Shen Hua - Great Chinese Food in Berkeley's Elmwood
Written: Aug 08 '03 (Updated Apr 12 '06)
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Pros: Really good, non-greasy Chinese food
Cons: Loud, and just a bit pricey
The Bottom Line: Definitely a top pick in Berkeley for Chinese food.
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| lyagushka's Full Review: Shen Hua |
Here's another Berkeley restaurant pick from yours truly. Shen Hua restaurant is now a major player in Berkeley's little Elmwood district. A popular destination in Berkeley, come supper time.
Shen Hua opened its doors about seven years ago under bad auspices. The store front it occupies had housed several failed restaurants in turn. I had little sense of optimism about it for that reason, but happily, the restaurant soon dispelled the bad luck associated with its location. The sleekly redesigned interior and crowd pleasing menu proved to be a winning combination. It's been going gangbusters ever since.
Shen Hua also has a sister restaurant on Berkeley's Solano Avenue, called Kirin. These two restaurants have almost identical menus, and very similar appearances. Having eaten at both restaurants many times, I think it's fair to say that the opinion I will present here on Shen Hua's food applies in almost every detail to Kirin as well. One notable difference between the sister restaurants though is that Kirin is usually less busy and so its noise level is significantly lower.
Ambiance/Décor
Shen Hua's dining room is one large open space with a high ceiling and walls sponge painted in a rich rust-brown color. The floors unfortunately are paved with large irregular stones, which make the noise of both the patrons and the open kitchen bounce around the room quite a bit. The noise level is usually pretty loud at dinner time, when the restaurant is typically packed. During busy times, a sign-up sheet is available at the front of the restaurant. The host or hostess will call you when your table is available.
The wooden tables are sometimes a bit wobbly because of the irregular stone floors. They are set with paper placemats and napkins and disposable wooden chopsticks in sealed paper wrappers. Forks and knives are also available and sometimes even set out before asked for. The glass and flatware are all simple and serviceable. Considering how consistently busy Shen Hua is, the spacing of the tables is quite reasonable. In general the ambiance is busy, casual and pleasant so long as you can tolerate the noise levels.
The Menu and the Food
Shen Hua's menu boasts a number of superlative dishes. Even so, as in most Chinese restaurants, it's best to know what to order as there are a few duds.
My most recent visit to Shen Hua was with a group of six friends, which was fantastic because I got to sample many different dishes, including both some personal favorites and a few that I'd never tried before. We started out with a double order of Shen Hua's fantastic potstickers ($6.50). These succulent little morsels come six to an order and their fillings consist of a flavorful mixture of ground pork, cabbage and ginger. The wrappers are always cooked to a chewy-crisp texture and deeply browned on their undersides. Truly, Shen Hua consistently produces some of the best potstickers anywhere, and I never eat dinner here without ordering them.
Other appetizers that I've tried on other occasions include the Bon-Bon Chicken Salad ($9.00). This is a hearty serving of cold shredded white chicken meat served on a bed of tender shredded cabbage and dressed with an every so slightly spicy peanut sauce. It wasn't bad, but neither did it wow me. It might be a nice option for someone on a low-carb diet though. The serving size would be an adequate lunch for one person I think. I've also tried the Classic Chinese Shrimp Dumplings ($9.00). These were very delicately flavored pouch-shaped boiled dumplings. Again, I found nothing wrong with these dumplings, but to my mind they just don't hold a candle to the potstickers and so I've eaten them only in the company of other people who wanted to try them.
Shen Hua also offers a good variety of soups, and more importantly, three differently sized portions that suit groups of different sizes. All soups are priced at $7 for a small portion, $8 for a medium portion and $12 for a large portion. Two soups that I would especially recommend are the Sizzling Rice Soup and the Little Dragons in the Garden. Our large group opted for a large portion of Sizzling Rice Soup and everyone praised it. It contained chicken meat, (de-veined) shrimps, water chestnuts cut into matchstick strips, button mushroom halves, extremely fresh green peas and spinach leaves, all in a very light and clear chicken broth. The soup sizzled like mad when the rice was added.
Onwards to the main courses. With seven people at the table, we were able to get completely out of hand with ordering the main dishes. We ordered: Chinese Black Mushrooms and Beef, Spicy Garlic Eggplant, Spicy Dry Fried Chicken, Spicy Lemon Pepper Prawns, Classic Chinese Braised Tofu and Mu Shu with Shredded Pork. Steamed white rice accompanied all the main dishes. I was familiar with most of these dishes, the Eggplant and Mu Shu being two personal favorites. The Spicy Dry Fried Chicken consists of batter-coated chicken pieces garnished with bits of mushroom and carrot. It resembles a General Tsao's or Princess Chicken dish, but is less sickeningly sweet. This dish is an excellent one, although completely fattening. I was pleasantly surprised by the Spicy Lemon Pepper Prawns, which contained de-veined shrimp sauteed with sliced onions and garlic in a tangy-tart but delicate white wine and lemon juice sauce. The Black Beans and Beef and the Braised Tofu were fine, but not my favorites. The tofu was deep fried and then braised with Napa cabbage in a very light and not very flavorful sauce. The beef was thinly sliced, with large pieces of black mushroom lightly dressed with a brown sauce, but I found it merely adequate when compared to some of the other dishes. The Mu Shu Pork was excellent, as usual. This is one of my favorite dishes at Shen Hua. The mu shu is always very flavorful and not too wet, which makes it feasible to eat it gracefully in the pancakes. The Hoisin sauce that accompanies this dish has a nice savory flavor that isn't overly sweet like so many other are. And the scallions are always fresh and firm.
Among the other dishes I've tried at Shen Hua on other occasions, I recommend the Northern Style Vegetable Garden, for its pleasing variety of vegetables in a garlicky sauce, all of them cooked to crisp-tender perfection. I can't recommend the twice-cooked pork, or the Cherry Pork - a dish which resembles the Spicy Dry Fried Chicken in that the meat is battered and deep fried. The meat in this dish was very dry and unpleasant and the brilliant red color from the "cherry garlic" sauce added a rather lurid touch to the table.
I've not had a noodle dish at Shen Hua in some time, but they do offer a number of unusual dishes in this category. One I remember trying is the Gwai Wer Noodles. This dish contains a rather unusual combination of ingredients, including minced beef, zucchini, onions, peas, tea leaves, curry powder, tomato paste, ginger and hot chili oil. Such an odd mixture of ingredients demanded to be sampled at least once. I remember finding the dish odd, exceedingly odd, but in a way that neither repelled me nor charmed me. I don't think I ever tried it again. The house-made noodles had a nice texture though.
Vegetarians should have little trouble at Shen Hua as there are 14 main courses that are entirely vegetarian, plus several noodle dishes suitable for vegetarians.
Shen Hua's lunch menu offers a smaller number of dishes, most priced at $6-7.50. The very best items from their regular menu do not appear on the special lunch menu, but you can order off the regular menu too. Lunch specials include a cup of soup, a scoop of rice and a tiny dish of mild housemade pickles. On my last visit, the pickles were batons of broccoli stalk - quite tasty.
Take out is also available, but the restaurant will sometimes not accept take out orders when the restaurant is especially busy.
Prices
Shen Hua's prices are a bit steep for Chinese food, but I've always considered the price justified by the high quality of the food. The charge for appetizers ranges from $6.50 to $11.00, while main courses containing meat or seafood cost between $7 and $14. Vegetarian main dishes all cost either $8 or $9 and the noodle dishes range from $8 to $12. There is a charge of $1 per person for steamed rice, and the rice used at Shen Hua is of above average quality.
The tab for a large dinner for myself and my husband usually worked out to something between forty and forty five dollars, including tip. Keep in mind though that it was our normal practice to deliberately order more than we could eat in the restaurant, so that we would have leftovers to take home with us. The leftovers always disappeared rapidly.
Service
Service at Shen Hua has always been decent, but never superlative. Partly this seems to be an effect of how incredibly busy the dinner shift is almost every night of the week. I've never seen a slow night at Shen Hua and the waitstaff is usually running flat out and frantic. The fact that service is still acceptable when they always look like they could use a few more waiters speaks pretty well for the employees. What it says about management is probably less complimentary. Lunchtimes are slower, but the service is not noticeably better at that time.
Final Thoughts
I would recommend a meal at this Shen Hua for a mid-week break from cooking or a Saturday lunch. I've always been satisfied with the overall quality of the food, despite picking a few less than stellar dishes on occasion. The wise and the hungry should be sure to show up early when trying to get a table on a Friday or Saturday night, or risk a long wait.
Please note that the restaurant closes between lunch and dinner.
Other restaurants I can recommend include:
East Bay
• A Coté - lively pan-Mediterranean tapas in a sleek but fun atmosphere
• Cafe Rouge - best choice for steak or high quality meats in the East Bay
• Cha-ya - vegetarian Japanese restaurant in the Gourmet Ghetto
• Chez Panisse Café - Alice Waters' sumptuous fare at about half the price
• Lalime's - superb New American fare in an intimate setting
• Manpuku - a cheap and simple ramen bar in the Elmwood
• Nan Yang - fantastic Burmese in north Rockridge
• Oliveto - exquisite Italian in Rockridge
• Pho 84 - paradigm-shifting (really!) Vietnamese in downtown Oakland
• Rick & Ann's and La Note - both offer excellent choices for breakfast
San Francisco
• Boulevard - hands down, the best restaurant in San Francisco
• Woodward's Garden, which is almost as good as Boulevard
• Betelnut - highly recommended for a fun night with a group
• Helmand - little known but excellent Afghan place and a great value
• Suppenkuche - unpretentious German bierhaus charm in Hayes Valley
On the other hand, I can't recommend Cafe Cacao, which is part of the Scharffen Berger chocolate empire, nor Pizzaiolo which features pretentious, outrageously priced pizza served by hipper-than-thou servers.
Recommended:
Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations I recommend the potstickers, any of the mu shu dishes, the sizzling rice or "little dragons in the garden" soups, the spicy garlic eggplant and the lemon pepper prawns.
Best Suited For: Friends
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