Won Ton King

Actually, that sounds like a Stephen Chow movie. Like God of Cooking. But unlike his movies, Won Ton King is a serious thing…

Serious Wontonmein. Seriously good…
San Francisco, which is still lacking good quality ramen, also lacks good proper Hong Kong style wontonmein. Well, it did until King Won Ton opened in the Sunset. When you first walk into the restaurant, you see a photo of a bamboo pole and noodle dough. They say that they make their noodles by using the pole, much like the celebrated shops in Hong Kong and Macau. The noodles come out springy and delicious. Besides the noodles, the rest of the restaurant also reminds one of Hong Kong. The entire place is fluorescent lit, the menu is on colored copy paper and the service is brusque and curt.
In other words, just like Hong Kong!! YAY!
The one area that’s hit or miss is the wontons. On my first visit, the wontons were almost good enough for me to reduce my HKG trips to annual instead of biannual. The prawns tasted fresh. My second trip, the wontons weren’t quite as tasty (frozen?) but the beef stew was very good. It practically fell apart when it was lifted from the bowl with chopsticks.

Mmmm…beef stew. With mein. And wontons!
So, what’s the verdict? Is it the best in San Francisco? I think so. What to order? Anything that has the mein in it. But i’d go for any of the wontonmein variants. Order some Gai Lon and get some dong ling cha. Try to imagine being in Central just getting off of work. The illusion almost works until you receive your bill, which may as well be in Central because for what you’re eating, it’s expensive. It’s a cheap meal here in SFO but it costs a lot more than it does in Central…
Guess I’ll be still be traveling biannually to HKG, but Won Ton King will make the months I’m stuck here bearable. Like right now.

Won Ton King
1936 Irving Street (between 20th & 21st Aves)
San Francisco CA 94122
+14156829813