Eats - Chinese - Muslim Chinese

Darda Seafood Restaurant
296 Barber Court (in Milpitas Square), Milpitas, CA 95035
408/433-5199
Monday - Thursday, 11:00 - 2:30, 5:00 - 9:30
Friday - Sunday, 11:00 - 3:00, 4:30 - 9:30
Overall: ****
One of the few Muslim Chinese restaurants in the area. I'm not entirely clear on what exactly sets Hunan food apart from Szechuan, but the two dishes I know you can't find at a Cantonese restaurant are spicy Hunan lamb and the sesame seed bread layered with green onions. Darda's version of the latter is the best I've tasted, especially the thick version (about 1-1/2" thick with several layers of moist, fluffy bread and flavorful green onions). The spicy scallops were batter-coated and deep fried, then served in a spicy oyster sauce with waterchestnuts and fungus, tender and perfectly cooked. Service is good. As with my other visits, the food tends to arrive in an oddly timed order, which I'm never sure is accidental or customary. The cold ox tendon showed up immediately, as did the lamb. Ten minutes later, the scallops appeared, followed by the sesame bread. 12/02

Fatima (San Mateo location) - CLOSED according to a site visitor
1208 El Camino Real, San Mateo, CA 94402

Fatima (San Jose location)
1132-A De Anza Blvd., San Jose, Ca 95129
408/257-3893
Open 7 days a week 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Mon-Sat 4:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m., Sun 4:30 p.m.-9 p.m.
Overall: ***
We went here twice in a month because one of my friends doesn't eat pork. The first time, we split a beef soup, which was good but not as beefy as at Joy in San Mateo. The cold ox tendon was sliced thicker than at Darda but was about the same texture. We had something else, but I've forgotten what it was. The sesame green onion bread (thick kind) was good. On the second trip, we had shrimp in two styles, which was disappointingly mundane. The same goes for the beef dish and the fried fish, which were quite light but overall not far above dim sum level.

Old Mandarin Halal Restaurant
3132 Vicente St (near 43rd Ave.)
San Francisco, CA 94116-2739  
(415) 564-3481
Overall: ***
We went here a) because it's near a friend's house in the Sunset and b) because I had a hankering for lamb. The lamb with green onion was a nice serving with nicely cooked and seasoned meat. The "egg-coated" meat dish was actually an enormous round omelette served on top of a bed of seafood (shrimp), chicken, and beef with a brown gravy. I'm actually not a huge egg fan, so I have no idea why I ordered this other than it sounded strange. The appetizers (five-spice beef and sour vegetable salad) were nothing special, but not bad either. The salad is basically just pickled cabbage with a sprinkling of parsley, but I thought it would help cut the greasiness of the lamb. The waitress made a point of mentioning that the meat was halal, which is pretty amazing since I think they have to truck everything in from Stockton. The restaurant itself is tiny with maybe three large tables and 6-7 tables for four; an enormous mirror along the left wall keeps it from seeming claustrophobic. The interior is pretty plain, but they still had their decorations up from Chinese New Year, which is always festive. The owner, his wife, and maybe his extended family were all very friendly, and sat down to a hot pot of their own as we were finishing up our lunch. The hot pot looks spectacular, with piles of shaved frozen lamb and a stack of bread on the side, so we'll probably give it a try. May 22, 2006

Zhao's Hot Pot
660 Barber Lane
Milpitas, CA 95035
408/383-0188
Rating: ***
We'd seen this place for months because it's directly across from China Palace in the Ulfert's shopping center. We went in the late afternoon on a Sunday after buying a rug and the place was nearly empty, which is good because it's pretty tiny. We had the lamb hotpot with what my friend thought were flower stalks of some kind. I can't recall.