…Truth be told, this slightly Southern yank is pretty much just humming halfheartedly.

San Francisco is famous for Chinese food (with the largest urban Chinese population outside the Middle Kingdom, it’d better be), so I was already excited about trying whatever it had to offer. When I learned of James Beard-award-winning dim sum, my interest was doubly piqued, and I was of course unable to resist.

I headed to the Rincon Center location of Yank Sing around 11 AM on a Friday, just in time to grab a prime table before the lunchtime rush. Carts of food began to pass, and a server offered me the option of requesting specific items. He also brought a ginormous glass pot of tea ($2). Unusual in my experience, they actually have a printed menu. So, you can order on demand, which I did once or twice, and see items’ prices, which may help ease the end-of-meal sticker shock a bit…or, at least, preview it.

I began with an old favorite – steamed shrimp dumplings. They were fabulous – light and fluffy and delicious. I then moved to the house specialty Shanghai pork dumplings, which were also really good: like bags of pork soup to be eaten in a spoon full of a vinegar sauce with what seemed like ginger. The shu mai were similarly delightful, and the chicken feet were really good – crispy, batter fried…chicken-footiness…with just enough cartilage crunch.

The pork buns were very flavorful, but I found the bun itself dry, and the ratio of filling to bun a bit low. The fried taro dumplings were also a bit dry and too flaky for my taste (I’ve made these at home, and got about 30 for the price I paid here for not remarkably better quality). The lotus buns I had for dessert suffered similarly. The sticky rice was ok, but way too salty.

All told, I’m not sure what happened. Yank Sing was supposed to be the ultimate, best, awesomest, etc., but what I had was just the most expensive. Was Friday the wrong day to go? Did I order the wrong stuff? The dumplings were bloody good, and the chicken feet…well, I don’t actually know how to judge them (as I’ve only had the dish a few times before), but they were just yummy. But dry bao and salt-drenched rice seem like pretty rookie mistakes. Sad.

The servers were super nice, but too pushy on the expensive cart items and dessert. The other thing, of course, is that my bill was $40 – too much for lunch, even in San Francisco, and even though I stuffed myself stupid. Oh well.

Yank Sing
Rincon Center
101 Spear St.
San Francisco
415.957.9300

-MAW