1780 El Camino Real, San Bruno CA 94066
(650) 872-6682
Parking: street parking and parking lot
Hours: Daily 11:30 am to 11:30pm
Last Visited: August 11, 2011
Food: 3 stars
Service: 2 to 3 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Price: $ to $$
Fat Wong’s Kitchen is reminiscent of a former Taco Bell. Think of the brick façade, the window arches, and the large counter. They’ve done a good job converting the place though. The room is painted a cream color, and the brick around the window arches are white. On the walls are fun framed drawings of cartoon chefs and Chinese characters. The tables are a dark cherry, and the matching chairs have a black cushioned seat. The front counter is now walled in with a granite face. There is a window to allow you to see what is happening in the kitchen. The floors are brown tile. Recessed lights bring light to the room along with the large windows.
There is a lot of hustle and bustle at this restaurant. It’s not a good place if you’re looking for a quiet atmosphere with a lot of atmosphere. It’s a great place to go for inexpensive eats that are high quality. They also have an interesting clientele – mostly all Asian, but still fun for people watching.
Rumor has it that the chef formerly came from Flower Lounge to open up this restaurant.
The table has a drink and dessert menu. Drinks are extremely inexpensive ranging at or a little over a dollar. There are also a lot of homemade desserts available. As you walk in, it will be immediately clear what their specialties are – congee (aka porridge) and wonton noodles of various types. The other specials are steamed rice wrapped in lotus leaves (jong) and rice noodle rolls.
- Rice Noodle Roll with Fish Paste – Fish paste is wrapped in a rice noodle roll and steamed. This is a unique dish because most restaurants stick to the basics of shrimp, beef, barbecued pork, or fried donut (which they also have available except for the donut version. The portion is good, but I found the rice noodle roll to be a little bit too moist, meaning that the roll itself is a bit on the soft almost soggy side, though still intact. The fish paste was good though. Okay. $3.00 in 2007
- Sampan Porridge – Rice is cooked to a porridge – thick, but not overly so. The sampan version comes with peanuts, fish meatballs, and pork skins. You also receive a small plate of chopped green onions and fried crispy twists. The porridge is nicely flavored and rich and creamy in texture. The meatballs are soft and also have the right texture. You know it’s good because you don’t have to add salt to the porridge. Very Good. $5.25 in 2007
- Pork and Preserved Egg Porridge – The same porridge base for the sampan porridge is used. Slices of pork and pieces of preserved egg are added to this porridge. Another very good porridge. It’s served with a side dish of green onion and crispy twists that can be added to the porridge for extra texture and flavor. $4.80 in 2007
- Pan Fried Noodle with Beef and Seasonal Vegetables – This is an incredible deal for the price. Noodles are pan fried until crispy and topped with slices of beef and bok choy cooked in a light brown sauce. The crispiness of the noodles gives extra texture this dish. Very good. It’s often hard to find a place where the crispy noodles aren’t burnt. It might be something different for you to have noodles this crispy, but it tastes great with of course a good crunch. $6.25 in 2007
- Braised Fish Ball, Pork Skin, and Turnip – Fish balls are braised and tender pork skins and turnip in the same sauce are placed in a soup bowl. The pork skins are so soft they melt in your mouth and the turnip chunks maintain their form. All have been infused with great flavor. The sauce has a slight hint of five spice powder. Good. $4.25 in 2007
- Fried Rice with Minced Beef – Beef is cooked with lettuce, fried rice, and egg to create a great fried rice dish. The individual grains of rice are separated, and the color is a light golden brown. The rice isn’t too oily, and they actually have minced beef, not ground beef. The flavor is light and delicate, but certainly flavorful. Good. $5.95 in 2007
- Steamed Rice with Meat Wrapped Lotus Leaf - Rice, dried shrimp, lotus nuts, duck, a preserved egg, yellow peas, and dried black mushrooms are wrapped in a lotus leaf. The whole thing is then steamed or boiled for many hours and served with a small dish of soy sauce and a small dish of sugar. The flavor of the lotus leaf becomes infused into the rice. There were a lot of ingredients stuffed into the block of rice, but I found the texture of the rice a little mushy. In general, similar dishes I have tried are cooked so that the individual grains of rice can still be seen. This one had been cooked until it all has melted together. It was good, but not quite to my taste because of the texture. However, the amount of duck (the duck is still on the bone) and the general quantity of ingredients was very good. You’ll have to try it out and decide for yourself. $7.25 dine in/$8 take out in 2007
- Chow Fun with Beef & Soy Sauce – Beef is sautéed with chow fun, green onions, and bean sprouts. The slices of beef are tender, and the chow fun is nicely separated and browned by the soy sauce. What is difficult about this dish is that the chow fun usually gets burned, and the flavor becomes tainted. This is not a problem at Fat Wong’s. Very good. $5.95 in 2007
- Tofu with Five Spice Seasoning – A full block of tofu is cut in half and deep fried. Then the tofu is sliced and placed in five spice seasoned sauce. The sauce is like water in consistency and has a light light brown coloring. It’s flavor is light but marries well with the fried tofu skin. Very good. $3.80 in 2007
- Gai Lan - Fresh gai lan vegetables (Chinese broccoli) are boiled and drizzled with sesame oil and oyster sauce. Although the stalks are large, they are very tender. Very good. I don’t remember the specific price, but it was around $5.50
- Shrimp Wonton Noodle Soup – Five large wontons are served with noodles in broth. The wontons contain shrimp and an abundance of pork. The broth has a delicate flavor. The Hong Kong style noodles are al dente and nicely separated (no clumps). The wontons are jumbo. While this was formerly one of their best dishes, the wontons now use a different kind of meat and are just okay. $5.50
- Hong Kong Milk Tea – A good sized milk tea that is available hot or cold. Excellent price. $1.50 ($2 when ordered to go)
- Hong Kong Coffee Milk Tea – This cup of HK Coffee Milk Tea is a combination of coffee with milk tea (aka yin-yang). The hot version doesn’t come with sugar, so you’ll need to add it yourself. $1.50 ($2 when ordered to go)
Service is a little touch and go, but it’s still worth a visit for noodles. Since I added my milk tea and an additional dish during the middle of the meal, that may have been part of reason for the slower service. I didn’t receive these two items until asking for them at least one or two times more. The food is still too good to miss. The last time I visited, I ordered milk tea with the rest of the order, and it came very fast, almost immediately after ordering.
During lunches on weekdays, the restaurant has a lot less people, so you won’t feel as rushed eating. When they aren’t as busy, the servers tend to watch the crowd, which can get a little uncomfortable so there is room for improvement, but overall, the staff is quick to turnaround tables and efficient.
I once heartily recommended Fat Wong’s Kitchen. However, in 2011, I pulled them from Sesame Tea Favorites because they're just not cutting it anymore. The wonton meat is not the same as it used to be - the quality has deteriorated. I waited for more than 15 minutes for my bowl of noodles after the first bowl at our table was received. At lesat the noodles are still good. There is still a lot of variety available and certainly, some items still taste like home cooking, but I long for the olden days when they were more authentic in textures and flavors.
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