Islamic Chinese
Monday, January 2, 2006 17:46Yes, it sounds strange, and anyone we mention it to replies, “Huh?” A few years back, this was the first restaurant in the San Gabriel Valley we’d been to. Like many of the treasures in the area, the city of San Gabriel is just six miles east of downtown on the 10 fwy, which is never feels as far as it sounds, is home to two of our very favorite restaurants: classic American bready pizza at Petrillo’s, and “Islamic Chinese.” Located in the San Gabriel Square Mall, aka, The Great Mall of China, it is simply a great Chinese restaurant.
Tung Lai Shun stands out from it’s corner of the mall with a lighted sign, “Islamic Chinese”, and while you won’t find pork on the menu, you will find quite a bit of lamb in it’s place. That’s about as mysterious as the Islamic part gets. Perhaps it’s most unique feature, is that most diners are enjoying a the huge platters of sesame bread, a chewy, doughy bread with a crunchy crust covered in sesame seeds–we prefer the green onion variety.
Their dish I can’t live without, or make myself, is Honey Lamb in Hoisin Sauce. Okay, I probably could make it, but not this well. It’s a platter of sweet, savory meat chunklets, tasting of neither hoisin nor honey, but oh so delicious. The meat is slightly on the fatty side, but I’d never noticed before now, when I had to cut up the pieces for my todder, who loved it but found it too chewy. 
The Peas Sprouts in Garlic Sauce are also terriffic, and a nice light counterbalance to the richness of the aforementioned lamb. They’re are almost like a salad green, and come steaming, bright green, tender and still a bit crisp when cooked in this light garlic broth. Mmm, good vegetable. 
The other dish we can’t seem to stop ordering here are the rice ovalettes with napa cabbage and beef strips. These chewy oval noodles are irrisitable, and stir-fried with a small amount of meat and lots of vegetables. I prefer the version with dark green snow cabbage, but this version didn’t disappoint. The flavor is mild, pass the chili sauce. Our night out had originally planned to be for Korean Dukguk, or New Year’s rice cake soup, which friends of ours introduced me to at lunch. When told my wife that Korean rice cake are just like the rice ovalettes at Islamic Chinese, our cranial drool centers were activated and plans changed. We’ll take our maiden voyage to Man Mi Dang in Koreatown, (recommended for it’s traditional cooking) some day soon. 
Tung Lai Shun Restaurant
140 W. Valley Blvd. #118C
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 288-6588
By Why We Type (see more of his posts).
Jonah says:
January 2nd, 2006 at 6:19 pm
Sounds delicious! The first time I ordered pea sprouts, I had no idea that they weren’t in pods and told the waiter that it wasn’t what we ordered. How embarassing for me.
SoCalorie says:
January 2nd, 2006 at 7:07 pm
Looks so good! We love Tung Lai Shun and we would have ordered all the same. Gorgeous report. Stuffed on Zeke’s and yet we we’re ready to drive down right now.
Pauline says:
January 2nd, 2006 at 8:25 pm
I ate here once for a kind of family reunion. There was definitely something for everyone. You can also find the “rice ovalettes” at many Shanghai style Chinese restaurants as rice cakes. :) Thanks for the report!
Dylan says:
January 3rd, 2006 at 10:12 am
I’ve given this place the cold shoulder since 1994, and since i’ve become more interested in eating lamb, I’d like to try it. The rice cake (shanghai chao nian gao) is always good. did you notice chinese beef noodle soup (nu ro mian) there? or did they have a lamb version?
Kirk says:
January 3rd, 2006 at 10:39 am
My Wife used to work at Tung Lai Shun while going to College - my first real Non-Cantonese Food experience was eating Islamic-Chinese, I was so amazed at the Da-Bing, and other dishes. Tung Lai Shun and VIP in Rowland Heights used to be our favorite Islamic Chinese Restaurants when we lived in LA
Why We Type says:
January 3rd, 2006 at 11:34 am
DYLAN: we sadly don’t go often enough to veer from our must-haves. I did look for beef noodle soup, but as I scour my memory, I don’t think there are many soups on the menu here at all. Correction anyone?
SOCAL: the reason you would’ve ordered the same is because you told us what to order our first time there. Props!
Jeffrey says:
January 4th, 2006 at 10:53 am
Haven’t eaten here since the place changed chefs in the mid 1990’s. But the favorite that I used to order was the lamb and leeks and fermented black beans. Coupled with the sticky rice, it was heaven. Been back a few times and it just doesn’t seem the same. So I go over to Sam Woo’s for the sure thing.
nealgardner says:
January 4th, 2006 at 11:26 am
the girlfriend and i ate here on christmas day. the restaurant was packed and the service was excusably “out-of-the-ordinary.”
we regularly frequent the place; so good!
Andy (theABC) says:
April 18th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
the Chinese wrongly call The San Gabriel by this name, “Focus Plaza” because of the Focus department store.
Andy (theABC) says:
April 18th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
it’s kind of annoying because if you call it by the proper name, “San Gabriel Square” ppl usually give you a funny look and try to figure out what you are talking about. Then you say, “Focus Plaza”.. then everything becomes clear again.
Richard Schave says:
May 28th, 2006 at 6:02 am
Went to Tung Lai Shun last night, after a 6 week hiatus, to discover it gone.
The new proprietors could not provide any information as to where they might have gone.
Please advise.
Why We Type says:
May 28th, 2006 at 10:41 am
Since you brought it up, I actually went back a week-and-a-half ago. Some friends who’d read this post wanted my wife and I to take them there. Surprise! It’s a construction site.
There was a sign on the door saying “closed for remodeling, and that they’d reopen yesterday, May 27th. We could see they weren’t on track to make the deadline, so I’m not surprised they were closed when you went there.
For the record, we ended up having a REALLY DISAPPOINTING meal at a place called Q Noodles. It’s right upstairs from Tung Lai Shun, the food was very traditional, but my dinner mates and I all agreed the (large) meal was uneventful, noodles cooked too softly, and withtout flavor or character. We ordered a lot of dishes, but nobody even wanted the leftovers.