Chinese Dining - Palo Alto

[Guest guest]

Dining at Peking Duck in Palo Alto on Saturday evening with friends was a total success, and there have been no ill effects after 20 hours. As you may remember, this restaurant was recommended on this site. Just to let you know in advance, it is not inexpensive. But it is not outrageous either.

My meal included Velvet Chicken Corn Soup which they prepared without the normal soy sauce, Chicken with Seasonal Vegetable (baby bok choi in this case), and Steamed Rice. This was all made without soy sauce, oyster sauce or MSG as recommended below. I also shared my wife's Hot & Spicy Cabbage which does contain MSG, but the wait staff warned me. I brought my own San-J GF Tamari sauce which everyone at our table tried and decided, well, that it tasted just like soy sauce but was less salty (because we buy the lower salt type). There was plenty of food, and I had leftovers for lunch (more on that later).

I've copied a portion of an email message at the end of my message. The clues I received worked just fine. The restaurant staff is very intentive and does a great job at making the meal special. My wife is a vegetarian and ordered combinations not quite on the menu.

Although the food was exceptional - I was really hungry for Chinese food which I used to eat regularly - eating GF limits the restaurant somewhat. You may wish to bring some other sauces along to liven the flavor.

To my leftovers today, I added a (1) San-J GF Tamari Sauce (WFM - Cupertino), (2) a bit of Kilman Hot Bean Sauce (Kings Seafood - Sunnyvale), and (3) a bit of Lee Kum Kee Honey Garlic Sauce (Kings Seafood - Sunnyvale and Marina Maket - Cupertino). This combination adds a bit of sweetness and the muskiness of fermented soy beans to a dish that is mildly flavored but far from bland. These instant sauces are all in small bottles, so you could easily bring them into the restaurant with you.

For a quick lunch, you can do as I did and warm some fresh Shirakiku yam noodles (Galleria Market - Santa Clara). These do need to be spiced because the word bland doesn't even describe them. But they are good with sauces.

Other good bets for GF Asian sauces include (please read lables!):

Delicious brand Black Bean Garlic Sauce (Kings Seafood and Marina Market - Kings is about $0.40 less expensive when they have it)

Lian How brand Broad Bean Paste (Marina Market)

Glory brand Chicken Chilli Sauce (Singaporian - Marina Market)

Dynasty brand Hoisan Sauce (Safeway)

Whole Pantry Lemon Tamari Soy Sauce (WFM - Cupertino)

Thai Kitchen brand Roasted Red Chili Paste (WFM and maybe Cost Plus)

Thai Kitchen brand Green Curry Paste (WFM and maybe Cost Plus)

I would be interested in hearing of other good Chinese restaurants, but I am totally pleased with Peking Duck. Note: this restaurant gets good reviews.

Vic-Sunnyvale> Do you have two or three items that you think they do particularly well that is gluten free?Here's the list of things I usually order (of the top of my head):pineapple duckchicken with assorted vegetablesprawns with assorted vegetablesPeking duckbaby bok choy with garlic saucechicken with egg whitePhoenix and Dragon (chicken and egg whites plus ham, shrimp andbroccoli)Chicken with tomatoChicken with mango sauceThere are others, but I'm not remembering them right now.> Should I be bringing my own tamari sauce?Yes. As far as I know, they have no soy sauce that is gluten free> I'd love to hear your strategy.Reiterate that dishes should be cooked with no soy sauce or oyster sauce.