An Original Chinese Tea Room

If you ever saw the musical "Flower Drum Song", then you know what San Francisco's Chinatown was like during the 1950's. A little world in itself, with everything that the people living there needed for their existence and entertainment. If you go to Chinatown in the 21^st century, it hasn't changed much. After fifty years, the streets and alleys are still a maze of tiny shops and restaurants, and lots of other hidden treasures. There may not be an upscale nightclub anymore like in "Flower Drum Song", but there still many delights to be seen and tasted. One of these is the oldest dim sum tea house in the U.S., The Ah Hung Tea Room. Located in one of the many tiny alleys in Chinatown, it is a remarkably large restaurant with a number of rooms. This is vintage Chinatown, with lots of lanterns, plastic tables and chairs and fussy ornamentation - everything that Chinatown has always been, and probably always will be.

There were a lot of us that day; my friend Henriette from Denmark, Kyle and Kedra Chan, Kyle's daughter Raven, their sister Su and her two little girls. So we were given a little room to ourselves with a long table, and that was a good thing, because we ordered tons of food. We let Kedra order for everyone, since she speaks fluent Chinese, but it isn't really necessary. The extensive menu is in English and all the items are very reasonable.

One of the things I liked the best about it was the proliferation of seafood items. Shrimp balls, shrimp rolls, crab rolls, a lot of things I couldn't pronounce but were delicious. Buns with custard in the center. The only thing I didn't like were the sesame/bean curd buns, but I've never liked those. Everything else was wonderful. It ran about $12.00 each, including the tip.

Henriette and I walked over to Waverly Place, and the Tien Hau Temple. Not for the faint-hearted or those with bad legs or a heart condition, this authentic Chinese temple is the oldest in San Francisco, located on the fourth floor of a building at 125 Waverly Place. The stairs are steep and narrow, but it's worth the climb. The temple itself has shrines all around the walls and on the terrace; another warning - this place is not for asthmatics...visitors can buy a bundle of incense sticks for $1.00 to place on the shrines of the Goddess of Heaven, Kwan Yin and the ancestors. The ceiling is completely hung with red and gold lanterns; Henriette and I were the only Caucasians there, but I felt comfortable, as if the people there knew I was a fellow worshipper.