Yule Show
Google
Once, my friend Danny was chatting with me and said, "I have a friend from Chengdu, a couple who owns a restaurant. Do you know how hard they work? From morning till night, 24/7, all year round. They never take a break, working every day for seven or eight years, and during that time, they managed to buy two or four houses." I knew exactly who Danny was talking about—a small restaurant in the Mon-Arc Center in Monrovia, CA. What Danny didn't know is that I also know the couple.
Danny mentioned that restaurant to show me how hardworking typical Chinese people are. I told him I knew of two restaurants that only serve breakfast and lunch, closing before dinner. Both are great: Fortune No. 1 on Valley Boulevard in Monterey Park and Kim Ky in San Gabriel.
In my opinion, Kim Ky is top-notch in terms of flavor. The funny thing is that I've only visited this restaurant twice in the past eight years, mainly because they close at 5 p.m. It's quite unusual for a restaurant to skip serving dinner.
As I was preparing the photos for this review, I was surprised to realize that I ordered the same dishes on both of my visits. They were simple, straightforward dishes, but they were outstanding.
Kim Ky is a Vietnamese-style Chinese restaurant—or at least they speak Chinese. Their menu primarily features noodles, both rice noodles and wheat noodles, with seven types to choose from. I prefer wheat noodles over rice noodles—thinner is better, at least for me.
The restaurant has several light boxes in front of the window displaying the current jackpots for several big lotteries. Strangely, though, I've never seen them sell lottery tickets inside.
Now, let's talk about the food:
Beef Satay Sauce Noodles – $12.75
The presentation was a full bowl of ground meat in a red sauce, looking almost like a light paste, as if it were full of red chilis. But don't be fooled by the appearance or color—it's not spicy at all, and there's no chili pepper in it. The flavor of the satay was incredibly authentic, just like the kind I had in Chaozhou. The beef was tender and juicy, and the thin yellow noodles were perfectly cooked—not too hard, not too soft. This isn't a noodle soup; it's mixed noodles with sauce, so skip it if you prefer soup-based noodles.
Rating: 8/10
Assorted Beef Variety or Assorted Pork Variety
Both are good, but I recommend the pork version over the beef. The reason is simple: you get more variety with pork because it's easier to source the ingredients. The pork version includes intestine, heart, kidney, liver, and more. With the beef version, you mainly get tripe—and only white honeycomb tripe, which doesn't taste as good as the black tripe.
Beef: 7/10, Pork: 8/10
Fried Chinese Doughnuts
These are Chinese doughnuts, but different from the local Shanghainese style. The Shanghai version is lighter and crispier, but these are still very good.
Rating: 8/10
Assorted Meat & Shrimp
If you can't decide what to order, go with No. 1 on the menu. It's a noodle soup served in a light yet umami-rich broth with Thai basil and other fresh herbs you can add to the hot soup. The noodles come with pork kidney, shrimp, ground pork, and other ingredients. It's a consistently satisfying dish.
Rating: 8/10
