SF Examiner food critic Patricia Unterman recently paid a visit to Kam’s Restaurant, a Hong Kong-style coffee shop on the same block as the Balboa Theater.
Kam’s is not new – it’s been open since 1974. But Unterman had a special reason for visiting – three months ago owner Kathy Wong hired a new chef, Yip Fung, formerly of the R & G Lounge.
Unterman says the restaurant is a place where East happily meets West. “With a daily menu of specials, and another of chef’s recommendations… the experience at Kam’s evokes Hong Kong’s worldly embrace of South Chinese and Western culinary customs.”
She had good things to say about the kabocha squash seafood soup, which “delivers all the pleasure of a chowder without one drop of cream”. The velvety, onhealthy order plavix moist and steamy dried ginger chicken was another favorite, along with the pan-fried salted fish with minced pork, which she describes as “another succulent, sauceless dish”.
Unterman also had high praise for Chef Fung’s glass noodle dishes such as the crab with cellophane noodle pot, which was “moist, sweet and perfectly cooked”.
While the chef may be new, Kam’s retains its reputation as a casual eating spot. “In true coffee shop fashion, tables are bare, napkins are paper, and an espresso machine and tea paraphernalia grace the counter at the back of the first room.”
Read the full review at sfexaminer.com
Kam’s Restaurant is located at 3620-24 Balboa Street and is open 7 days a week. Reservations are accepted.
Sarah B.
[via EaterSF]
Coffee shop? It’s a full blown restaurant last I checked. I hope they still have the Chef’s Special Chicken… /crosses fingers
I’ve been a long time patron of Kam’s since my high school days,but the ball was dropped a few years back or so under new owner/mgmt when I walked in to find a “cafe” setup trying to cohabitate with a restaurant and several key menu items missing and that all-too-special chicken dish losing it’s luster. I’ll see what this chef’s got, but it ain’t what it use to be. Better to hit up San Wang’s in J-Town for kickin’ dry fry.
Good to hear, but the food there through the 20 yrs I’ve lived nearby is among the worst in the City. I’ve long thought it survived only from unknowing film-goers who stop in once. As another poster wrote, it is a restaurant and looks like one. I never thought to go in there for coffee with the Zephyr across the street and Simple Pleasures nearby too.