A few weeks ago, the newly opened Hakka Restaurant at Cabrillo and 45th got high marks from the Examiner. This week, SFWeekly food critic Jonathan Kauffman filed his own review, “Hakka Restaurant: Inexpensive Chinese done right”.
Despite “floors decorated by Carpet Outlet and an “Opening special: 10% off” sign in the window”, Kauffman says Hakka chef Jin Hua Li is doing a lot of things right. Li is “bringing out simple, transparent flavors” and “using formal culinary technique to refine peasant food while staying true to the dish.”
Kauffman was particularly enthused about a stir-fry vegetable dish (“captured all the vegetables at their brightest”) and the house special braised pork belly dish. “A solid block of pork belly had been braised in a sweet soy sauce for a few hours — half a day at least — until the lean layers barely held together, the fat softened to the texture of whipped frosting, and the porous skin swelled with braising liquid.”
He also sampled Hakka’s pumpkin strips which are dipped “in a saffron-hued batter made with egg yolk and fried until puffed and crisped”. Chef Li doesn’t take shortcuts according to Kauffman, who offers a mouthwatering description of Li’s signature salt-baked chicken dish: “rubbing the bird in wine and seasonings, covering it in hot rock salt, and roasting it slowly. The method drives all the chicken’s juices back into the meat, until it tastes like chicken squared; chicken cubed, even, if you swab a piece of the golden-skinned meat through the grainy brown dipping sauce Li sends out alongside, a blend of meat drippings and sesame oil.”
Kauffman’s review is long and full of tantalizing descriptions that will make you want to add Hakka to your “must try” list. You’re bound to find something you like, as Kauffman reports, “Hakka Restaurant has one of the largest, most varied selections of authentic dishes I’ve yet seen.”
Hakka Restaurant is located at 4401-A Cabrillo Street at 45th Avenue (876-6898) and are open 11am-9:30pm Monday through Thursday, and 11am-10pm Friday through Sunday.
Sarah B.