Kirin: Cuisine of Northern China (Berkeley)

Tonight we visited one of the restaurants on Solano Avenue stretching from Berkeley at the top of the hill, to Albany drawing towards the BART tracks, San Pablo Avenue, and points westwards. 

Lovely decor, but despite the classy vibe of the place, we felt relaxed and at home here. Top notch service here, as we've come to expect on this particular strip of culinary adventures. Robin's feeling out of sorts tonight and instead of driving into the teeth of rush hour, we thought it was wise to get something to eat. Fortunately for us, we got there right during the tail end of Happy Hour, which here combines nicely for some drink specials, but, best of all, some fantastic, inexpensive Small Plates. What a good way to check the calibre of a new restaurant (at least new to these lips). We had Chinese style Ceviche, Black Pepper Prawns, Fried Calamari, a Steak Salad, all of which were good and hit the spot, but let's just talk about the stars of the show, below.

The best Northern Chinese restaurants in the Bay Area feature house-made, hand-pulled noodles, and Kirin is up there with the best. This is noodles with a garlic peanut sauce, with shrimp, cucumbers and scallions. I've had versions of this many times, but this is the definitive one that I've tried so far. Something about the peanut sauce stands apart from every other version I've had, and after discussing with Robin, I suspect it might be a combination of dark soy sauce and chinese black vinegar. It was also spicy, but slyly so. Sneaks upon you like espionage. One moment you're trying to eat noodles without staining your shirt, the next thing you know your forehead is covered with sweat. Smart of them to bring this last. But then I ordered the most exotic looking thing on the Happy Hour menu.

Oxtail dumplings. Unspeakably delicious. Savory, rich, spiced conservatively but perfectly. Pretty sure these dumplings are made in-house from scratch, because they certainly taste like it. Can't wait for the return visit. We're already eyeing a seafood noodle dish (maybe the Red Curry Crab Noodles), and the Lamb Shank dish.

thekirin.com