Straight ahead Chinese in San Gabriel.
It’s been a while since I’ve found myself in a big Banquet Hall…be it in Chinatown, San Gabriel or wherever. And the slight, and very literal golden afterglow is a nice touch.
I’m in Golden Soup (there’s a website, but it ain’t working so good), a place I’ve heard tell about, mostly through Urbanspoon. And since I’m dedicated to exploring every single Chinese place I can before I die (no matter what the region), I figured it was time to give Golden Soup a try.
Like so many places in San Gabriel, Golden Soup is part of a strip mall. Granted, it’s probably the biggest business in that strip…
Now, I came for Lunch…and because of it’s size, it’s probably not a place really designed to have a quiet, causal lunch, but…bless their hearts they’re trying. The lunch menu is mostly items for $5.95. Just pick carefully and eat your heart out, because more than your dish is coming.
I will say, there was a bit of a language barrier at Golden Soup, more than I’m used to. All the time I was sitting there, looking over the menu, I had my eye on a Pork Chop dish with a honey-glazed sauce. It was one of those things that I’d seen in a Chinese-American place, and wanted to see what a real straight ahead Chinese place would do with.
So I ordered it…well, I attempted to order it, and said just “Pork Chops”, and I also ordered some string beans, but those never arrived.
When the Pork Chops did arrive, they were fried up all right, but no honey glaze anywhere to be seen. Only then did I realize that I hadn’t been all that specific, and they winged it from there. Didn’t matter the Pork Chops were good, and I couldn’t finish them all. So, it turned out to be a good thing the string beans never arrived. (And since I wasn’t charged for the Beans, no harm, no blood, no foul). No way could i finish them anyway.
WHAT SHOULD I GET?: If you’re here for lunch, just get a single dish. Because your single dish is coming with a big bowl of Soup (enough to feel two people), and a big bowl of rice (also enough to feed too people). So I ordered the Pork Chops, which came with a Pepper notation on my bill. They tasted great, plenty of flavor. Just not enough room in the ol’ boiler. So, I took the rest home.
The Soup was interesting. It’s was a purplish, brownish stock make with Carrots, Lotus Root and Pork bones. As a rule, every time you see something like that, where the colors are not immediately attractive to your taste buds…give it try anyway. In the end, it was not the best looking dish in the world, but it tasted all right. Nothing I wanted to throw out, but nothing I had that much room for, considering all the Pork Chops I was trying to finish off.
IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP, PEOPLE: Like I said, it was a good, inexpensive lunch. Not the best place I’ve been too, but not bad either. Just be sure to be specific in what you want, and mind the fact that even though they take Credit Cards, there is a $20 minimum.
PARKING: Plentiful and free. The two words we like to hear. The complex has a lot of surface level parking, but if that fails, just go down into the garage, and there’ll be plenty.
MAP DIRECTIONS:
Golden Soup Restaurant
1039 E Valley Blvd., Ste B201
San Gabriel, CA 91776
Tel: (626) 312–9586
Hours:
Daily: 11:00 am — 11:00 pm
Originally published at www.isitanygood.biz on March 25, 2015.
