Sohomei - San Francisco

This is the best place in town for authentic Chao Zhou-style rice noodle wraps and porridge. I also really enjoy their Laksa noodle soup. Although the seating area is small, they offer a fantastic selection of dishes. They use tiger shrimp for the rice noodle wraps, which are of excellent quality.

I’ve visited this restaurant twice and I’m giving it a 5-star review. At first glance, it might seem like just another typical Chinese restaurant, but the food quality and portion sizes are surprisingly impressive. I tried the Laksa vermicelli, and the bowl was generous. The broth was delicious and has the potential to become my go-to comfort food. They also offer discounts for seniors, which is a nice touch. I’ll definitely be returning more often.

Came here for lunch on a weekday wanted to try the Chinese/Vietnamese dishes. We had the laksa (it was fine, not outstanding) and the chicken rice (was ok, quite bony and not like chicken meets rice type of chicken rice). Might try to fried oyster omelette next time. Overall average restaurant.

We ordered Chao Zhou style pork and preserved egg porridge, Chao Zhou style beef and beef ball flat noodles, an oyster pancake, and a half-baked chicken. The noodles were excellent; my kids devoured most of them. The porridge was amazing too. I enjoyed the pancake, but my wife didn’t. The gelatin in the pancake is there to hold the oyster together, so I didn’t see anything wrong with that. We got too full to finish all of the chicken. However, I must say, the service was quick and polite. The food was undoubtedly authentic, bringing back memories of enjoying noodles in my wife’s hometown. While it bears similarities to pho, the soup is what distinguishes it. By the way, pho probably has its roots in Chao Zhou cuisine. We will definitely return to try the rice rolls—maybe for lunch, as that seems to be a better fit.

The menu is quite simple, but the variety left me puzzled about the exact style of cuisine—was it Cantonese, Chiu Chow, Malaysian, or a mix of all three? I’m still not entirely sure! However, I do know that the food was quite tasty. We ordered an oyster pancake, beef rice rolls, fried rice, and chicken porridge. I enjoyed the oyster pancake, although one piece had a somewhat gelatinous texture that made me suspect the mixture wasn’t blended properly. The fried rice was a hit with us—who can resist spam? We devoured a good portion of it! A nice touch is that the fried rice is topped with dried shredded pork, adding a bit of sweetness to balance the saltiness from the spam and Chinese sausage. We also appreciated the unique texture of the beef rice rolls; they aren’t your typical dim sum style but are really flavorful after marinating in the sweet soy sauce at the bottom. Lastly, the chicken porridge we ordered was delicious, though it comes with bones, so be careful while eating. One of my dining companions mentioned he would have preferred it boneless. The total bill (photo included) came to $65.50. I’m a bit conflicted about the $0.50 charge for each to-go box since the place down the street only charges $0.25. The extra $1.50 for boxes annoyed me slightly, especially since I wasn’t sure how much food to order, considering the portion sizes. If you want to avoid the charge for containers, I recommend bringing your own! Also, if you pay in cash, there’s a 5% discount that offsets the container fee. Lastly, I didn’t experience the dry mouth later that evening that usually comes with MSG overload, which I took as a positive sign. Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience!