According to tales and legends, the beginning of the Chinese New Year started with a mythical beast called the Nian. Nian would eat villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One day, a villager decided to get revenge on the Nian. A god visited him and told him to put red paper on his house and to place firecrackers. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. When the New Year was about to come, the villagers would wear red clothes, hang red lanterns, and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. The Nian became Hongjun Laozu’s mount.
Wikipedia
Tick tock. You have seconds to cover your ears after the fuse is lit. First there is a flash of light then the sound loud as thunder lastly the scent of gunpowder and pieces of firecrackers flying everywhere.
I’m usually too close and get hit by the shrapnel.
Lions take over the parking lot and perform an intricate dance few humans could match. Chinese New Year is one of my fav holidays. In addition to the festivities there is delicious food to look forward to.
Bbq pork pan fried noodles. The thin egg noodles had good texture and flavor. The sauce slathered on top of the noodles was excellent. The bbq pork and vegetables had great flavor.
Bbq pork fried rice. This dish was very good. The rice, egg, and bbq pork was pretty flavorful. This dish is like the fried rice at Hong Kong BBQ but with a bit better flavors. I’d put it in the top ten for San Diego.
Yang chow fried rice. Flavors from the bbq pork, Chinese sausage, and shrimp are excellent. Real nice smoky flavor from the wok.
Beef with black pepper sauce. It was great! The beef was cut into thin slices like you get with beef and broccoli. It was very tender and I loved the flavor from the sauce.
The won ton noodle soup was pretty good. I like the won tons a bit better at Sam Woo though as I prefer their mix of pork and shrimp.
The won ton and dumpling egg noodle soup is excellent. The dumplings have a much tastier filling than the won tons and you get some delicious char sui slices
Bbq pork chow mein. Delicious smoky flavor from the wok imparted onto the tasty egg noodles. Very good tasting char sui.
Crispy noodles with shrimp had egg noodles which were fried and very crunchy with sauce on top. I loved the flavor of the sauce mixed with the noodles. The shrimp was very good quality and tasty.
The roast duck disappointed me. No crispy skin. No explosion of flavors. It was a bit dry and tasted like leftovers from yesterday heated in the microwave. Maybe breakfast is not a good time to order this dish… I’m gonna stick with Sam Woo for getting my roast duck fix.
Tempura shrimp with panko batter had a bit of crunch and juicy medium sized shrimp. Very good flavor. Bbq pork was a bit dry, flavor was good.
Awesome 2016 Chinese New year celebration! I’ll be checking Minh Ky’s facebook page for the time and date of next year’s Chinese New Year celebration. 🙂
Minh Ky
4644 El Cajon Blvd
Ste 101
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 283-4180
Oh wow what a bountiful Chinese New year meal! I like the won ton soup from Sam Woo as well. I haven’t tried Minh Ky yet so will have to do so this year if possible. I’m afraid of firecrackers so I’m impressed you got that close to take a photo of one.
If you like Sam Woo I think you would like the won ton and dumpling noodle soup at Minh Ky. The yang chow fried rice is really good too! I took one for the blog Faye. It was really loud and I got hit by a ton of firecracker pieces….
wow did you and Maggie order all of that on one day? sounds like leftovers for days. cool lion pics. =P
I saved up photos from a few visits. 🙂 We usually have one dish each.
The lions were great!
I like the noodle bowls here.
Do you go often? We try to. :>)