China Max – This Time it’s Dim sum

I know I’ve done China Max already. In fact, China Max was my first post back on May 26th, almost 4 months ago. We ended up at China Max because of a terrible visit to our favorite Dim Sum restaurant Emerald which I’ll post in the near future.

Because that visit did not satisfy our craving, we needed to get some Dim Sum ASAP. I really wasn’t in the mood for the hustle and bustle and Darwinist tendencies that are displayed in a "cart-style" Dim Sum restaurant, so this left China Max as our only choice.

I had tried the Dim Sum at China Max on a previous visit, and had not been overly impressed. All the items were very well presented, but I thought that the flavoring of the Dim Sum was very mild and bland. We entered the restaurant hoping that this visit would be more successful than our last Dim Sum experience. At China Max you order your Dim Sum by checking off items on a sheet of paper. You can make your choices by using the colorful menu as your guide (ooooh pictures!!!). We made our selections and waited:

The first item to arrive was the Taro Gok. When we opened up the taro we noticed nice chunks of pork and the nice and light exterior. There was a problem with this, though; it was lukewarm, almost cold. Served in this manner the dish is most unpalatable. The Missus would not stand for this! She called the Waiter over and explained the situation; the Waiter very nicely insisted that this is the way this is served. Of course my Wife would not stand for that! I could see her hand starting to grip her chopstick; in other words if the Waiter kept up this line of BS, he’d be leaving the table with a pair of chopsticks sticking out of his neck. Luckily, for his sake he decided to replace this dish and all was well.

The Salt and Pepper Squid were next:

Slices of squid are battered and fried, then fried again with garlic, chilies, and pepper. Though some of the pieces were burned to a black, this dish was good. The squid was tender and the seasoning was perfect.

The Shark Fin dumpling were next:

These dumplings were stuffed with bean thread, Krab, and other goodies. As with most items here, the taste was fairly mild, but in this case it worked perfectly! You could taste all of the ingredients. My only gripe is that the wrappers were a bit dried out, but the filling was really nice and moist.

Next up, my Wife’s favorite. Steamed sticky rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf:

This is one of The Missus’s "baseline" dishes, along with the taro. This version had a generous amount of pork, along with an egg yolk and lup cheong. The flavoring had permeated the rice so that it was completely seasoned though very mild in taste. About this time our replacement Taro Gok was brought to the table. This time it was steaming hot, with large chunks of pork. And not a trace of oil! There was a bit of bitterness from the taro, but as a whole it was very light and good.

Next up was what I was waiting for; the Pan Fried Chive Dumplings:

The wrapper of these dumplings were nice and crusty with a little bit off pull. The dumplings were stuffed with alot of chive and shrimp. The chives were perfect, not bitter in the least bit. I chowed these down in a minute!

The Fried Seaweed rolls were next:

Two of the rolls were badly burnt, and thus bitter. At this point we didn’t feel like complaining any more so we just left these alone.

The last dish was Cheong Fun with shrimp:

These were stuffed with large shrimp, and the "noodle" was prepared and cooked perfectly. There was just the right amount of "pull" in the noodle. If I were to have one complaint about this dish, it would be that there was not enough "sauce" provided, what little there was tasted nicely sweet and salty. A very good dish otherwise.

If I were to use one word to describe the Dim Sum at China Max, it would be "light". All the dishes are pretty mild in flavor, and not oily in the least bit. Our lunch set us back $32, not bad at all! Other than the burnt Fried Seaweed Roll and the Taro Gok "blip" the dishes were good enough for a return Dim Sum visit in the future.

China Max
4698 Convoy Street #C101
San Diego, CA 92111