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Fu Lam Mum (Closed) (Chinese cuisine)  $

 7.75
JaT Rating

246 Castro Street, Mountain View, 94041  (Directions)


650-967-1689


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A bit rundown-looking Chinese seafood restaurant on Castro.


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 992
Reviewed: 1/31/2007
Rating: 7.5
My photo gallery 		I must have walked by Fu Lam Mum a gazillion times and never noticed it. When I'm eating chinese food on Castro, I'd normally be hitting Queen House. Looks like I might have another place to add to my list. We arrived for lunch and the 4 of us decided to share our dishes. Prices are good for the wallet as I think we each paid $8 with tip. Service was fairly quick with soups to arrive first followed by the braised talapia.

hot and sour soup (image 4) - nothing too special but I ate the entire cup.

braised talapia (image 5) - not sure why they call it braised as it looked and tasted like a deep fried fish. The picture doesn't do justice but it's a small fish with just enough meat for 1-2 people. I love eating fish served whole as I enjoy the crispiness towards the tail. Kinda messy but normally worth the effort. Today's fish was average as fish wasn't the freshest tasting. I'd be reluctant on ordering this again as I think I'd rather have salt and pepper fish or shrimp.

seafood chow fun (image 6) - seafood mixed with wide flat noodles. I found this dish to be lacking in any type of seasoning. I think it's just chinese gravy with nothing else? My taste buds must have gone on vacation cuz I needed to fix it up. It's one of those dishes where you need to add something to it, chili paste?, soy, vinegar, anything. Good news was the seafood wasn't overcooked and very fresh.

diced chicken and salted fish (image 8) - by far the stinkiest dish of the lunch. Catch a whiff of this and you'll pass out in your chair. If you've ever walked by your company kitchen and smelled something dying in the microwave, well it's probably this fish. I'm talking trash on this fish but I had 3-4 scoops of it. It was OK and could have been much better. The fish was in larger chunks meaning there would be times you'd be eating pure salt. Oddly enough, I'd order again.

eggplant - my favorite part of the lunch. Tasted the freshest, some spice, oily, good combination of veggies. Overall the best flavor of the day.

On the chinese food legit scale, I'd say very authentic. Prices are for the budget minded and even better is the late night hours. Fu Lam Mum is open until midnight 7 days a week.
 


Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 724
Reviewed: 2/1/2007
Rating: 8
My photo gallery 		I must have been by Fu Lam Mum quite a few times on my walks down Castro over the years and never bothered to look inside. Our first visit was no disappointment.

One of the items recommended to us was the Eggplant. Since I wasn't in the mood for seafood today, I went with the eggplant dish you see pictured above. Usually I enjoy eggplant, but it seems to always be a 2nd choice type of item for me. Nothing I go out of the way to look for on a menu. Since we got the lunch specials today, soup and white rice was included. Our primary dish was still served family style so we all got to sample everyone's dishes.

I found the eggplant to be my favorite. It was a bit on the spicy side, though not overly so. I could have picked out the peppers and the spiciness level would have gone down. No fun in that though. The brown chinese gravy was a bit on the sweet side, and fully flavorful, going well with the richness of the eggplant itself.

I tried a little of the salted fish fried rice and found it to be ultra salty. Too salty for me. I wouldn't order this again, but salt lovers probably would really enjoy it.

As expected, seafood chow fun - the little I tasted of it - was solid. Shrimps were large and fresh. Noodles were soft (as ordered) and chewy. I wisely :) skipped the talapia. Ewwww.

Hot and Sour soup was forgettable. Glad I had it but not memorable. Place was a bit divey looking but overall was fairly clean looking. Its hard to say that any restaurant could be a hidden find on Castro street, but alas for me the light finally has been shed on this little jewel tucked away among the flashier names on Castro. Keep an eye out for it next time.
 
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geodanny ate...

Re-opening

“Fu Lam Mum is opening up further down Castro, closer to the Caltrain station, in a bigger restaurant. From the looks of it, it'll be open in the next month. ”

4/21/2008 7:23:34 PM