Golden Deli- Temple City, CA

About a year ago, Golden Deli opened up in Temple City, replacing Alpha Science, an education center that has since relocated to Monrovia nearby Shanghai Bamboo House. We have been coming to this location ever since it opened, after having a good first experience and satisfactory return experiences.

(Condiments and Utensils)

The restaurant actually runs quite similarly to that of a fast-casual restaurant (or "express style"); the customer gets to pick the table, holds the table number so that the employees can send over the food to the table, and gets to pick up drinks like tea, water, and soft drinks by themselves. Likewise, the interior is modern, like those of fast-casual restaurants. However, I find the food quality similar, if not the same, to that of the Golden Deli in San Gabriel; management seems to agree, having stripped the "express" part from the restaurant name.

This fast-casual aspect makes Golden Deli a great place for newcomers to try Vietnamese cuisine, as the environment and music (instrumental forms of popular music) are unpretentious while the food is authentic. The glass menu, fastened on the wall, is actually written in English and minimal Vietnamese. Laminated menus at the table counter, however, offer better insight into the restaurant offerings.

Drinks, unlike those at the original location, are served in plastic cups. The Xam Bo Luong (2.50 USD) is one of the drinks we usually order at Vietnamese restaurants; this version offers plenty of dried longan, pearl barley, kelp, and other ingredients in a sweet liquid and crushed ice.

Hot tea, hot water, and chilled water are offered as complimentary items; just serve yourself at the counter.

Golden Deli's spring rolls (3.75USD for two spring rolls) are filled primarily with herbs and lettuce. I, however, prefer some more rice noodles and carrots in my spring rolls.

Perhaps because the restaurant is slightly geared towards a less traditional approach, the types of herbs offered in the plates that come with the noodle soups are limited. Thai basil and cilantro appear to be the usual herbs that are offered, along with the usual lime, jalepeno pepper, and bean sprouts. Blanched bean sprouts (as seen in the picture) are given upon request; just ask the employee when ordering. Likewise, ask the servers for additional amounts of anything on the above plate, like lime, if necessary.

The Temple City location is special in that it also offers "today's specials," or items that are not on the regular menu. These may be items that may go onto the menu depending on customer satisfaction. During summar, this above bowl of soup, which had rice noodles, char siu, shrimp, and fishballs in a fried shallot accented broth, was the special. During my more recent visits, ribeye pho and a tofu noodle dish have been the specials.

Speaking about pho, my companions and I usually order the first item on the pho list on the laminated menu, the pho dac biet (6.50 USD). Along with the broth and rice noodles, it comes with both rare and well cooked beef, tendon, and tripe with onions, green onions, and cilantro for garnish. Golden Deli has been pretty consistent with its broth; I find it to taste similar every time I visit. However, I find that during lunch, the broth usually tastes better than it does during dinner. The broth seems to be fresher, with a more distinct flavor during lunch. I do find the broth at the Temple City location to be lighter in flavor; the color, compared to the San Gabriel location's broth (click here for a photo) is lighter as well.

Another slight problem is that the rare beef usually comes cooked by the time it arrives at the table, since the broth is ladeled over the rare slices of beef. I also would prefer that the bowl not be made out of melamine or plastic, but that is another issue altogether. Nevertheless, we still order pho quite often here, as it offers the strongest rendition in the area (in our opinion). The broth has enough flavor to be enjoyed for the whole entire bowl, and is not muddy; the other beef parts are of good quality, and the noodles are suitably chewy (and get softer as they soak in the broth).

We have likewise taken the opportunity to enjoy the "com", or rice items during our visits. Combinations of "baked" egg (more like steamed egg), egg rolls, pork chop, grilled pork, grilled beef, shrimp paste, grilled shrimp, and a bed of broken rice with garnishes of green onion oil, cucumbers, fried shallot, and sweetened fish sauce (nuoc mam cham) form these rice plates.

(For comparison, a rice plate from the original San Gabriel location)

I tend to order the pork chop now instead of the grilled items, as the grilled items tend to have charred edges (but have good flavor otherwise). The pork chop is fried, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with plenty of lemongrass flavor. The baked egg we order every time, as it is a great rendition: tender, with plenty of soft vegetables and meat dispersed in the egg. I wish there were more vegetables included in these plates, but other than the green onion, cucumber, julienne carrots in the nuoc mam cham (sweetened fish sauce), beef and onion stir fry option, and vegetables in the baked egg/egg rolls, the rice plates do not offer much in terms of vegetables.

And about the shrimp paste: It is very tasty; bouncy and not fishy, but doesn't contain the sugarcane as it purportedly has as shown on Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." I also do not care for how the shrimp paste is steamed in plastic wrap.

Instead of ordering the rice plates, which tend to come with little vegetables, I now tend to order the bun, or rice vermicelli items, which have plenty of bean sprouts and lettuce. Pork meatballs (nem nuong, grilled chicken, grilled pork and beef, shrimp paste, beef and onion, and egg rolls are offered as toppings for the rice vermicelli. The pork meatballs are tasty and bouncy, and do not have that heavy red/pink tint that the supermarket versions have. The egg rolls have that crisp, crackly outer skin, while also being chewy from the rice paper that is not fully exposed to the oil; as for the filling, it is peppery, with plenty of meat and veggie. I like these items primarily for the balance of vegetable and meat; some may find the meat amount to be little, but ordering the grilled chicken solves that problem. My order of grilled chicken with the rice vermicelli had plenty of chicken pieces, but the chicken did not taste as fresh as the other items.

As for the curry chicken, it is just like the original location's curry: extremely soft, tender chicken in a curry sauce that has plenty of coconut milk. The bowl is just decidedly modern. 

Likewise, the banh mi sandwiches offered at the Temple City location are so similar to those offered at the original that even the presentation and taste are the same.

Golden Deli offers a wide variety of items on its menu, and I have yet to try some of the other items. If you happen to be in the area or find the original San Gabriel location to be crowded, driving to Temple City to this Golden Deli is a good option, as the waiting time is short and the food and service similar to that of the original. There may be items that are missing from the San Gabriel location's menu, but for the most part, Golden Deli in Temple City is a solid recreation of the original with a cleaner, brighter, and more modern atmosphere and convenience offered by the fast-casual concept. (be sure to tip afterwards)

Golden Deli

9664 Las Tunas Dr.

Temple City, CA 91780

Tel: (626) 285-2899 

Closed Mondays

See my review of the original San Gabriel location HERE.

Grand Hyatt San Francisco (Review)- San Francisco, CA

The Grand Hyatt San Francisco was our pick for the Bay Area trip we took in early April. At the time, the hotel was still under renovation, and recent reviews on the hotel were average. The rates however, were much better compared to the other Hyatts in the area. This was surprising since this hotel has the "Grand Hyatt" branding, yet companies like Zagat rate this hotel below the other Hyatt properties in the area, which include the Hyatt at Fisherman'sWharf and the Hyatt Regency.

(Check-In Area)

(Elevators)

(Information)

The lobby was quite dark when we arrived, and everything had a yellow tint. However, during the day, sunlight flowed through the windows and created a much brighter environment.

(Concierge)

Our check in experience was fine; the employees were friendly, if not as professional as in some other hotels.

Joanna Husk, the concierge (also part of Les Clefs d'Or Concierge) which helped us later during our stay, was really helpful in providing us an overview of the San Francisco area. She answered all of our problems with ease and even gave us her business card just in case if we had any other questions. When we asked for maps, she gave us two for convenience-- one with a closer scale of the area and one with a larger scale to easily comprehend locations, and went through all the major neighborhoods and highlighted key transportation/neighborhood zones.

Regarding parking, the Grand Hyatt employees guided us to the 450 Sutter Garage, which the hotel has a deal with (at the time of writing, 36.48 USD inclusive of tax with in and out privileges). Although stated as a self-parking facility, we felt that the Sutter Garage operated more like that of valet parking; the employees there took control of driving the car into a parking spot and driving the car back to the garage entrance when we wanted to drive somewhere.

A relaxing mood was created with the various decorations placed throughout the hotel to create ambiance.

During our last day of the trip, the hotel also offered free saltwater taffy; this was a nice way to end our San Francisco trip.

(old, not renovated floor)

(current: newly renovated)

At first, it was quite surprising to meet the  renovated floor which our room was situated at; since both the lobby and the elevator were quite dark, the bright elevator lobby that we saw when the doors opened was a big contrast. The only problem was that it had a newly renovated smell too; this should not be a problem now.

(cracks are a result of photo stitching software)

This time, when photographing the room, I took a different approach. Besides the usual detail pictures, I took some pictures for photo stitching purposes. 

In addition, I decided to take pictures of the room from four different corners. Here are the results. The rooms are definitely much fresher in feeling and are now consistent with the modernness that Hyatt tends to have among its renovations. Like its Hyatt peers, the renovated rooms have a special color scheme; with these rooms it is red and brown and grey in various tones as well as some blue tinted glass found in entrance area. There's a lot of globalization here; so many of the items in the room that I did not suspect were actually manufactured in other parts of the world. You can probably find the various manufacturers if you look closely, but I am not going to release their names on the blog. Hyatt probably would hate me if I did.

The mattresses in the rooms are Hyatt's own "Grand Beds," which are really soft thanks to a thick pillow-top layer. I'm not a reliable source on these beds since I prefer the opposite, but the bed was certainly comfortable and in good condition.

Really convenient in the room is the phone placed at the nightstand (there's also a second phone placed on the desk next to the television as well). The Grand Hyatt San Francisco calls this the "Dual line Uno-Bitell Media phone with AM/FM radio, alarm clocks and MP3/iPod docking capabilities." This phone, situated at the nightstand, is certainly that functional, and is really easy to use. The speakers are also quite substantial; music is easily heard in the room even when the phone is not placed on maximum volume. Neither of the two phones found in the room are as pretty or high-quality as this Bang and Ofulsen phone that I saw in the floor's hallway, but their functions are quite amazing.

The nightstand itself is also functional, offering two outlets on the side. A twisty Hyatt pen, paper pad, light, and wired internet cable can also be found there. I found the location of the internet cable to be awkward; wouldn't the desk be a better spot for those who need a wired internet connection? 

These rooms also offer automated blackout curtains, which is quite convenient. A plasticky wire like curtain serves as the day curtain and runs on three tracks.

Reading lights, like those found on some airlines, also provide additional convenience.

The television and desk combination offers ample room for placing items as well as plenty of work space for those who need it! There are also books located on the above shelf, which have really diverse topics ( Civil War, Savage Pilgrims, and Colors and Swirls) for a hotel room.

This "jack pack", which offers connections to the television as well as outlets for charging devices, is also another really convenient feature of the room. Along with the other two outlets found at the nightstand, I had no problem charging the different devices that I used during the trip.

A fridge, safe, and the usual Hyatt coffee items are located below the LG LCD television.

 

The bathroom likewise continues the same design features found in the other parts of the room; the modern design of the Kohler and Grohe products found in the bathroom is beautiful but does not let practicality suffer. The sliding door likewise provides a convenience by saving much needed space in the bathroom. Water pressure for the shower head was somewhat weak; on the other hand, the toilet flushed with vigor.

Toiletries here are the standard White Ginger Portico toiletries and Aquafresh toothpaste found in other Hyatts in California. The soaps have gotten smaller over the years, but that's not really a problem.

Our view was not spectacular, but that was because we were on the ninth floor. Higher floors at the time were not renovated yet, but definitely request one, as the view of San Francisco from the Grand Hyatt is quite amazing.

During our trip we also visited the Grand Hyatt's Stay Fit Gym, which is nicely outfitted with a vast amount of different Life Fitness machines (treadmills, leg press, leg curl, leg extension, bench press, vertical chest, et cetera) and weights. For comfort, headphones are also provided to attach to the machines for music, and water dispensers and wet towels are provided.

For 129 USD a night, this is a fine room; it is not large but quite decent for one or two guests. The simple modern design is quite pleasing, and the room is very functional; the designers certainly put a lot of thought into creating the room. However, I do advise in getting a room with a higher floor, or away from traffic, as my companions commented that they could hear street noises from their room (we were on the ninth floor). Their room also had a problem with the black-out curtain, of which the employees did not fix as quickly as other hotels in the same caliber would have done.


People who want a king bed room should also book early, perhaps a month or more before booking. We got double bed rooms for both rooms since all the king bed rooms were fully booked.

Here's a video of the double/double beds room also, if you prefer watching a video instead of viewing the pictures. Apologies for some blurry/out of focus moments!


Grand Hyatt San Francisco
345 Stockton Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
Tel: (415) 398-1234

Thanks for reading. Wishing all a happy new year!

Find the rest of the posts in this series at this trip's TRIP INDEX.

P.S. The lobby area is now being renovated, and the hotel will have a port-cochere as part of the renovation. See the renderings on Hyatt's Youtube page.