Newport Tan Cang Seafood -- Best Chinese in SGV?

If I'm going to claim that Newport Tan Cang is one of the best Chinese restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, then I can just about say that it is probably one of the best in the country, knowing that this area is ground zero to so many excellent Chinese restaurants. Newport Tan Cang has been on my hit list since I started this blog, and on Thanksgiving night, myself and eight others--including my wife and her family--made the eastbound journey to San Gabriel to partake in a Thanksgiving dinner of lobster and crab. Even after a full day of chowing on a diet-busting spread of traditional turkey day eats with my folks, I made sure to bring my A game appetite for this culinary milestone.

I've had several opportunities in recent months to mark Newport Tan Cang off my list, but I could never get a group large enough--at least eight--to make the feast worth the hour-plus long wait and to keep the cost in check with ordering a variety of dishes. The special here is fresh lobster and it is not cheap at $15/pound, with most lobsters (according to our server) tipping the scales at about five pounds. Throw in a plate of their highly-regarded French-style beef, a fresh crab, a noodle dish, and few other dishes and you can see why I wanted to wait to truly relish in all that Newport Tan Cang has to offer.


We arrive on Thursday night to a bustling scene both inside and out, and after a wait of about an hour--which is not bad from what I've heard--we take our seats at a lazy Susan equipped table. As a crazed foodie whose always studying menus and reviews before stepping into a restaurant, I'm generally prepared with what I want to order and I waste no time in commandeering the menu. I summon the server and proceed with ordering the house-special lobster, a fresh crab, Chinese broccoli, and their famous French-style beef. The group also participates with ordering honey-walnut shrimp, seafood noodles, and kung pao chicken.

Wait--did I just say kung pao chicken? OK so we had with us a visitor from South America and that was her request as this was all new to her, but (and I'm jumping ahead) she did eat a portion of everything that was brought to our table.



On every table was a drink menu displaying fresh fruit concoctions, and on said menu was a durian shake with boba. As a newly appointed member of the durian fan club--which was bestowed upon me during my recent Bali trip--I just had had to order one, as did my friend Sandra. Her family actually owns a durian plantation in Singapore. Yeah I know -- that fact has no relevance to this review.


The taste was incredible and was every bit as refreshing as the fresh durian I consumed in Bali. Even in shake form, the "King of fruit" still musters an in-your-face odor that someone at the table described as natural gas. It does smell--like what I can't quite seem to describe--but it doesn't bother me or Fonda. I honestly think this fruit is simply over hyped in terms of its odor and exotic taste; it is truly a deliciously sweet treat and if you can't get past the interesting odor, then you are missing out on something unique.

Back to our food, the first dish arrives and it's the honey walnut shrimp, which is a popular item at many Chinese restaurants. Newport Tan Cang's version is absolutely perfect and is in fact better than any I've had, period. The balance of sauce, shrimp, and walnuts is textbook, with no overpowering of the thick mayonnaise sauce. Tender, plump shrimp and a generous supply of nuts solidify Newport Tan Cang's version of this dish in the danieleats.com record book (not for sale!)



The Chinese broccoli arrives next and is served with fish flakes. A few of us at table were astounded by how perfectly cooked and brightly green this dish was. Also brought out was the kung pao chicken, which was, well, quite good =). A group picture of both dishes is coming up; I don't have individual pictures of either dish, because as I was adjusting this and that with my beloved Canon s90, our $85 lobster touches down in the center of our table.


Newport Tan Cang has a variety of lobster preparation, and this was their special house version. It's served over a bed of stir-fried veggies, chilies and lobster eggs. The lobster appears to have been steamed or boiled, then cut up and stir fried with heavy doses of garlic and ginger. To really get at the meat, you just have to use your hands and gnaw in and around the shell.



Fonda took this pic and--geez--I'm such a pig! I mean look at the placement of my fork--it's backwards for crying out loud! Is the fork handle resting on my plate stacked with lobster shells? Check! Is there a mess around my plate? Check! My fingers on my right hand are completely coated in shell bits and sauce and I actually cropped them out because I really can't stand to lose any readers. This is obviously one of those don't bother me I'm eating moments. Oh but wait, I have those moments just about daily.

Our fresh crab arrives shortly after to join the party. Our server explained that the restaurant only had small to medium sized crabs that night; the one brought to us was indeed small for our table of nine. Nonetheless, the crab was nicely cooked and prepared, and what little crab meat I got to try was very tasty.



One of the dishes that gets unworldly praises from Yelp is the French style beef, and so of course I ordered a plate for the table. The tender chunks of melt-in-your-mouth beef earned high praises from our party, and are much more substantial in flavor and size than the greasy paper-thin slices of fatty beef found on comparable dishes at many other Chinese restaurants. My sister-in-law later confesses that she wasn't able to try a piece because they were all gone. That statement tells me two things: 1) The beef was simply too good and obviously vanished before she could claim her portion, and 2) we'll need to make a return visit =).


No Chinese feast is complete without a noodle dish, and so we ordered ours with mixed seafood. This was very good with its crispy noodles and a generous quantity of nicely-cooked pieces of calamari and shrimp. How good was it? Well it was the first dish to be completely cleared, though not far behind was the aforementioned French-style beef.



Here's a group pictures of our dishes:


The Chinese broccoli and kung pao chicken are up on top and on the right. Everyone gave Laura--who requested the kung pao chicken--a hard time but in the end, we all enjoyed it and in fact that dish was finished long before the lobster was.

The total damage for this gut-busting Thanksgiving dinner feast was about $230 with tax and tip, which is a fantastic deal when you consider the amount of high-quality food we ate. Service was adequate, polite and slightly above par for the 'hood. Everyone left full and happy, but with Phoenix bakery located a few blocks down, we just had to make a stop. And of course we all drove--I mean this is LA after all, and at 60-degrees we're breaking out our heavy coats.

Most people in the group go for the always delicious black sesame soup and almond soup. I break from the pack and dive in to some tasty mango mousse cake.


Everything from Phoenix is so good and this cake was no exception. I also slurped a healthy portion of Sandra's black sesame soup, and to be honest it was better than the versions I had in Hong Kong. Wow, what a perfect way to end my day of Thanksgiving feasting. We're already planning a return trip as we want to try a different lobster dish, sea cucumber, and a larger, meatier crab. So is this the best Chinese in SGV? In my book, yes. And it was good enough to receive utmost praise from my critical Guangzhou-born mom-in-law who had not one bad comment to dispel about our dinner. That's all the proof I need.


Newport Tan Cang
518 W Las Tunas Drive
San Gabriel CA, 91776