The inimitable Martin Yan opened his first restaurant in the United States yesterday, right here in San Francisco; his partners are Willy and Ronny Ng of Koi Palace (yes, the land of magical dim sum). The new spot is called M.Y. CHINA and is in the Westfield Mall’s “Under the Dome” restaurant space, just in time to help combat holiday shopping fatigue.
The spot will feature a mostly open kitchen, so diners can watch executive chef Tony Wu do his stuff, plus some hand-pulled noodle drama and live-fire wok action (yes, this is where you want to sit). The spot has 181 seats, a cast-iron bell from China (which almost weighs 2,000 pounds!), and lots of unique Chinese artifacts and ephemera.
There will be seven different kinds of noodles, from the traditional La Mian hand-pulled noodles served in soup or with sauce, plus hand-cut Dao Chow-style stir-fried noodles and hand-formed noodles traditionally referred to as “cat’s ear” noodles.
For now, they are just open for lunch. You can check out the lunch, and dinner menus, and they’ve also got a full bar with smaller plates. There will also be a full list of dumplings. Here’s the cocktail list and bar food menu.
This week, M.Y. China will only be open for lunch Tue-Fri 11am-2pm and Sat-Sun 10am-2pm, but beginning Monday December 10th, the hours will be Mon-Thu 11am-9pm, Fri 11am-9:30pm, Sat 10am-9:30pm, and Sun 10am-9pm. In 2013, the CCA will start teaching special Chinese noodle-making classes at the site too. 845 Market St. at 4th St, Westfield Centre, 4th Floor, 415-580-3001.
The bell at M.Y. China rings in one year next week. Photo courtesy Creative Mint.
