Hua Qian Dai Grilled Fish 花千代烤魚 — Restaurant in Cupertino

Neat little grilled fish restaurant that just opened recently! I visited during their soft opening with a group of friends and needless to say we were very impressed! The owner was friendly and present to help give us recs. You have multiple choices when it comes to which fish and what flavoring. For us, we decided to go with a fresh caught catfish partnered with the signature sauce since we wanted a non-spicy option. We also ordered some tofu skin, black fungus, and wide vermicelli to go with our fish. For appetizers we got the scallion pancakes, fried buns, a veggie salad, and the veggie platter.

The salad came out first and it is definitely bang for your buck. The salad came out on a pretty big bowl and was way more than we were ready for. The scallion pancakes were nice and crispy. There was plenty to go around for our group of 5 (if I recall correctly almost everyone got 2 pieces). The fried buns were nice and toasted but didn't have too much flavor on their own. However we found it was absolutely delicious when eating it with the sauce from the fish. The veggie platter we ate in combination with the fish.

The fish itself was really delicious although there were bones in it so watch out for those! Nobody in my group eats fish a lot so we definitely were noobs when it came to scraping the fish clean but we did a good job at picking it fairly clean. The fish itself comes in a giant tray that also contains the signature sauce (would definitely recommend pairing it with the fried buns if the buns are too plain by themselves for your tastes). We totally forgot to add our add-ons until halfway through eating the fish. We tossed in our sides and finished all of those quickly too! The fish was good but I think the main thing I really enjoyed was the sauce itself. It was super flavorful and now I definitely want to try some of the other flavors the next time I come back. We went through the sauce fairly quickly but we were able to get the sauce refilled with some chicken broth so while it wasn't as flavorful as before it was still a nice touch.

The interior of the restaurant is also nice. It has a very "Chinese" aesthetic to it that is hard to explain so you're best off looking at some photos of it if you're interested. I saw that there were 2 private rooms in the back that looked like it could seat larger parties but we ate in the public space.

All in all a great place to eat at if you're looking for some authentic Chinese grilled fish! You have a ton of options when it comes to choosing the flavor for your fish and you can pair it with a whole suite of appetizers/add-ons that they have. I definitely recommend coming with a larger group if possible so you can try multiple things from the menu. I'll definitely be coming back in the...

I've been to this restaurant a few times now, and also ordered takeout once! It's been consistently delicious! The food does take a little while to come out during busy peak dining hours but I promise you it's worth the wait!

GRILLED FISH: I've tried both the House Signature and Bean Paste sauces with the live catfish option. Both of these were non-spicy options, super flavorful broths, and the fish is SO tender. And you get the whole catfish!!! We had leftovers and took them home to finish the meat, and also use the head for soup. You can definitely also take home the broth to make other dishes (you can even ask for more soup to add to your takeout container!). Once you've chosen your fish option (live or not) and sauce, you should also order some sides to put in the broth with the fish -- you already get Napa cabbage, tofu, and potatoes as standards with any fish, and I highly recommend the wide vermicellis as they are super chewy and soak up the flavorful broth. I've also gotten wood ear mushroom, which is also one of my faves.

SWEET AND SOUR FISH: THE DISH FROM SINGLES INFERNO!! Also known as squirrel fish -- this is a fried fish with a sweet and sour sauce, and it is SO GOOD. I've ordered this each time I've been in person because it is probably my favorite dish :) the batter is nice and chewy and crispy, and the sauce is sweet and tangy. One of the times I went, we weren't feeling a full grilled fish as we had been here earlier in the week (lol), so we got this as our "main" protein, which I would do again.

The traditional Chinese dishes are definitely a must try to! My personal go to dishes are the dry pot cabbage, fish flavored eggplant (I loooove eggplant and the sauce here is impeccable), and the pork w/ cabbage dumplings!

The dumpling serving size is 12 pieces and easy to share amongst a party. The dry pot cabbage comes on a bowl served on top of a little burner which keeps the food nice and hot while retaining all of its flavors. Last but not least, the eggplant dish is top tier. The eggplants texture is nice and soft but not too mushy either. The sauce it is served in is super savory and I always take it home with me so that I can make a veggie stir fry with it

You can tell this is a family owned business because every time I've been here the owners are there to greet me! They're really friendly and the whole experience feels really welcoming. I'd recommend this spot to anyone who wants to eat some Chinese grilled fish or even more traditional...

Wow this place is absolutely amazing!! I’ve come here twice, once on Chinese new year and everything here has been so good.

Live catfish - I’ve gotten this in the house spicy and the signature sauce and both were really good. The fish seems to be grilled and placed in the soup which is the sauce that you order. From there you can order add ons such as mushrooms, noodles, etc. I really enjoyed the signature sauce and the wide vermicelli noodles are a must. The house spicy was quite spicy so beware! I’ve ordered the live fish option and each time it’s been super fresh and the fish is soft and buttery.

Sweet and sour fish - if you can only get one dish here this is the one!! The chef must be a genius because this dish was gone in a flash and was everyone’s favorite. Even when we were stuffed full we were considering ordering another one.

For vegetables everything we’ve ordered has exceeded our expectations. I would recommend the fish flavored sautéed eggplant, dry fried green beans, and dry pot cabbage.

For desert I would recommend the pumpkin cakes

The servers and owners of this restaurant were so sweet and helpful. They gave us plenty of recommendations and came around to refill our fish dish with more soup when it was running low. There are tons of options on the menu and so far everything I’ve tried has been a hit.

Would recommend if you can to come with a large party to try out everything this restaurant has to offer. I will...