DINING OUT by Robin Davis

Wednesday, February 11, 1998

DINING OUT -- Splashy Seafood At Koi Palace
Robin Davis ©1998 San Francisco Chronicle

Walk into Koi Palace in Daly City, and it's obvious what to order. Pristine tanks of Thai and Dungeness crab, Pacific and Maine lobster, live prawns, black bass, geoduck clams -- and more -- fill the entryway. The extensive menu features more than 40 seafood dishes, including seven crab and five lobster entrees.

This year-old restaurant resembles a serene tea garden, complete with a koi pond. The ceiling in one tall room is three-tiered; in the other, it's painted to look like a starry night. The large, round tables are inlaid with scenes of cherry trees and
exotic flowers.

As at many Asian restaurants, the meal begins with tea, but here it's a specialty. Waiters fill handsome black pots with one of many complimentary teas,
such as oolong, jasmine or chrysanthemum, then place them over a candle to keep the tea warm.

If you're a tea connoisseur, you may want to try one of the Emperor's Teas ($4, $8 or $12, depending on the number of people in your party). Options include monkey- picked oolong and silver-tip jasmine. It's just one example of the extra
steps owner Willie Ng has taken to make this restaurant special.

Potstickers ($5) are as good as you'll get anywhere. Tightly filled with ground pork flavored with green onions and ginger, the wrappers are crispy brown on one side, and tender and silky on the other.

Shanghai dumplings ($5) are just as exquisite: Eight delicious little wrapped morsels, the filling similar to the potstickers, are served in a bamboo steamer.

An amazingly crunchy skin tops slices of suckling pig ($15) served atop sweet soy beans. The meat underneath is virtually greaseless, unusually lean  --and full of flavor.

Drunk squab ($15) comes chopped, then neatly reassembled (head included). While the meat under the pale skin was tender, the marinade of rice wine was harsh.

The restaurant offers a glorious range of soups, including 10 made with shark fin.
Among the standard soup options, the rather bland hot and sour soup ($7) came floating with pork- filled dumplings. A wonderful clear broth held
quarters of black preserved egg and chewy pieces of geoduck clam for another interesting option ($12). Lots of cilantro added color and a nice astringent touch.

When it comes to entrees, look at the seafood page before deciding on anything else; these dishes are especially good. Shanghai crab ``two-ways'' ($24) -- easily big enough to feed two people  --features a mound of fresh crabmeat sauteed with
green onions, salty shreds of dried scallops and egg whites, which give the dish a fluffy texture. This is surrounded by legs of fried crab in a salt-spice batter. The contrasting flavors -- intensely rich to sea-sweet -- make for a wonderful combination.

Sampan shrimp ($18) comes with bright red roe atop huge in-shell shrimp coated with a slightly spicy batter, then sauteed to perfection. The dish is
messy, and it takes some work to get to the good part, but oh! is it worth the effort. The shrimp heads included on the plate get the same cooking process
for those who are so inclined.

Lobster cooked in a clear broth ($15) is milder, but equally delicious.

The restaurant doesn't claim that vegetable dishes are a house specialty, but maybe it should. A tangle of sauteed pea vines ($12) are bright and garlicky,
as are the stalks of sauteed Chinese broccoli ($8).

``Golden silver broth spinach'' ($9) is a cross between a vegetable dish and a soup. Spinach is wilted in a clear broth, then topped with quarters of preserved egg, drizzled with the white of a salted duck egg and finished with its hard-cooked yolk.

One dessert at Koi Palace is also worth note: a small, steaming-hot coconut ($6), filled with cloudy, sweetened coconut milk and bits of coconut. The
waiter ladles the broth into bowls and you eat it as an fabulous after-dinner soup.

Service manages to be both formal and friendly. Only your waiter or waitress will serve you the food, even though the dish is usually brought to the table by another server. Plates are constantly whisked away and replaced with clean ones;
teapots are frequently refilled. But the staff is also congenial, happily recommending dishes and describing ingredients that may be left off the menu.

Those little touches, along with very good seafood, set Koi Palace apart.

BC:
OVERALL: TWO AND A HALF STARS
Food: TWO AND A HALF STARS
Service: THREE STARS
Atmosphere: TWO AND A HALF STARS
.
PRICES: $$-$$$
PLUSES: Excellent fresh seafood. Many uncommon dishes. Wonderful service.
MINUSES: Higher-than-usual prices.
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RATINGS KEY
FOUR STARS: Extraordinary
THREE STARS: Excellent
TWO STARS: Very good
ONE STAR: Good
(box): Fair
.
$ Inexpensive: entrees under $7
$$ Moderate: $7-$14
$$$ Expensive: $15-$20
$$$$ Very Expensive: $20+

Robin Davis is a San Francisco Staff critic.
Her Column can also be read on The Gate at www.sfgate.com

©1998 San Francisco Chronicle