Private Kitchen

After trying several times, we were finally able to get a reservation for our group of 7 on a Sunday night! We learned that that the best way to make a reservation was to use a chat app, otherwise calling the restaurant is hit or miss.
There were only 2 other groups at our dinner time, another table of 8 and a group of 4. The 3 total tables filled the restaurant and kept Mrs Yang, our hostess and wife of the chef busy the rest of the evening! They only offered 2 wines, but we brought our own for a $ 10 corkage fee.
Our first dish was the famous Xiao Long Bao, as others described. It’s a small, bite-​sized dumpling, filled with tender, savory ground pork, bathed in a rich stock, clothed in a soft wrap and steamed in a bamboo basket. What a first course!
Next came the Peking Duck. Crisp skin, succulent meat, well seasoned. It was served with finely juilienned fresh cucumber and scallions (great knife skills!) and the traditional sweet hoisin sauce. The rest of the duck was served in a separate platter, which was emptied in 5 minutes!
We also had the steamed fresh groupa fish. Traditional simple chinese style with sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger and scallions. True to our group, I wish I took an «after» picture to show you how well we cleaned off the fish bones!
We then had the tamarind crab, it was the most delectable crab I’ve ever had! Coming from Singapore where crab is king (I’ve had Chili crab, Black Pepper crab, salted egg yolk crab, steamed crab), this tamarind crab is to die for! Delicious mix of umami, sweet and salty, the crab was large and full of meat! Well seasoned, the flavor was full with every bite.
With the guidance of another friend who’s a regular, we ordered another of their specialties, the Lion’s Head Meatball (loosely translated). As Mrs Yang explained, this dish requires the most amount of time and effort! The meat is hand chopped, not machine ground. Seasoned, the made into meatballs the size of baseballs! They are stuffed into chicken and simmered for hours. The meatballs are served with the flavor infused broth and a single head of baby bak choy, all in a beautiful white porcelain bowl with it’s own wrought-​iron stand.
We also ordered the shrimp fried rice, which was al dente rice and not clumpy. We also had spicy tofu (similar to Ma Po Tofu) which was flavored with fermented beans and chili. The sweet and sour eggplant with green peppers was another hit. We lastly got a mushroom soup, with 3 kinds of mushrooms. It was simple, not oily, a perfect closer to the savory entrees.
For dessert, we had 2 kinds of dessert, the default is often the «potted plant». It’s a really artful serving of white porcelain bowl in a the shape of mini square vase. In it is selected vanilla ice cream that’s not too sweet or creamy, on top is a layer of semi-​sweet cocoa granules, with a single baby carnation sitting the middle, creating the potted plant appearance. Brilliant, playful. The other dessert we got was the housemade, traditional, fermented sweet rice with tapioca pearls. This was a hit! A perfect, truly final closer to our Shanghainese gastronomic experience!
Our 10 course meal came up to less than $ 40 per person for a group of 7. Truly a steal for such culinary extravaganza! Each dish had it’s own unique flavor. Unlike many places, where one sauce was used for everything and most dishes tasted the same, the food here at Private Kitchen clearly shines through with the Yang’s love for the preparation and presentation of meals as a labor of their passion.

The chef has a very unique and amazing story besides the fact that he cooks like a Michelin star cook. Each dish is prepared fresh that day. He takes all day to cook the dinner that is why there is no lunch menu. It feels home cooked including the ice cream. Nothing like anything Chinese I have eaten. My favorite place so far. If you ate at a place like this in New York you would pay $$$$$ for this food. I know I would.

Thoroughly enjoyable dinner. Great timing as to the delivery of all the dishes we ordered. We had a table of 8 and it worked perfectly with the lazy susan for a family style dinner. Presentation on the spicy lobster dish was very unique with the carved dragon head and tail out of carrots. The spicy beef and kung pao chicken was delicious. Very friendly hosts. Requires some planning ahead since it is reservation only and you must pre-​order your meal.

Food is very delicious and beautifully plated, but still doesnt warrant that high price tag. I ordered five dishes for three people, no seafood, one vege dish whose portion was intentionally small to look like french cuisine, one steamed buns, one beef dish and two lion head meatballs (very tasty). I paid $ 80 and left with a half filled stomach.

Came here with my sister and brother in law on a recent trip to St Louis. The food was amazing! When I called to set up my reservation, Lawrence, the owner and chef asked me what I wanted to order so that he could buy the ingredients the day of for extra freshness. It was an interesting experience that I’d never had before in the states for a full meal, and added to the anticipation. Also, clever business model! We started with the steamed dumplings which were hot but so flavorful, especially with the vinegar sauce, that it was totally worth the scalding! Then came the peking duck, which came with little rice buns and plum sauce for sandwiches. The skin was so crispy and the meat so juicy that my sister giggled in enjoyment as she ate it. It was that good. That one had to be ordered two days in advance, which was fine, as they require reservations. Then came Chinese broccoli, which looked like broccoli rabe in a sweet sauce, black pepper beef, which was cubed and maybe fried? also in a sweeter sauce and finally shrimp with the heads still on. We were encouraged to eat the shell and it was totally worth it! Added a bit of crunch! The rest of the duck, which wasn’t immediately served, was turned into a broth for the end of the meal. No waste! The owner’s wife is the only wait staff and it gets a bit crazy when all the tables were full (on a random Monday night!), but she handled it well. Overall an excellent meal, if a little sweet. Would strongly recommend.

I just want to cry when I see General Tso’s chicken & other Americanized Chinese dishes offered at a joint like this. Yes, it is true. There’s an entire page in the menu dedicated to Americanized Chinese dishes. Just only 6 tables inside this tiny place. The wife I assume serves & gets the food, while the husband I assume cooks. I agree with previous review about the Peking Duck being delish. However, & a big however, I was told by the wife that the duck must be ordered 2 days in advance. He makes it from scratch. Super cool. The menu is in Chinese for the most part. The food was just bleh for me. Very bland tasting IMHO. Maybe it was because we (my parents & I) didn’t order the right things. The only things that I did like were the duck soup (made from the bones in a white soup base) & the Peking Duck with steamed pancakes. For about 5 dishes, the price of this dinner came to about $ 70. This place doesn’t take all credit cards (I forget which ones). I don’t know if I’ll ever come back here again.

I would agree with the previous review that many of the dishes can be found on other Chinese menus. However what sets Private Kitchen’s apart is that they are being made by one man, to order, with a more personal and delicate taste.
We ordered Peking Duck (need to order in advance). This was delicious!
The other orders we made upon arrival so we could view the menu. The menu does change according to what is available.
We also had the black mushrooms with Bok Choy, soup dumplings, and spicy bean curd.
Overall we were al delighted with the food. It was delicious and beautifully presented.
They do not currently have a liquor license.

We expected to enjoy high quality, home-​style Chinese food in unusual environments but the whole experience was just alright.
Unlike the true «private kitchens» which usually operate out of office buildings or obscure corners of a residential region and have little or no signage, this is another ordinary Chinese restaurant among those on olive Blvd. No specific address to track down, no referee persons needed, all that you have to do is to make a booking and order through a mobile chat application.
A quick read-​through of their menu you will see they do not offer special or season-​driven items. Most of the menu items are also available in other Chinese restaurants. Food here are of much higher prices.
We were led to our table by the hostess and a teakettle was ready. Her husband started making the food we pre-​ordered once we were seated. They were probably aware that tea is an integral part of the meal, but we all could tell it was a cheap tea by a sniff.
The food is based on traditional Shanghainese and Northeastern China cooking. We had slow-​cooked pork knuckle, steamed chicken, sweet and sour fish (squirrel fish) and bean curd with crab roe. The presentation was good, and ingredients were fresh. The pork knuckle was well done, collagen rich but a little grease-​laden. The sizzling squirrel fish was crispy and coated in homemade sauce. We believed it would be better if perked up with more tartness. The other two were just mediocre.
One star off for being over-​rated and extraneous mystery. One star off for being over-​priced.