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   Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 26-Nov-2025 02:52:22 JST Adrianna Tan

   I'm working on something!

   #Food #ChineseFood #Newsletters

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Wednesday, 26-Nov-2025 14:01:28 JST Adrianna Tan

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     • JP

     @froztbyte sooooon

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     JP (froztbyte@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 26-Nov-2025 14:01:29 JST JP

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     @skinnylatte these are words I almost never say: I want to sign up to your newsletter

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Thursday, 27-Nov-2025 06:30:27 JST Adrianna Tan

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     i started writing a post 'my fave chinese restaurants in san franrcisco' at 11:55 am. 90 min later, i am still.. writing, somehow?

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 28-Nov-2025 05:34:25 JST Adrianna Tan

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     25 hours later, it’s almost ready. There were so many I had to split it into two articles. One for west side Chinese restaurants, another for everything else.

     I’m also trying a new thing, rating each place for vegan-friendliness from ‘don’t bother at all’ to ‘they don’t have a vegan menu but they are happy to customize’, based on my experience taking vegan friends to places

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 28-Nov-2025 05:39:11 JST Adrianna Tan

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     Also trying to find ways to more accurately reflect state of outdoor dining in each place, but that changes so frequently I couldn’t possibly keep track. I’m mentioning them if I know they are permanent outdoor spaces, like ‘outdoor dimsum? Go to harborview but call ahead to reserve and confirm outdoor seating’ and ‘go to Osmanthus for everyday outdoor dim sum’

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Saturday, 29-Nov-2025 05:02:53 JST Adrianna Tan

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     How did I end up starting a food media thing?

     (Working on launching it before Xmas)

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 30-Nov-2025 03:05:20 JST Adrianna Tan

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     One of the reasons I am only doing this now: I personally think restaurant reviews are boring. Like how’s someone who follows me in Frankfurt going to care about my specific SF or SG restaurant? But I think a combination of that plus what’s more interesting to me anyway: history, stories, culture, people, is just more compelling. I just got to this late

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 30-Nov-2025 03:27:06 JST Adrianna Tan

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     • glasspshr

     @glasspusher probably. Just placeholder text

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     glasspshr (glasspusher@beige.party)'s status on Sunday, 30-Nov-2025 03:27:07 JST glasspshr

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     @skinnylatte great! how about no AI at all?

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 30-Nov-2025 12:40:50 JST Adrianna Tan

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     Research (I went to San Mateo to check out one of the most famous Sichuan restaurants in the world that’s recently opened in the Bay Area!)

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 02:14:46 JST Adrianna Tan

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     It was very good. While eating with my dinner companions (mostly southeast Asian Chinese folks like me + local ABCs), I was very happy to note that everyone is ‘as into food’ as I am. It truly is just a way of life, a way of seeing the world. Or as my grandparents used to say, life’s so hard, thankfully good food is delicious

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 02:16:03 JST Adrianna Tan

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     • Amiel a passos lentos

     @ointersexo American born Chinese

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     Amiel a passos lentos (ointersexo@bolha.one)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 02:16:05 JST Amiel a passos lentos

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     @skinnylatte what means abcs?

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 02:17:52 JST Adrianna Tan

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     Tai Er (太二) means ‘too much’. Apparently a friend of the founder of this restaurant chain told them once, you’re too much! So they were like yep that’s me, and opened a Sichuan restaurant chain in 650+ locations printing the story of how their friend once called them too much

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 02:24:32 JST Adrianna Tan

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     I think they changed my mind on sauerkraut fish.

     As a person who prefers southern Chinese food which doesn’t have any sour flavors or vinegar at all really, I’ve never been able to have a few bites of a sauerkraut dish fish. It was always so overwhelmingly sour at every place I’ve tried it, the soup wasn’t enjoyable to me (I love all soups but sour soups don’t work for me). I really think Tai Er has managed to strike a very fine balance between sour and savory that I prefer. The fish was great quality and the soup was the best I’ve had. There’s something I appreciate about this obsessive take on flavors here, even if my usual southern Chinese food flavor profiles are totally different.

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 02:32:59 JST Adrianna Tan

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     When I first moved to SF, everyone was like ‘best and most amazing Chinese food!’ I didn’t agree. Best Toishanese food, yes. Once I stopped complaining and starting traveling to Fremont, Millbrae, San Mateo and San Jose, I finally agreed. I’m used to having a very vibrant selection of Chinese cuisines from every part of China + the world, so SF’s Chinese food scene felt stuck in time to me. Some things are really good, most of the Chinese foodie world has simply moved on past that. I’m southern Chinese myself and I’m bored of that style of cooking (I feel I cook it better). I go out to eat at Chinese restaurants that do food at a level I couldn’t possibly reach at home

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 02:37:47 JST Adrianna Tan

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     • Howard Chu @ Symas

     @hyc a similar vibe difference in ‘potluck’ food. I was just thinking the other day that ‘bring food to a party’ where I come from is ‘bring the thing that took a lot of effort and care to make’, or if you can’t, ‘buy something amazing from somewhere like a roast duck’. I was very confused by the ‘I threw random things together it was super easy do you want the recipe?’ Totally different.

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     Howard Chu @ Symas (hyc@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 02:37:48 JST Howard Chu @ Symas

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     @skinnylatte yeah, my parents always laughed at Ametican restaurants advertising homestyle cooking. Why go out for something we can make at home? Going out had to be for really special stuff...

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 02:44:34 JST Adrianna Tan

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     • 𝙉𝙤𝙖𝙝 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙛

     @monkeyninja yeah there are no good TW restaurants in the city. The closest one is in foster city. Milpitas has most of them

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     𝙉𝙤𝙖𝙝 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙛 (monkeyninja@10base2.dev)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 02:44:35 JST 𝙉𝙤𝙖𝙝 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙛

     in reply to

     @skinnylatte 100% agree. My godfather and godmother are from Taiwan. I have an enduring memory of being 7, eating oyster omelets in their kitchen. I remember the first time I had them in SF when my wife was still living out there. I was so excited but it was like running into a McDonald’s version of it. It was so disappointing. It scratched an itch but it wasn’t even close to what I expected.

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 11:19:48 JST Adrianna Tan

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     I brought home a portion of Tai Er’s sauerkraut fish for my wife to try. I ordered the spicy version for her. What I like about this place is they are very intentional about creating a flavor profile that is ‘not just spicy Sichuan’ (they even have that as a tagline), so flavors are complex and deep. The spicy version isn’t bright red the way it can be at many mid range Sichuan spots. It’s green, but full of green Sichuan peppercorns, that really sneak up on you. I was very happy to have it again! Also the portions are so large that it’s enough for 2-3 meals

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 21-Dec-2025 12:51:26 JST Adrianna Tan

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     • ranjit

     @ranjit haha! Is it coz too sour or too weird? It’s an acquired taste for sure

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     ranjit (ranjit@friend.camp)'s status on Sunday, 21-Dec-2025 12:51:27 JST ranjit

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     @skinnylatte I went with family to Tai Er tonight - half of us (including me) really loved the sour fish soup and the other half did not!

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     Adrianna Tan (skinnylatte@hachyderm.io)'s status on Sunday, 21-Dec-2025 12:57:23 JST Adrianna Tan

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     • ranjit

     @ranjit yeah I like this one coz it’s already not so sour. The dish elsewhere is very puckeringly sour.

     In New York City check out mountain house too!

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     ranjit (ranjit@friend.camp)'s status on Sunday, 21-Dec-2025 12:57:24 JST ranjit

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     @skinnylatte yeah some of the group just weren't into the sour! Others had had it before, at the nearby Fish With You (which they like to call Fish Be With You (and also with you)). I learned there's a Fish With You in Brooklyn, gotta check it out when I get home!