of the above and taste)
The dish I ordered from Bangkok 101 was Thai Fried Rice to go. If you check their menu, they also happen to have the Spicy Fried Rice. I was a bit dismayed that I found this out only after placing the order since the cashier did not mention of any other dishes, because personally I would have gone for the Spicy Fried Rice. For me the shrimp fried rice tastes the best when it has a spicy kick to it, but that’s just me, others may prefer it without the spice.
I thought the presentation was good but didn’t think that the quantity was ample enough for what I paid. You can tell they used fresher ingredients to prepare this dish and one can tell this by the color and from the aromatic smell.
I thought the dish was good but I have tasted better. It had the authentic Thai taste but it was slightly toned down compared to other Thai shrimp fried rice where you can tell right away of the authentic Thai flavor. Maybe they made the dish to suit the American palette.
They also gave a side dish of a salad and I found this ok by salad standards but it did complement the main dish somewhat.
My rating:
Cost: $10.92 including tax
Qty: Med.
Overall: 3.0/5
I thought the dish tasted ok and with some chilli embellishments, it could have been kicked up a notch. I would have given it a higher rating but the quantity and the higher cost, the rating came to only 3.
China Village based in Dublin, CA is tucked away in a small shopping precinct and you can easily miss it. When I went there around 6pm, I found a fair number of diners already sitting around for their evening meal.
They seem to have a good loyal base of customers and when I examined the menu, I can understand why. Chinese food compared to Thai food are not only cheaper but also gives you more portions.
This was true of the shrimp fried rice that I ordered.
I was more or less knew what I was expecting when ordering the shrimp fried rice in Chinese style compared to say ordering shrimp fried rice in Thai style. Where in the Thai style it is more of a complete dish that you can eat without other dishes. I am not saying that you cannot do the same for the Chinese style but I always found that the dish is somewhat complementary to other Chinese dishes. Some of the shrimp fried rice made in the Chinese style can taste amazingly good on its own.
Okay, onto the review of the dish.
The portions were generous and was packed into one of those standard take-out containers. The rice was slightly sticky and had all the ingredients you had expected. With the shrimp fried especially the Chinese style, I always try to ‘season’ it more with chili-oil, salt and sometimes chili powder. I have often found that leaving the dish for overnight in a fridge and having it the next day improves the flavor.
With this particular dish, I would give the following scores:
Taste: 3
Quantity: 4
Value: 3.5
I was a bit let down by the taste but the dish tasted what you would have expected. I think if they added spring onions and a bit more fresh ingredients, it could have tasted better. I found that it wasn’t that oily as some dishes could be and for those who are health conscious, this maybe a good thing.
I did actually order the dish with another one of my favorites which as Chicken and Cashew nuts. I naturally had the shrimp fried rice separately to make my review here and when I did mix the two and ate this way, I found the combination wasn’t that great. For some reason I had experimented here since I normally order Beef and Black Bean Sauce and it seems to complement the shrimp fried rice really well. I accidently decided to eat the Chicken and Cashew nuts separately and I had an eye opener. The Chicken dish was far better by itself!
The YuYu Chinese restaurant is situated just off Village Pkway, Dublin on Amador Valley Rd. There was ample parking and when entering the venue I was impressed with the brightness of the whole place, though it was a small restaurant.
I also noticed that many of the clientele in the restaurants were of Chinese descent and gave me the impression that this place may be offering good authentic Chinese food. It usually happens that a good sign of the quality of the restaurant is measured by the type of clientele and if in fact they are Chinese as in the case of the Chinese restaurant or Indian as in the case of Indian restaurants.
Having had a bad experience previously on the Chicken & Cashew Nuts dish from the Full House Chinese restaurant, I decided to opt for Kung Pao Chicken. The whole order came a shade under $18 with the Shrimp Fried Rice being around $8.
The service was friendly enough and the take out food was made for me in under 15 mins. It was served in the normal containers and I was impressed by the weight and this is usually a measure of the quantity. But we all know that quantity cannot displace quality.
The shrimp fried rice seemed to have a good appearance in color and this made it more inviting. In addition to the two dishes, they also provided a small tiny cup of chilli-oil which was a nice touch. As mentioned previously, chill oil and chilli powder really complements the shrimp fried rice without making it too hot.
Tastewise, I found the rice to be a bit undercooked and dry and I felt they could have done a lot better here. However, the shrimps were almost cooked to perfection having a very opaque white look tit and happens when you have just cooked it al dente. I have tasted better and I would rate this dish as above average. I noticed that this dish and an unusual vegetable which doesn’t normally with these dishes and unfortunately I cannot put a name to it. It is sort of like a celery reddish but hard and is often found in Chinese soups. It lacked salt and sprinkling a bit of salt brought the taste up for me.
With this particular shrimp fried dish, I would give the following scores (out of 5):
Taste: 3 (marred by the coarseness of the rice)
Quantity: 4
Value: 3.5 (good price)
The Kung Pao Chicken wasn’t too bad and had a good texture, smell and taste. Usually in meat dishes the freshness of the poultry or beef determines the whole flavor of the dish and this was above average.
The Full House Chinese restaurant is like a hole-in-the wall restaurant nestled between the Ranch and the CVS store in the shopping precinct of Dublin just off Reagent St.
My initial thoughts when venturing into this restaurant was that it was very secluded and most likely family owned. As a result, I would expect some more care and attention to the quality of food offered. When I gazed through their takeout menu, the prices looked very good for the dishes.
As usual for this review, I ordered shrimp fried rice along with chicken cashew nuts. The total bill came to less than $16. Unlike the previous review I did of ‘China Village’ the dishes were served in flatter containers as you can see from the picture. The advantage of serving like this is that you can see the quantity of shrimps which some restaurants can disguise by using the tall containers. In this case, there seemed to be plentiful of shrimps for this shrimp fried rice dish.
I gave the following marks based on my explanation shown later.
Taste: 2.0
Quantity: 4
Value: 2.5
Here is a perfect example of a dish where despite the quantity of the amount, the overall value is let down by the taste. I find it surprising that many people today do not put much emphasis on the taste of the food but lean towards more points for quantity. Have we become a nation of ‘plenty’ where size is more important that quality?
Although the taste of the dish was not completely bad, it did have something good going for it which was the shrimps were cooked to perfection. However, this dish is not at its best if the rest of the ingredients and food are not in harmony with the whole dish, which unfortunately was the case. The rice was cooked in too much oil and I did not sense any freshness of the ingredients in the vegetables or little of it that was served with this dish.
The complimentary dish ‘Chicken and Cashew nuts’ was not the saving grace for this restaurant and unfortunately if I were to rate this dish too, it would be in the mid ‘2s’ also. Unlike the chicken and cashew nuts I ordered from the previous restaurant China Village, this dish did not have an appetizing taste and the taste was marred with the chicken which in my opinion was not the freshest one gets. After a few morsels, I did not feel inclined to eat this dish for a later date and so I gave the dish to my friend who enjoyed it. The cashew nuts were quite soggy and did not have the crunch you expected from this dish.
We ate there last night. It was opening date under new ownership but the cook and menu are the same as before. The place is newly redecorated and us very upbeat and pleasant. It is situated in a quiet minimall across from ACE Hardware (former Blockbuster store).
The food was excellent. My wife is Thai so I have eaten in Thai restaurants quite often. She had one of the specials and also said that it was outstanding. We ordered take-out meals for my son and his wife and thay said that it was the best Thai food they had ever eaten!
I understand that the noon buffet is very popular. We were there for dinner. I highly recommend Real Thai Kitchen.