The Midnight Diners is a regular collaboration between KQED food editor Luke Tsai and graphic novelist Thien Pham. Follow them each week as they explore the hot pot restaurants, taco carts and 24-hour casino buffets that make up the Bay Area’s after-hours dining scene.

Tucked away in an unassuming suburban neighborhood in San Leandro, the 88 Manor Market shopping plaza had all but shut down for the night by the time we pulled up at 10:30 p.m. on a recent Friday. The Asian grocery, the chicken phở spot next door, the boba shop, the beauty parlor — all already closed for hours. Just a single storefront was still brightly lit up, bustling with a packed dining room full of hungry customers bent over steamers full of juicy soup dumplings and piping-hot bowls of noodles — an enticing offer as o

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