Porridge & Things 文哥潮庭粥品 @ Millbrae

The more I travel to San Francisco, the more restaurants I find that will let me miss home less. This trip, I found a Teochew claypot porridge place that is popular in Shenzhen.

Millbrae is a city located in northern San Mateo County, right by SFO. So when I transit to go to the next city in US, I usually stop by here to get over the jet lag and time difference. And very often on the way back to Singapore on a long trip, I would miss Chinese food.

Porridge & Things in Millbrae specialises in Teochew and Cantonese comfort food. I am Teochew and this place is one of the few places in the Bay that serves Teochew style food which I think is quite authentic.

I came specially for their porridge as it was a cold evening, and when I saw the live tank of crabs and fish, I was assured that the porridge would be good.

I liked that they were playing streaming videos from Hong Kong channels on the flatscreens hanging on all four sides of the walls. There were a couple showing NBA, but the overall atmosphere could make one believe you are in Hong Kong, given that almost 100% of the customers were all Asians, and the staff spoke Cantonese.

文哥招牌蝦蟹粥 Signature Crab & Prawn Sawo Porridge

The signature crab and prawn sawo porridge was delicious, and the portion was huge for two persons. The porridge was flavourful, and the seafood was fresh and perfectly cooked. The porridge was rather thick although it had a nice sweetness from the seafood.

大蜆蒸水蛋 Steamed Eggs with Fresh Clams

This is Darling’s favourite dish, and she orders it whenever it is on the menu. The steamed egg was perfectly, loaded with umami from the shellfish, and saltiness from the sauce. The Venus clams, however, was precooked and added to the egg so it was overcooked by the time the egg was set.

潮式滷水鵝 Teochew-style Braised Goose

I was immediately attracted to this dish as we don’t get goose in SiIngapore. The braised goose was very meaty, dried out and salty. The braise was very flavourful, a perfect companion to the porridge if it’s plain porridge. I would prefer that they slice the goose meat thinner, like how they would do it in Hong Kong. It was served lukewarm, it would be better if the sauce was heated up a lot more.

腐乳炒通菜 Water Spinach Sautéed with Fermented Tofu

And finally, a simple sautéed kangkong with fermented tofu a la Hong Kong style. I was simply happy that I can get these food here.

The porridge was expensive but it was good value for the sheer volume and amount of ingredients added in it. I’ve really enjoyed all the food I’ve ordered that evening and do look forward to more visits here in the future.

Porridge & Things 文哥潮庭粥品
235 Broadway, Millbrae, CA 94030
Tel : +1 (650) 692-2992

Visited May 2025