Kam Fung Restaurant

This place is located in an unassuming side-street right across from the original Triple Crown restauarant. The place is rather small; it could maybe fit about 100-120 people max. We ordered the beef stipe, but it was rather chewy and not fresh at all. The plate portions were not that great and we left there hungry.

BATHROOM REVIEW
 If there's only one rule I follow when I go to Chinatown, or any restaurant, its that you always use the bathrooms AFTER you eat because what you find in the bathroom might make you lose your appetite. In this case, I should have NEVER used the bathroom, even after the meal.... yeah, it was that bad. The bathroom was a one-staller and came straight out of a horror flick. Flickering dim light, rust and mildew everywhere. I did the trick of kicking the toilet seat up and peeing -- now i'm wondering if I should burn my shoes. I couldn't wait to get out of there. SIT or SQUAT??? Do I really need to answer that question? I'm shuddering just writing this. please make this bathroom memory go away!

We wanted to try a place off the beaten path in Chinatown and luckily I happened to peer down some random alley and spot this place.  I'm glad I did because it turned out quite well.

Food:  Most of the items were stellar.  None in our party spoke a Chinese dialect, so we were kind of relegated to the English menu.  True, I guess we could have asked what some of the Chinese dishes were, but there were so many that it  would been a burden to have the waiter walk us through everything.  Egg drop soup was excellent, and the pot stickers were also amazing as well.  They served them with a "red vinegar," something I've never seen before.  However, it was really good, and I could easily see my self prefer the vingar to garlic sesame soy sauce occasionally.  We had mongolian beef which was well done, and the waiter was nice enough to let us have the Szechuan string beans with some pork in it.  However, it also came with tiny, dried shrimp, and I don't eat seafood generally (yeah, a crime I know...).  Other than that, the dish was really quite good. So we politely asked to have that dish redone and the waiter graciously agreed.  The replacement came back about 5 minutes later sans shrimp, though the green beans were noticeably undercooked and the seasoning was toned way down.  I have a feeling that they probably thought, "ok, let's just put out something that can't possibly offend these guilo." Anyway, that was the only flaw.

Service: Very nice and accommodating.  No complaints.

I'll definitely come back.  This place is one of the best Chinese restaurants I've been to in the city.

On hindsight, we probably should have heeded the negative review given here by a Yelper friend. Although we did not encounter the same problems as in that review, all was not rosy at our group's meal either. Kam Fung was a last minute choice switch in our group's quest for Cantonese fare. Their menu met that criteria and the ingredients used would please the many who savor the cuisine of south China. We were seated at a round table with a round glass "lazy susan" in the center of the white vinyl "table cloth." Although the rotating glass disc was large, the number and size of all our dishes eventually overwhelmed it.

We chose one of the pre-selected "family" package meals that was intended for a group of 8. This would give us an excellent introduction to the cooking at Kam Fung while also providing a variety of meat, fowl, seafood, and vegetables. As with many such Cantonese meals, our table began it by sharing a tureen of flavorful soup, based on a pork broth, containing pieces of Chinese broccoli. It was a good beginning. A helpful touch at Kam Fung for large groups are the electric rice steamers that they station next to your table, so you can refill your own bowls of white rice as you feel the need to.

Our main dishes were a mixed bag. The whole lobster was one any kitchen couldn't mess up, presented in cut pieces with the shell still attached. The vegetable stir fry featured slices of lotus root, wood ear, and black mushrooms, but nothing much memorable about that. There was the two-bite filets of white fish gently deep-fried in a whisper-light golden coating of flour (?), presented on a plate of complimentary vegetables.

Cantonese cuisine doesn't use the spicy, hot flavors of the northern cuisines. But sweet and sour is something that highlights its dishes. Ours was a rather odd one; pieces of cut-up pork chops (instead of ribs) battered and coated in a gloppy red sweet/sour BBQ sauce. One ate it for the well-cooked meat, but the sauce was a disaster! We also enjoyed the large shrimps (oxymoron) in a stir fry with unmemorable vegetables and a too-thick sauce.

Being that we were dining just ahead of the lunar new year, the prospect of sharing a whole roasted chicken was a traditional touch of good luck. Unfortunately, the platter of sliced pieces (including the head, of course) must have just come out of the refrigerator - cooked, but cold! I can't recall ever getting chicken served this cold in a Chinese restaurant or even direct from the Chinese BBQ shop. The standard dipping sauce for chicken of salt and oil with chopped chives was a hit though.

Everyone thinks that fortune cookies are the Chinese "dessert." It's not! Maybe that's because the sweet treats that end a Cantonese meal aren't all that spectacular. Our meal ended with each getting a small bowl of traditional, cold, sweet, red bean soup. THEN, the fortune cookies. All in all, not a terrible meal. And the service was good and attentive. But with so many choices in Chinatown and around the city, it's unlikely our group will return here.