I love it when I find mom and pop shops that specialize in a particular provinces of Chinese food. Queen’s Kitchen, a small shop located in a plaza next to Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California specializes in Shang Hai food. We found them via Yelp! for dinner some time ago and very happy with their dishes. Their shop is definitely very small, sits approximately 15 people, anymore and it’ll be crowded.

We arrived on a Friday night and they were pretty poppin’, most of their seats filled. We were able to get the last two person table luckily. We ordered bean curd (五香豆干), beef noodle soup (牛肉湯麵), Shang Hai pork bao (生煎包) and kung pao chicken(宫保雞丁). It was great that they sold the pork baos as it was one of my boyfriend’s favorite dishes and always looking for places that sold GOOD ones.

When it comes to bean curd, from experience, there’s two kinds, one’s those that are extra firm pressed and there’s the one that has air bubbles when they were pressed leaving holes in them. I definitely prefer the latter since the texture isn’t as hard, rather much lighter and complements sauces very well.  Just by chance, theirs was EXTRA holely! MY FAVORITE and the sauce they used was very delicious, definitely would order again if I come back (I might even just come solely for the bean curd).

The kung pao chicken was also surprisingly delicious and I really enjoyed the ratio of peanuts they put in the dish. Some restaurants would barely use any in theirs, but Queen’s had a very generous portion and their chicken meat was tender and not overcooked. I would eat while hot, I ate some while cold and it wasn’t as aromatic and delicious. Boyfriend thought the beef noodle was quite good, especially the beef pieces were soft and very tasty and the broth wasn’t thick and gooey rather it was nice and light filled with veggies. The bao was definitely yummy, I’m no expert on it but the meat was nice and plump and the boyfriend said the skin was soft and loved the golden crisp on the bottom giving it a nice crunch.

We would definitely come again since this place is close to home! 🙂 For more photos from Queen’s Kitchen!

Rating: ★★★★☆
Address: 1235 N Grand Ave, Walnut, CA 91789
Hours:
Monday CLOSED
Tuesday -Sunday 11:00 AM-10:00 PM