Tasty China reveals a different side of one of the world’s great cuisines
by Richard Foss
I have been fascinated with Chinese food since childhood, because it was the only exotic dining experience in the South Bay. On special occasions we’d visit Tai Song, a cavernous restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway in Manhattan Beach that owed its odd architecture to the fact that it was a converted mule barn from the 1920s. The eggrolls, chow mein, and subgum chicken were memorably oily and probably mediocre even by the standard of Los Angeles Chinese restaurants, but I didn’t know that. In the dimly lit environment decorated with painted scrolls and landscaped of improbably tall mountains, it was the look and taste of another world.
Somewhere in a memory box I may have one of the plastic monkeys that came with the children’s beverages, but these days the focus at local restaurants is more on the food than toys and set design.
A case in point is a recently opened Chinese restaurant that has negative curb appeal and bland interior decor. Tasty China is the latest tenant in a building connected to the somewhat drab Ramada Inn on Pacific Coast Highway in Torrance. You may have whizzed by without even noticing it’s there. If you enjoy authentic Chinese food, take my advice and stop there next time. Restaurateur Sunny Yang has transformed what had been a reliable but unimpressive restaurant into a rare center for Huaiying cuisine. Though this area northwest of Shanghai has one of the “Four Great Traditions” of Chinese cooking, it’s hard to find even in Chinese neighborhoods.
Prepare to spend some time decoding the menu, which has items from across China but is heavy on fresh noodle items and dumplings. On both of our visits we spent some time on our cellphones figuring out what was in dishes like Bafang elbow, mao xue wang, and fried eggs with yuba and luffa.* The servers are helpful, particularly if you let them know about any allergies and the extent of your tolerance for spicy food. Some things on this menu have a peppery kick, and not all of them have the little icon that tells you that.
The short list of dim sum starters are all safe for the heat-averse. The soup-filled dumplings called xiao long bao have the springy texture that you only get when the dough is freshly made, and the broth around the filling has a nice gingery flavor. When calculating the serving size, be aware that there are nine to an order – it’s easy to accidentally get too much food. The green onion pancake is the conventional flaky pastry that’s similar to an Indian paratha, nice as a texture counterpoint to the soft dough, but the standout dish is the one labeled on the menu as pork pan fried buns. There are six dough packets the size of a small cupcake that are evidently first steamed, then pan-fried with sesame seeds on the griddle so that there is a crust on the bottom. I haven’t had anything quite like these before, but they’re on my list of things I must have here again – after I try some more of the other dishes that are mysterious.
The eggs fried with yuba and luffa fit this category – I had never heard of either ingredient before looking at this menu, so ordered it on a whim. Luffa sounded to me like a type of bath sponge, and I was surprised to find that it actually is. Young luffa squash look like small cucumbers and taste slightly like a zucchini – if you let the plant get old it becomes fibrous and can be turned into a body scrubber. Yuba is otherwise known as tofu skin, and is a type of crepe-like soy protein. What both of these have in common is their ability to soak up sauce while cooking and provide interesting textures. When scrambled with eggs they’re a delight. I’m guessing there is some chicken stock and a little oil used in this preparation, but I could be wrong – I meant to ask our server but got distracted by the sheer number of questions that popped up during this meal.
We tried two soups – our old standby of hot and sour soup and the shepherd’s purse with seafood. Their hot and sour has a moderate heat with noticeable white pepper and ginger and a respectable shot of vinegar to add tartness, so it lives up to its name. They use plenty of wood ear mushrooms and bamboo shoots in a vegetarian broth and it is garnished with cilantro, so the flavor and texture are slightly different than usual. As for the shepherd’s purse, it’s a vegetable that has a flavor similar to spinach cooked with lemon, and if that sounds to you like a good match for seafood, you’re right. The broth had plenty of fish chunks and some small scallops, and is a mild contrast to some of the more assertive items.
We had two of those that pushed the tolerance of the spice wimp at our table. Dry pot cauliflower is a specialty of Hunan, made with a Chinese variety of the vegetable that has tender stalks and small flower buds. This is sauteed with onion, red bell pepper, pork, ginger, red pepper, scallions, garlic, and a little more red pepper in case you didn’t add enough the first time. This is fried in sesame oil with the addition of a sauce made with Shaoshing wine (similar to sherry), soy, and oyster sauce, and it packs a punch. Even so, the self-proclaimed spice wimp kept eating it even though her face turned a delicate shade of red, because it was delicious.
The other spicy item was typhoon shrimp, a preparation that got its name because it was apparently invented by a chef in Hong Kong who was making a meal in a basement shelter during a storm. It’s not complex — ginger, garlic, panko breadcrumbs, and chili are fried together in shrimp flavored oil, and then whole shrimp are tossed in along with green onions. The shrimp are both shelled and head-on, which is a dealbreaker for many people who don’t want to bother shelling the shrimp. The good news is they don’t have to – when fried very hot and fast, shrimp shells acquire the consistency of a potato chip. The heads are all dry crunch and may not please everyone, but except for the tail, the rest is edible. My only quibble is that they don’t de-vein the shrimp here, so you’ll sometimes get a bit of gritty texture. This was the first time I’ve tried typhoon shrimp, and it’s an enjoyable novelty but not essential.
We also ordered tea-smoked duck because it’s a dish I always enjoy but rarely see on local menus, and the Wuxi-style ribs because we had no idea what those were. The Chinese don’t have a strong tradition of grilling because it’s an extravagant waste of fuel, so it was no surprise that these were first spice rubbed and slow roasted, then braised in a light, sweet sauce. If you think of the sweet char siu style of Chinese roast pork, but slow-cooked so it’s moist and tender, you’re not far wrong. You’re not exactly right, either, because there is a little more star anise and perhaps a bit of camphor in the rub, but you get the general idea. It won’t replace Texas-style pork ribs in the pantheon of flavor, but it’s an enjoyable experience.
Tea-smoked duck is more than its name would suggest. The bird is rubbed with spices and then soaked overnight in wine, then smoked over a mix of tea, orange peel, and rice. (The traditional way of doing this is on the stove using a rack in a large sealed wok, but a commercial operation probably uses a less labor-intensive method.) When done right, the duck has little fat and is infused with smoky tea flavor, and they do it right here. I don’t know any other Chinese restaurant in the area that serves this, and few this side of Chinatown that do it as well.
The service at Tasty China is very friendly and accommodating, and on both visits the meal was well-paced. Note that some dishes take time to prepare, so let them know if you are in a hurry. Dining here is worth the time and also the money – expect to spend about $25 per person and you won’t be far wrong. It’s a bargain for an authentic and rewarding taste of Chinese regional cuisines.
*So you don’t have to look it up, Bafang Elbow is a pork shank in the style of a town in Hunan called Bafang. It is reportedly one of the spicier dishes in Tasty China’s culinary repertoire. The other people at my table united against ordering it despite my curiosity. Mao xue wang contains duck blood, tripe, and enough chili peppers to trigger a radiation alert, and I did not advocate that we try it.
Tasty China is at 2880 PCH in Torrance. Open 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. — 9 p.m.. Parking in adjacent lot. Wheelchair access good. Private dining available. No alcohol. (310) 539-1838. TastyChinaTorrance.com.
