Just log in to the Chowhound message boards and you can witness the almost daily debate among Chinese aficionados about these two restaurants. The argument sneaks into almost every topic regarding restaurant life in the Bay area. China Yuan gets more nods than Yummy, probably because Yuan tends to stick to serious traditional cuisine, primarily Cantonese, with exquisite seafood doused in oyster or pungent black bean sauces. There’s also barbecue — your home for chicken feet! — and fabulous hot sauce created in-house by owner Peter Chan. Diners regularly buy buckets of the stuff for takeout. The place even looks nice (an unnecessary bonus) since last year’s remodel. Yummy House does some of the same stuff — barbecue, for one — but its Hong Kong-style cuisine is more subtle and a little less rustic that Yuan’s. Many dishes come with silky sauces of reduced stock, or their version of the tart and spicy XO sauce. Even the most hardcore Yuan-ites recognize that Yummy’s salt-and-pepper tofu is one of the best dishes at any restaurant in town. How could we pick between them? Just alternate visits, and everyone’s happy. Yummy House, 2202 W. Waters Ave., Tampa, 813-915-2828; China Yuan, 8502 N. Armenia Ave., Tampa, 813-936-7388
This article appears in Sep 10-16, 2008.
