Chinese New Year celebrations started February 11 Chinese New Year’s Eve and ends February 26th with the Lantern Festival. 2021 is the year of the Ox. In Chinese culture, the Ox is a valued animal. Because of its role in agriculture, positive characteristics, such as being hardworking and honest, are attributed to it. Normally I’d find a restaurant sponsoring a Lion Dance or go downtown where they had a weekend festival. This year I went to Jasmine Express for takeout.
Soft. Smooth like jello. Sweet. Delicate rice flavor. Sweet rice cake or bai tang gao is one of my favorite desserts. Jasmine Express is my go to spot for this treat.
Har gow had a mild rice flavored wrapper with a shrimp and bamboo filling. Loved the flavor. Taste best eaten in the car right after purchasing. The wrapper doesn’t hold up that well in the to go container. After 20 minutes is the limit before the wrapper starts breaking down.
Siu mei has a thin won ton wrapper with shrimp and pork filling. Topped with shrimp roe this is one tasty dim sum.
Chicken egg roll had a thin crunchy won ton wrapper shell and lots of chicken inside. I loved the shell but I prefer the filling of Panda Express type egg rolls.
Baked cha sui boa had a sweet pastry flavor and the inside had a bbq pork paste. I liked the sweet flavor but I prefer places that use chunks of bbq pork as the filling.
Previous visits:
11am. Fresh fried chicken wings $4.99 for a small order. I usually show up at opening time and the wings aren’t ready yet. This day I timed my arrival perfectly! The wings were crispy and crunchy. Very good msg based flavor. A few of the wings were partially over cooked and parts dried out. Not as good as Golden Chopsticks but good enough for those days you don’t want to drive out there.
Roast duck had crispy skin that was full of 5 spice powder flavor. Meat was tender and moist with a delicious flavor. The roast duck is one of my favorites in town.
I miss the Lion dancing and the fireworks I enjoyed in previous years but I loved my rice cakes.
Jasmine Express
4609 Convoy St Ste. A 1/2
San Diego, CA 92111
858-268-0888
Did not know they use pork paste in the cha Sui boa. Perhaps next year it will finally be safe for fireworks and Lion dancing.
You should compare the cha Sui boa with Imperial Mandarin. Should be safe next year.
How do you tell the difference between paste (what *is* pork paste?) and chunks? My kids love the char siu bao there and I’m pretty sure it’s chunky.
I have photos of the bao with chunks of pork here:
https://www.hungryones.com/2018/06/imperial-mandarin/
Jasmine had chunks in the bao last year. But my last visit had ground up pork/paste. If you are interested I can email you a blurry photo of the paste.
Soo