The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Manager Bonnie Shieh displays 'yellow bird,' Silver Wing's most popular dish.

Silver Wing sets down in the Cupertino Village

By Pam Marino

Silver Wing, a highly praised Chinese restaurant from Taiwan, took flight last year from Southern California and landed in Cupertino.

After 10 years in the San Gabriel Valley, the restaurant lauded by both the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times came to Cupertino Village at the corner of Homestead and Wolfe roads in September.

Bonnie Shieh, the manager of Silver Wing, said the restaurant started in Taiwan 55 years ago, where it is considered one of the top restaurants. The owner sent a chef to the United States to continue the tradition here.

Shieh said the chefs are trained to cook in a distinctive way that makes Silver Wing stand out from other Chinese restaurants.

The cuisine is Szechuan and Yang Chow; Shieh said Yang Chow is closer to Shang Hai style, "more tasty, more healthy." She said Silver Wing is the first restaurant in town to feature Yang Chow-style food.

One of the specialties is braised assorted vegetables with bean-curd skin, also known as a "yellow bird." It's a bean-curd skin filled with bamboo shoots, Chinese green vegetables, bean sprouts and mushrooms.

A noodle dish, called "cat's ears noodles," features noodles shaped just like curved cat's ears, cooked with different colored vegetables.

Another specialty found on the Chinese menu (there are two menus, one in Chinese, one in English) is an entire catfish--including head and tail--cooked in brown sauce, Szechuan-style.

"It tastes so good," Shieh said.

She said a group of employees from a neighboring high-tech company saw the dish being served to the table next to them. They asked what it was and then ordered it. Shieh said there was nothing but a pile of bones left when the table was cleared. The group has been back to order the dish again and again.

Shieh said the staff will gladly translate the Chinese menu for anyone interested.

The restaurant does a brisk lunch business, with 25 different specials priced from $4.95 to $7.75. Each special comes with the soup of the day, appetizers and fried or steamed rice.

"The quality and the quantity is the best," Shieh said.

Silver Wing also has hot and cold appetizers and egg foo yung, which she said not too many local restaurants serve, as well as dishes from a section called "Light and Healthy Vegetables," in which the vegetables are steamed, with sauce on the side. Silver Wing offers lots of seafood dishes, as well as beef, pork, poultry and vegetable entrees.

On weekends the restaurant serves Yang Chow-style dim sum.

The restaurant has a banquet room, with two tables that seat 12 to 15 people each. Shieh said the restaurant can put together package deals for groups. A banquet party menu is available.

The Silver Wing Restaurant is open Mondays through Fridays, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and on weekends, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. It is located at 10885 N. Wolfe Road in the Cupertino Village Shopping Center. 873-7228.

[ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ]

This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, June 10, 1998.
©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.