Chef Andy Shih of newly opened The Upper House restaurant trained with several well-known Chinese chefs before moving to Southern California. He has been cooking his signature food for the last 28 years here in the United States. In his first years, stateside, he was the head chef of the beloved Chen's Sichuan restaurant in Thousand Oaks. Afterwards opening restaurants in San Diego and Riverside County.
 
Chef Andy is expertly skilled in creating layers of flavors in each of his dishes. A favorite is our fish with black bean sauce, delicious for lunch or dinner.
Chef Andy isn't afraid to break typical Chinese cooking norms.  His Special Tofu dish is another example made with bean curd based in a brown sauce. 
The unexpected treat is that the entire dish is covered with delicately pan-fried crispy egg cakes. Like to have a surprise? Try Fried Rice Vermicelli in Singapore Style, the rice noodle dish of angel-hair pasta, shredded vegetables, shredded pork in a light curry sauce, Chef Andy's moist and flavorful version is one of the best!
 
Chef Andy's wife is Ava Ni who specializes in traditional Chinese desserts - a menu that includes Boba milk tea/coffee, healthy fresh fruit smoothies, hot drinks and hot desserts.  Most notable of all the desserts is our Milk Snow Shaved Ice.  The Upper House is the first and only establishment to carry this refreshing Taiwanese dessert in Claremont.  To give you an idea of how refreshing and airy this dessert is, milk snow shaved ice in Taiwanese is called Xue Hua Bing which literally translates to " Snow Flake Ice ".  Made by freezing milk in cylinders, then, a special machine shaves the ice into fluffy mounds.  There are a variety of topping flavors to choose from, it also comes with condensed milk and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.
 
Don't wait, treat yourself today to a complete authentic Chinese meal at The Upper House open daily located at 352 Indian Hill at Arrow Highway in the Pepper Tree Center.
 
William C. Hou | The Upper House