48 - Chef Lau's - Oakland

301 8th St, Oakland, CA 94607, (510) 835-3288

Last visit - March 2010

Chef Lau's was very accommodating. While the parking is scarce in the primary areas of Oakland's Chinatown, Chef Lau's is worth the wait. They have a very small restaurant and not more than twenty tables exist inside. Plastered along the wall are seasonal specials that don't have subtitles. If you want frog or other delicacies, you better bring your Chinese friend with you.

We had the lamb claypot, the lobster noodles, the Chengdu spare ribs, steamed oysters, an egg souffle-like dish, honey walnut prawns, and beef and Chinese broccoli. They also gave us complementary soup and dessert; which were both good that night. That was enough food for 8 I think, but there were only 6 of us, so we were really stuffed towards the end of the meal. The beef was good and so was the lobster. Lobster noodles is a new find for me, and I will definitely order that again the next time I go. The Chengdu ribs were tasty too, enough sweet and sour sauce but they didn't overdo it to make you feel like you're biting on candied pork.

They did a good job and I definitely will go back again. Spacing is really limited, but that is a testament to their popularity. Maybe we'll try the frog next time. There's also a dish that comes in a conch shell and with a mini burner. There's a lot of goodies in the shell, and the burner keeps it heated. I'll have to go back for that one too.