Daimo

There is a saying in New Mexico that you can tell a good restaurant by the fact that its parking lot is not paved. In the same spirit, some of the best Asian restaurants are found strip malls. Yesterday, we went for lunch to Daimo in the Pacific East Mall in Ricmond. We had been reading good things about Daimo in the foodie press for years, but had never tried it.

The initial impressions were promising. The mall is in a semi industrial part of town, right next to the freeway. Low overhead. The restaurant was packed, with very few round eyed devils to be seen. Our waitress was strictly no nonsense and hurried in the tradition of classic Chinese restauants. She carried a teeny pad of white paper with a few chinese characters written on it.

When the food came, we were bowled over. The steamed dumplings were made from scratch, not the machine made "potstickers" so common now. The shrimp and baby bok choy was spectacular. Ditto the barbequed pork with tofu. Ditto the fried sea bass.

This must be the best Chinese restaurant in the East Bay. The prices are about one third less than you would expect in a restaurant with the same quality of food in San Francisco or on the Peninsula.