San Tung is one of those restaurant hotspots that is continuously packed, even on a Thursday night. There is no greeter that cheerfully welcomes you to the restaurant–instead, you must write your own name on a white board, followed by the number of people in your party. If you happen to neglect this duty, you’re going to be waiting around for quite some time.

From what I heard, there a few things that San Tung does, and does well. They’re widely known for their Dry Fried Chicken, a delectable battered chicken that is fried with a chili sauce. Interestingly enough, you can get this either dry or wet (yes, you heard right, dry fried chicken, wet style), and with chicken wings or diced chicken. San Tung also makes fresh noodles and dumplings, which are quite a treat.

Expect a wait if you come after 6:00PM. When we arrived, there were at least four 6-tops already seated, and another 7-top and 8-top ready to sit down. We waited about 45 minutes before being seated. We decided to go for the shrimp and leek dumplings, dry friend chicken (dry style diced), and green string beans. It took yet another 45 minutes before we were served.

The dumplings were pretty good. The shrimp was delicately flavored, and the wrapping was indeed fresh. However, I have had dumplings like these elsewhere, and they were comparable. The real star of the night was the chicken. The batter is comparable to a thin and delicate General Tso’s chicken (which is how it’s supposed to be). There is an abundance of white pepper in the sauce, which packs a bit of heat in the back of the throat. The texture is nice and tender, with just a bit of a crunch coming from the batter. Overall, a very nice battered chicken–although, I would hold off on some of the white pepper to keep the dish more balanced.

The string beans were satisfactory. I wish I knew how to get the skins to shrivel up when cooked (like all the Chinese restaurants do it). These were definitely not long beans, which have naturally shriveled skins, and they were still nicely shriveled. I find that sauces tend to stick better when beans are made this way.

Overall, San Tung is a definite treat. My suggestion is to go early, as you will wait for over an hour before eating if you don’t.

San Tung
1031 Irving St
San Francisco, CA 94122-2215
(415) 242-0828

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