Interestingly, the streetcar's money machine wasn't working that day. Correction, it worked for me, so I did pay $2 but Bert, TC and all the other customers wishing to pay cash got to ride for free.
The driver was a cranky old Asian guy who shut his window after he realized that the machine wasn't working. He announced on the speakers to "pay extra" on their next ride. He snapped at TC earlier, telling her to "pay him next week!". Welcome to SF, ha ha. But seriously, it was fine.
This same streetcar can also take passengers all the way down to the Embarcardero (yes, where the Ferry Building is) ! Not bad for $2 but you would have to not mind waiting 40 minutes and endure numerous stops along the way including downtown. This is pretty nifty if you don't want to have to drive and deal with parking, which is practically nonexistent in SF, and traffic.
I'd looked up what was around on Taraval Street prior to our trip and had already earmarked a few places to "hit up". One of them was a place recommended by my cousin (who lives just a few blocks away from our hotel), Kingdom of Dumpling, which is a hole in the wall. There are only five or six tables in there and maybe room for up to 20 people if you cram in. The original Sab-e-Lee in Linda Vista could only hold 14, so this place was a tiny bit bigger than that.
This would be our early dinner...
We were seated in a corner where we had a view of the tiny cramped kitchen.
We ordered the green beans (delicious but a bit too salty), two types of dumplings - pork and chive and shrimp, along with a won ton soup to share.
The wrappers were a bit on the "thick" side. I'm not a dumpling connoisseur as I don't really eat Chinese food all that much. Perhaps I'm unfairly judging the appearance from my Din Tai Fung experience, but I found the dumpling wrappers too doughy. We liked the filling very much however and once topped with this homemade chili sauce of theirs, downright fiery but tasty!
The restaurant got crowded right when we left. Many of the customers spoke Chinese but we did notice some non-Chinese (including us) customers as well.
Loved the signs around here...
There were more interesting eateries on Taraval but now we wanted dessert...
Kingdom of Dumpling
1713 Taraval St. (between 27th & 28th St.)
San Francisco, CA 94116
(415) 566-6143
There is no website but here are some SF bloggers' posts on KoD:
a bare bones post by PhotoFoodBlog, January 2011
Cooking with the Single Guy. February 2011
Our Cherished Life, April 2011
The Big Eat, October 2012
and a few more recent ones by No Shame Adventures, April 2013 (she didn't like it)
and Umami Mart, November 2013 (this post has great photos) - I wish I saw this last post before coming here; we would have ordered that sesame sandwich!
Down the street, a few blocks away was our dessert destination...
2 comments:
I love the name of this place... "Kingdom of Dumpling". I imagine a giant dumpling sitting on a throne with a big crown on his head, haha. They look like tasty little dumplings, even if the wrapper was a little too thick!
That is hilarious. I can picture it now thatn you've described it. I am still not a dumpling expert bit o thought these were all right.
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