Gum Kuo — Restaurant in Oakland

Ordered wonton with duck, black mushroom rice noodle and shrimp rice noodle.

Good Chinese not fancy comfort food.

12.95 wonton soup with duck. The wonton are perfect with pork and crunchy shrimp. There are 10 wontons in the bowl with two stalks of green choy sum veggie in a delicious broth. The dish came with 6 sliced pieces of house roasted duck that was good. 5 stars for this dish. YUMMY!

6.95 shrimp rice noodle rice noodle was prepared perfectly slippery smooth rice noodle with one shrimp in each section, dressed with soy sauce and sesame seed oil. Two rice noodle rolls cut in 3 each. 5 stars for the rice noodle but 3 stars for the filling because the shrimp was overcooked and chewy. The shrimp wasn't as good as in the wonton.

5.95 black mushroom and chives rice noodle: rice noodle itself was again perfect. I was expecting shitake mushrooms when I read black mushroom but the chef used HALF of a canned straw mushroom in each rice noodle section. I was disappointed in this dish as something is missing in the seasoning.

The rice noodle is good. Fillings were not up to my expectations.

Service is pretty quick after you order.

Tables are too close together for my comfort and not 6' apart. Waitress tends to space people apart when it is less crowded.

Waitress never came by to refill the complimentary tea, so you only get one cup of tea if you don't ask for it.

Atmosphere is lacking but the food is really good and reasonably priced.

A bathroom exists in the Plaza that one have asks the Waitress for a key. So you need to go outside of the restaurant to do that.

I would rather do take out here and eat in the comfort of...

I've had Gum Kuo on my list for quite a while and happy to have finally tried it today with my habibi :)

We came in at about 2pm on a Tuesday and place was pretty full - not too shabby! Only locals eat here so be ready to eat with chop sticks ;)

Their menu includes pretty much any choice you could ever want starting from soups, their versin of porridge, rice and noodle plates, main entrees, apetizers, egg dishes, sandwiches, any type of meat [chicken, pork, duck, beef etc] and plenty of seafood options. What doesn't it have really?

Prices are ah-ma-zzz-ing! So many great choices for under $10? WHOA! Don't miss their lunch specials for 7.5$ until 2:30pm!!!

Between the two of us we [over]ordered: beef mushroom rice roll bbq pork rice roll chicken fried rice salt and pepper shrimp

Gotta love their delicious rice rolls - just like the typical cheung fun but more rice rolls than usual and lots of meat stuffed inside. If you're ordering a main entre, 1 of these bad boys is more than enough if it's just two people sharing. My hubby preferred the beef and i loved the bbq pork :). Fried rice was delicious, not too oily and had that old school smoky flavor - it went well with their chilli sauce. Salt and pepper shrimp was good and fresh but just like plain dry shrimp dish it just didn't go with what we were eating - hubby's fault :P

Overall, service was fast and friendly, place is neat, food is delicious and prices are unbeatable. Highly recommend. Dying to come on a cold day to try their porridge :)

PS. They accept card payments for bills over 20$. No...

This is what a Cantonese dining experience is!!!

Disclaimer: I have eaten at this place since I was a child, I fell in love with the chang fun and the porridge here. So I was so sad when I heard from my own parents that this place was not as good and affordable anymore. So, after 4 years away from the military, I returned to try it with a critical eye.

It did not disappoint. The pork liver changfun (with out yellow chives) was soft and silky, while the pork liver was cooked and seasoned to perfection. It had a slight crunchy texture. The pork inards porridge was also really delicious with great flavors. The meat was perfectly cooked, pairing perfect with the Chinese doughnut. The wonton noodles were good, not amazing, but still objectively good.

The menu is large, not as cheap as its neighbors, and it is easy to order food that may not be as good, but trust men when I say to order the specialties. The changfun and porridge. When I sat down and looked at all the elderly people's table, it was all of those.

The specialties that are sold here are still one of the best I had in the world, including Guangzhou, Malaysia, Singapore, and other Asian speaking countries. I am still on a journey to find a good replacement. I will update...