tommers "The deliciousness is in the details"

My follow-up review for this restaurant. Read my previous review for this restaurant here

Update 08/28:
Had another good experience tonight. The waitress was better than my last waiter and the food was about on par. We got the filet mignon ($25) with crab cakes, asparagus, and spinach in a pepper. I really enjoyed the taste of the filet, though admittedly it reminded me somewhat of ground beef. It was in a thick buttery sauce (slightly gravy like, but much better). It was a little on the small side, though there was a lot more going on on the plate. The crab cakes were good, though I’ve had better. They were a little starchy. The rest of the additions were nice enough and added value to the dish. We also got the ahi tuna poke ($11). Its a combination of seasoned ahi with cucumber and mango in a cocktail glass. The tuna tasted great as did the mango. A little on the sweet side, but an appetizer I’d highly recommend.

Yellow Ginger is a solid entry in the ever growing list of south east Asian restaurants in the Mountain View area. While I haven’t tried any dishes yet that are out of this world, I was impressed with the quality and value of my first visit.

Despite the strip-mall locale, its a very attractive restaurant with great lighting, mood, and color. The waitstaff wasn’t terribly polished compared to most similar restaurants, but these things are always incidental to the food for me.

On my first visit I tried the roti prata ($5), Hainan Chicken Rice ($9), Roasted Game Hen ($15), and Papaya Salad ($7). The roti prata was a great start. It was doughy and soft and had a slightly buttery quality. The food came out too fast for us to finish it while it was still warm, which is too bad because its much better when its still warm. It comes with a oily chili sauce that didn’t add much to the dish. Next we got the Papaya Salad which had a good amount of flavor. It was thinly slightly white papaya shards with a tangy light vinaigrette and tomatoes. While it was tasty, its a little too large and consistent to finish once better options come along. The roasted game hen was the best dish offered. It was roasted to the point of being crispy and filled with chili sauce that tasted slightly like berries. There were many pieces and they were each worthy eating down to the bone. It came with an all too large side of rice that doesn’t really fit the dish. The Hainan Chicken Rice is a dish only a mother could love. It looks like boiled chicken breast, but not string. There’s a thin layer of almost uncooked fat which taste very similar to the chicken. Its in a sauce without much flavor and comes with a big side of rice. But mostly I’d just say this dish is useless. Glad everything else was much better.

From the wines I was familiar with, the markup isn’t too bad and the selection is better than many Asian restaurants that just get the commodity bottles that fill the cheaper sections at Safeway.

The menu has many interesting options, you can get a good amount of food for a reasonable price, and its an all around nice experience. I’ll definitely be back.