I saw a post on IG about the “Best Quality Daughter” here at the Pearl Brewery in San Antonio. It was voted as top 10 places to try according to USA Today readers. It’s an asian/american eatery and a San Antonio foodie spot I definitely had to try! My favorite type of food is Asian Fusion and there’s not a lot of place like that here in San Antonio.
This place use to be a BBQ joint before that I was going to try out, but when I arrived there with my wife they were closing already and never got the chance to try it. Well, everything happens for a reason, right!?
We started off with some mochi cheddar hush puppies that were out of this world. Never really had anything like it before. It’s like an elevated cheese stick that will want you coming back for more. I wish I would have gotten a picture of these babies, oh well! Will have to go back…
We also ordered some karaage chicken, which is a japanese fried chicken if you’ve never had it before. I’m a big sucker for fried food and always have to order this in any place that serves them. They were cooked just right, nice and crunchy on the outside and tender / moist on the inside, with just the right seasoning. They had this green dipping sauce that paired with it perfectly! I don’t remember what this, as I’m writing this post more than a year after visiting this place, sorry.
We also ordered some impossible pot stickers, which was a vegan option. I’m not a big fan of vegan food, but with this you have to make an exception :). They use shiitake mushrooms, ginger and a nice dipping sauce to go along with it. I love pot stickers as well, they are one of my favorite things to eat and yes I know it may seem like everything is my favorite lol I grew up eating a lot of dumplings with my family and my Mom use to make them homemade before and you can never go wrong with homemade dumplings.
I love steam fried dumplings, if that’s the right name for it. Basically when they add a little oil to the pan to fry the bottoms first before adding in water with a little bit of flour to finish steaming them through. It give you a nice chewy and crispy element.
For our main courses we ordered the super garlicky noodles and the salt and pepper shrimp. If you’re a big fan of garlic, like us, you will love these super garlicky noodles. As the name implies, they were super garlicky. The added a perfectly cooked sunny side up egg, topped with roasted peanuts, sesame seeds, green onions and cilantro, yumm!
The salt and pepper shrimp was on point as well. Another fav haha. We typically go to this other authentic chinese restaurant to order these, which is called Phoenix Cafe off of West Ave. This place has been around for ages and we’ve been going to it since we were kids.
It hold a lot of good family memories as well. They just recently sold the business unfortunately, but! The previous owners are still helping run it and the food hasn’t changed, thankfully! There are some items we use to always get that they are not serving anymore, for instance the dim sum.
They usually take longer to make and would have to order in a larger quantity for them to make them, because not a lot of people order it. It seems that they got hit pretty hard during the pandemic, but will not go into it here as I don’t know the full story. Will definitely have to post another story just for them.
Anyways, back to the salt and pepper shrimp. This is another fried favorite that’s partnered with scallions, chilies, garlic and a thai chimichurri. Never had them with a chimichurri before, but it went well with this dish. All the dishes we tried had a great Asian fusion twist to it, which I loved.
So, if you’re looking for a great Asian fusion restaurant in San Antonio, definitely stop by The Best Quality Daughter! It will not disappoint. The other thing I must mention is the atmosphere of the place. It was very unique and had a cool vibe to it. Each section had a different style and makes you feel like you’re in another place. I remember the waiter saying there was a reason to this, but can’t remember what that was.
Oh forgot to mention the dessert. How could I forget that … We tried both of the dessert sandwiches, which were the mango coconut sherbet sandwhich and the milk oolong ice cream sandwich. These were a good finish to our meal here and were very refreshing and love the added touch of the fried sandwich. Not sure what it was made of, but I’m thinking bao buns???
Again, don’t hesitate and go try this place out now! If you do end up going, please share your own experience with us! We’d love to hear it.
