A new Chinese restaurant has opened on California St. in Yucaipa, specializing in Shanghai buns and dumplings including the justly famous meat and soup filled version known as Xiao Long Bao which consists of 10 dumplings filled with very hot broth and ground pork formed into a ball. 

A word of warning: to avoid scalding your tongue, take one of the chopsticks or a fork tine and puncture each dumpling to allow steam to escape before devouring each delicious morsel after dipping it into a dish of black vinegar provided on each table. 

There’s also Sriracha hot sauce and soy sauce if you’re so inclined.

The menu is a blend of Chinese and Japanese offerings, but our primary focus was on the northeastern Chinese selections. 

Another popular selection is the Chinese pulled beef or pulled pork served in a round crisp Chinese pancake. 

The meat is actually diced into small squares and tossed with green onions and is served with a sweet chili sauce. 

Since the “burger” is served between a crispy split pancake, it’s a rather messy undertaking to keep it all together.

I’d suggest eating it with a fork.

The beef was tender and quite succulent.

The burger comes a la carte or as a combo with an appetizer and a flavored tea drink. 

We opted for the crispy stuffed lotus root which was more a textural than flavorful option, and an iced green tea. 

You can also choose such accompaniments as a Chinese scallion pancake, savory appetizers like chicken or pork katsu, or sweet appetizers such as pumpkin pancake or coconut lava balls.

There’s a fairly extensive selection of rice bowls. 

We opted for the chicken katsu rice bowl with strips of deep fried chicken, that were crispy on the outside and tender and juicy inside. 

They were topped with a hint of hoisin sauce and toasted sesame seeds.

A generous portion of white rice and salad greens tossed with a ginger infused dressing accompanied the meat.

The shrimp fried noodles use bay shrimp, and they were few and far between. 

I’d suggest double or tripling the number. 

There was an overabundance of soy sauce added, which made the dish rather salty.

The dish could have benefitted from the use of low sodium soy sauce and a sprinkling of sesame oil.

Coming full circle, we also opted for an order of marinated pork and mushroom stuffed buns (4). 

These stuffed buns are larger than the dumplings, and were soft with a luscious mouth feel and delicious lingering flavors in the filling. 

They can be ordered either steamed or pan-fried. 

The order is large enough for two to share. 

The same condiments apply, but you might also want to use some chili oil to drizzle over the top to jazz things up. 

A couple of drops go a long way!

The kitchen is a one person operation, so if it’s busy, be prepared to wait. 

Better yet, call and order your food in advance or to go, and ask them about what time the order will be ready.