Dim Sum – Page 6

Guess the Dim Sum Restaurant – It’s Silver Ark

July 27, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

The Missus and I recently had some Dim Sum, and of course I automatically took some photos. But we arrived right at the end of Dim Sum service, and so we decided that perhaps we'd just delete these photos. Not that the Dim Sum was "tired", well some of it was……..

But then it came to me! It seems that everyone had fun with the Mid Week Mystery Market; so how about guessing the Dim Sum Restaurant? Same rules, first 7 Emails I receive that guess the correct Restaurant, I'll send you a cup of Peet's on me!

So let's get rolling, shall we?

The Jook was excellent, really rich, with lot's of preserved egg, and strips of pork instead of the usual ground pork.

But of course it could be that the porridge had been simmering away all day, gaining flavor. And all of the good stuff had sunk to the bottom. Which is what we got. But really good anyway.

The rest was average to mediocre. Except for one other dish that I'll reveal tomorrow.

I just realized that this one may be waaaay too easy, so I'll stop here.

My one clue? The restaurant is in San Diego County.

The rules are same as usual; one correct guess per IP address. First seven wins.

I'll finish the post, and have a few more photos, along with revealing the restaurant tomorrow evening!

Friday Morning Clues – You know, I've had some good guesses, along with some really excellent observations that I will add as clues. These will help those that have had Dim Sum in San Diego, and still are not quite sure which restaurant it is.

1 – Notice the Taro Gok, if you look toward the upper right you'll see some interesting clues.

2 – Same photo, notice how the fried taro balls are served. A certain Dim Sum house in San Diego serves it up differently, immediately removing that restaurant from contention.

3 – Notice how the tripe is cut; very thick. Also, some Dim Sum restaurants top the tripe with a red chili, removing that restaurant from contention.

4 – The best observation was made by Liver Bomb who noticed the mustard/chili dish. Talk about attention to detail!

So has anyone guessed correctly yet? Sorry, can't say…..

Friday Afternoon Clues – Just a photo of the Pan Fried Noodles with Seafood and some prices.

Pan Fried Noodle with Seafood($9.50):

Dim Sum Prices :

Small – $2.10

Medium – $3.20

Large – $4.20

Super – $6.50

Good Luck!

The Restaurant is…… Silver Ark, a restaurant that recently opened on Mira Mesa Boulevard.

Since we arrived at the end of Dim Sum service, we've decided to revisit when we have a chance. Our overall impression, is that the restaurant is a step below China Max, Emerald, and Jasmine. The Pan Fried noodles were pretty good, lot's of noodles, the scallops were good, though the shrimp was not of the highest quality.

But we'll definitely try Silver Ark again, and do a "real" post.

Silver Ark
8993 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

So how many correct answers?

One. Congrats Green Turtle!

Emerald Part II: Repeat or Redemption???

June 27, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

About eight months ago we visited Emerald, our then favorite Dim Sum house, and were very disappointed. At that time I dubbed the post Emerald Part I, so there had to be a part 2, correct? But it took us nearly eight months to recover from our lousy Dim Sum experience.

Now prior to our last visit Emerald had been re-opened for a month after a vent fire; and we figured that any service and food issues would have been resolved. We were badly mistaken. But since we’ve had a history of good fairly good meals(by San Diego standards) at Emerald, we were drawn back on a recent weekday lunch hour. We got to Emerald at about 1115, and the place was empty except for one table.

But, those Dim Sum carts were ready to go. And as soon as we were seated they zoomed over to our table. We started with one of my old favorites here; the tripe. On my last visit, it lacked the rich flavor and the "zip" that the chilies added. But here was my old favorite back to form(you can compare with our previous visit).

The flavor was still not as rich as I remember, but this was so much better.

The Steamed Bean Curd Roll was quite good. The broth was full of flavor, and there was lots of tasty pork in the roll. Not enough bamboo shoots and cloud ears for my taste. But the broth was so very good.

Har Gow. We usually don’t order these, but the Har Gow were very good. The wrappers had just the right amount of "pull". The shrimp had a nice flavor as well.

The Shrimp Dumplings suffered from brittle wrapper syndrome, but the filling had a good balanced shrimp and green onion flavor. We enjoyed these.

Woo Gok, the Deep Fried Taro Balls. And this time the filling was more balanced, and without a strong bitter flavor from using too much taro.

Still, they leave a bit too be desired. Too cold, and too mushy, but at least not oily.

The Shark Fin Dumpling was not so great. The filling was very hard and tough, and I swear I bit into a toenail!!!!

Overall, overcooked, dry, and lacking in flavor.

The Shrimp and Scallop Dumpling.

No complaints, other then the top of the wrapper being too thick. Just average in flavor.

The Shrimp and Chive Fried Dumplings. Well, when I took a look at these mis-shapen and broken dumplings, the first thought that entered my mind was, "what kind of Chef would allow something like this to leave His kitchen?"

The wrappers were lousy, the filling very good; lots of pungent chive, and just the right amount of shrimp. Does it make up for the horrendously bad wrappers….

It looks like Emerald is back on our "list", and it’s a heck of alot closer then Pearl; though still not quite as good. But still, much improved over our last visit.

Emerald Seafood Restaurant
3709 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Road Trip: Happy Harbor Restaurant – Rowland Heights(Los Angeles)

April 19, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum, Los Angeles County, Road Trip

A few months back I read Elmo’s post on Sea Harbor Restaurant on His wonderfully written Food Blog, Monster Munching. I even made to sure to stop by on a earlier visit, just to check it out and could not believe the crowd. A few months ago I heard that Sea Harbor had now become Happy Harbor, but that the Dim Sum remained pretty much the same. I emailed Elmo, and he confirmed that from He understood, Happy Harbor had retained the entire staff. So Happy Harbor became a "must try" on this trip.

We arrived before 10am and were silently "waved to" out table, and handed a picture menu and order sheet. The Dim Sum at Happy Harbor is done "menu style", so there was no jostling around, waiting around for carts "only-the-strong-and-hungry-will-survive-every-table-for-themselves" Dim Sum battles. Also, because the Dim Sum here is ordered off the menu, all Dim Sum strategy is thrown out the window. The key strategy being "timing", which is to plan your arrival early enough to beat the major crowds, but late enough so that the "good stuff" has already made it onto the carts. Arriving too early would often times mean that much of the "good stuff" would not have made it’s way onto the carts yet. None of that today for us, since we’re assured of getting whatever we wanted no matter how early we arrived.

Happyharbor02

There are some interesting menu choices at Happy Harbor(no Duck’s Tongue, though). Happy Harbor serves up what I call "New Style" (or Nuevo) Dim Sum, the sometimes innovative and interesting dishes that other popular Dim Sum places such as New Concept and Mission 261 now serve up. We placed our order and the server silently walked up, and picked up the order sheet and whisked it away. I could not get over how quiet the combination of sleepy looking customers and totally silent, stoic, Servers were. Somebody on another table sneezed, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I turned to the Missus and told Her, "I feel like I’m having Dim Sum at the library", fully expecting to be "shushed" by some ruler wielding Spinster.

Soon enough, our dishes started arriving. The first item arriving were the Vermicelli Noodles with Taro and Duck($8.80). I thought it odd that the noodles were served before everything else:

Fried sticks of taro, and slices of duck stir fried with vermicelli, the taro providing a sometimes unexpected "chew" to the dish. Not a bad dish, not oily, though nothing really great about it.

Shrimp and Chive Dumpling:

The shrimp was very, very, fresh, having retained a wonderful mild crunch, and flavor slightly sweet and briny. I could have used a bit more chive, but call it my crude desire for a bit of "oomph". The dumpling wrappers were on the brittle side, though this was a perfectly fine dumpling. Not Earth-shattering, but good.

Shrimp Cheong Fun:

The Missus and I looked at this when it silently floated to our table, and the first thought in our collective minds was; "geez, it looks like the plastic food in the windows of ramen houses". The sweet soy sauce, was delivered on the side, which I thought was a very nice touch. The shrimp was again top notch, no overt gummy cornstarch texture and flavor. The noodle severely lacked "pull", I want my cheong fun to have some pull, and a bit of chewiness to it. This version tore too easy.

Xiao Long Bao:

The Missus enjoyed the Xiao Long Bao, though I thought there was too little soup, and too much meat. The flavors were very nice; sweet and rich porky goodness. I wish there was more broth. This was served with simple black vinegar on the side. I liked the thickness and chewiness of the wrappers; not too thin, not too thick.

"Shark Fin – Phoenix Eye" Dumpling:

This reminded me of Terry Malloy from On the Waterfront saying; "I coulda been a contender." And it truly would’ve been. First off, most "Shark Fin" dumplings, do not have real shark fin, bean thread or something similar is used. This baby had strands of Shark Fin on it, though this amount of shark fin would not really affect the dumpling much, it provided some nice "eye candy". Under the shark fin laces was a wonderfully sweet slice of scallop, below which was a fairly large amount of perfectly cooked(again!!!) and very fresh shrimp. Talk about delici-yoso!!! The wrappers were the problem, they were very gummy, and sticky, tearing and sticking to everything, it was impossible to remove them from the dish intact, thus the dumplings never made it to our mouth in one piece, but a series of bites which detracted from what would have been one of the best Dim Sum dishes I’d have ever had. It coulda been a contender……

Pan-Fried Spinach Bun with Chicken and Shrimp:

The most interesting looking dish we had all day. A spinach steamed bun, is pan fried. Dig the groovy green! I thought it rather strange to be served with sweet-sour sauce, but it did work! The bun was so nice and fluffy, and not too sweet, with the caramelizing providing a nice mild crunch. I really couldn’t taste spinach, but the filling of chicken and shrimp, though on the mild side, worked in conjunction with the sweet sour sauce. Go figure! These were very good.

And the grand finale, Szechuan Style Goose Liver Wontons ($16.80 for 12):

Silently brought to the table and served. I don’t know quite what to say, other then delici-yoso!!! Each wonton was comprised of large half slices of shrimp(yes, again), with two to three little slivers of powerfully rich goose liver. Anymore goose liver would have made them too rich to eat. The broth was a simple stock flavored with chili oil, and there was an interesting amount of Sichuan Peppercorn as well(the little black dots). So rich, we could only finish 3 wontons a piece.

The only thing I’d do differently would be to order the "French style" Goose wonton, instead of the Szechuan style. I think simpler, clear broth would be better next time, and there will be a next time!

All told our bill came to $48, and the noodles and wontons comprised half of the bill. But I’m not going to give up those wontons. As we left the restaurant, the noise level had picked up, since tables were starting to get filled. But the strange thing is, from walking into the restaurant, to the delivery of take-out containers, to paying our check, not a word had been uttered to us by any Employee at Happy Harbor…..I guess they must be happy beyond words??? All hail silent Dim Sum service, another first for me courtesy of Happy Harbor.

Happy Harbor Restaurant
1015 Nogales St
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Here are some really lousy menu photos:

Xin Nian Kuai Le – Happy (Chinese) New Year!

January 28, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

Just to cover all the bases – Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Not much to say; just a few photos. Can you guess where this is from?

And of course we had to have a noodle dish:

I know it’s not quite New Years yet. But to quote the Missus, "New Years Eve is better; because that’s when we eat!"

Hope everyone is having a fun and safe weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

November 24, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

Happy Turkey-Day All. Since we already did our Chinese Roast Turkey. We decided not to do another Turkey for this Thanksgiving, though the thought did cross my mind. So instead we did "brunch" at Pearl.

And an excellent brunch it was. Of course we started with some Dim Sum:

The shrimp and chive dumplings were the same as the last visit, not fried enough and a bit greasy, and lacking enough chive, but the Taro Gok was also just as good as the last visit as well. Perfectly fried, salty masago on the top, and with a nice sweet scallop in each one.

The Haw Gow, though on the small side, were filled with plump shrimp, and very tasty. The shrimp siu mai, were better then expected, and again though on the small side, were very nice.

But the reason we decided to make the drive to Rancho Bernardo was this:

Currently, Pearl is running a special. Peking Duck for $18, quite a bargain! The duck was prepared well; each slice consisted of a skin and a bit of subcutaneous fat and meat. A dozen "buns", hoisin sauce, and slices of cucumber were provided. Overall pretty good, not oily, slightly rich, and the duck went well with the Pu-Erh tea we ordered.

Of course this was the typical "two dish" preparation and it came with the minced duck meat in lettuce cups:

The nice rich savory duck meat with diced water chestnuts, and other items, made this delici- yoso!!! What a bargain for Eighteen Bucks! The service at Pearl was again superb, our Host(ess), Jennifer made sure that our water was always filled, and even "comped" our tea, telling me Happy Thanksgiving. So I guess our last experience here was not just a one time thing. Our bill came to $34.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving meal, but it was missing one standard Dim Sum dish. One of the Missus’s favorite. So on the way home, we decided to make it for ourself! Can you guess what it is?

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Pearl

November 13, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

**** Pearl has closed

Having already visited the "Convoy Dim Sum" trinity of Emerald, China Max, and Jasmine, with mixed results, not to mention a horrible experience at Lucky Star. We decided to finally retry Pearl in Rancho Bernardo:

We'd first set foot here back in '04 when they first opened. At that time I thought they took a back seat to their sister restaurant Emerald; but based on recent comments here, I was made to believe that Pearl has overtaken Emerald.

We arrived and were immediately seated:

And in a flash we had tea, ice water, and the first carts arrived! Needless to say, I was impressed. We got some shrimp and chive dumplings:

These were very tasty with a nice shrimp and chive flavor, though the wrappers were a bit dry, but not a bad start.

Vegetarian Bean Curd Roll:

These rolls were filled with bamboo shoots and cloud ears fungus, the soy based broth was so very rich, and the chilies added a mild heat. These were excellent, both in taste and texture.

Fried Chive and Shrimp Dumplings, one of my favorites:

These were cold, which made them taste somewhat greasy, and the shrimp rubbery. I also noticed that these dumplings were somewhat smaller then I'm used to seeing, although there were 4 of them instead of the usual 3.

Shrimp Cheong Fun:

We really noticed the size difference with this dish. Though the noodle was cooked perfectly, slightly chewy, with a nice "pull" to it. These were quite small, and only had 2 small shrimp in each. About this time I noticed something; all these hard working servers were smiling; our water was being refilled on a regular basis. I really only needed to make eye-contact with a Dim Sum Lady, and she would make her way to our table. I was in total shock, was there some mind-altering hallucinogenic substance in my tea?

I was snapped out of my trance by the next cart with the Beef Tripe:

Now this was the tripe I remembered from Emerald, nice and crunchy, with a slight amount of heat from the chilies, in a slightly chicken flavored broth. Very nice!

Chao Zhou Dumplings:

These dumplings are a real challenge. In many cases the wrapper is not cooked correctly, and ends up being a sticky mess, with all the filling(chopped bamboo shoot, etc) falling all over the place. Not in this case, though. These were cooked well, and there were nice whole dried shrimp in each dumpling. Very well done.

At about this time, one of the Waiters came up to use and asked if everything was alright. What!!! In a move that I thought was tempting fate; the Missus mentioned that she hasn't seen any Fried Taro (Taro Gok). The Waiter quickly asked one of the "Ladies" something; turned to us, and said "We don't have any right now, but we can make some for you, how many would you like…." As soon as I was able to pick my jaw up off the floor, I choked out "Just one will be fine…".

As the Waiter left we were immediately scanning the room; this service made us really want to get more Dim Sum. Wait A Minute! That's what it was; Pearl was using "reverse psychology" to try and get us to order more Dim Sum!

Tofu in Chili Sauce:

Beautiful aren't they? But these are best admired from a distance. This had to be the sweetest chili sauce I've ever had. In fact, I couldn't taste anything for a while after eating this. Ick!

The Missus flagged down the dessert cart and got some desserts:

You'll have to ask the Missus how they were.

She said they were "just okay", before inhaling them……

Our blessed Fried Taro Ball:

These were brought to our table piping hot! Though on the smallish side each one of these were topped with Masago (Flying Fish Eggs), which added a nice saltiness, and hid a scallop inside! The pork and taro filling was mixed to the perfect ratio. These were among the best I've eaten – delici-yoso!!!

We also got Sticky Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf:

These were also on the small side, though like most everything else; was done very well. About this time the Waiter walked up to our table, and apologized for taking so long with the taro. Welcome to the Twilight Zone! Are we really eating Dim Sum? The Waiter also asked us if he could get us anything else….why? Because if you buy ten dishes you get two free!!! Amazing…. We ended up getting another order of sticky rice to go. The damage? $36.91, not bad really.

The last most surprising thing happened while I was waiting for the Missus, who needed to visit the Restroom before we left.

While I was standing "holding up the wall". One of the Waiters walked up to me. The little voice in my head went "oh-oh, here's where we come back to reality…" But he just wanted to make sure we got our free Dim Sum, and struck up a conversation, telling me to come back for dinner, and started showing me the "specials". He surely thought that I was a bit strange, looking back and forth. I was searching for the "hidden cameras".

Needless to say; this is the best service I've ever had in a Dim Sum establishment. It's as if the Dim Sum God was trying to make amends for all the lousy and mediocre Dim Sum experiences we've had recently. I'm going to have to return, to see if history will repeat itself!

In a nutshell Pearl on this visit provided excellent service, good Dim Sum with a contemporary flair.

Pearl Chinese Cuisine
11666 Avena Place
San Diego, CA 92128

Jasmine – Never Get Dim Sum When You’re Angry

November 3, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

Totally ticked off (ok, we were PO’d), having just endured our experience at Lucky Star. We were determined to get some Dim Sum, even if someone died (not us) in the process. Having dealt with that terrible experience we were now totally drawn into the web of total obsession. We decided to take a chance on Jasmine. We had not been to Jasmine in nearly 4 years; the main reason being the terrible service we had experienced there on two previous visits. In retrospect; "what the heck were we thinking?" I guess we were spoiling for a fight. We rolled into Jasmine at about 1145, I expected a wait, but apparently our timing was perfect. We were seated immediately, but the place was pretty much full.

We were served almost immediately, and in a minute, tea and ice water were on our table. And the roasted meat cart rolled by; so we got some roast duck:

The Missus ate a piece and told me how tasteless this was. So I ate a piece, and man, it was soooo salty! The Missus didn’t believe, and grabbed another piece; bit into it, and made the ultimate "lemon face". Apparently, sauce is poured over the duck. So the top portion is bland, but the bottom pieces were like a salt lick.

The Cheong Fun was up next:

Man the shrimp were huge in this. But the noodles were really too thick and gummy.

We also got some Chau Zhou Dumplings:

The fillings were pretty tasty with bamboo shoots, water chestnut and peanuts. Though I’m used to having these with dried shrimp in them. The wrappers were not made real well, they stuck to everything, so the dumpling just tore apart, with the fillings going everywhere except it’s designated destination.

The next cart up had Har Gow and other shrimp dumplings:

Both of these had huge shrimp in them.

But as you can see, the wrappers were a problem, the first one was rather dry, and the second was overly sticky, cracking, and the dumpling fell apart. Either they were not prepared well, or not cooked well.

But also on this cart was the seafood wrapped in cabbage. This was probably the best dish of the day. Tender and moist fish, a piece of "Krab", and Pork wrapped in a piece of Napa Cabbage, topped with Egg, and steamed in chicken broth. All items were cooked to perfection. In addition, you could distinctly taste every ingredient. Delici-yoso! About this time the "Jook" cart came by and we got some Congee with Pork and Preserved Egg, this was excellent as well! (Sorry no photo) Even though it looked too thick, it was fairly loose, with a nice rich and balanced flavor.

I was still a bit hungry, and so when the Oysters passed by we quickly got them:

These oyster were topped with Black Bean sauce, green onions, red chili, and steamed. Nice and beany, and a bit salty, not over-cooked as is the tendency with these. I was in "brine" heaven, though I enjoyed them more then the Missus. The saltiness almost reminded me of a mild caviar in it’s briny saltiness. I enjoyed the oysters.

At this point we hadn’t gotten any of our "usual suspects" except for the Cheong Fun. So, based on previous experience, would I push my luck? Well I did, and asked one of the Waiters if he could get us the Glutinous Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf. This was met with a stoic, unemotional nod. But within a minute it was delivered to our table:

I thought this tasted pretty darn good and balanced. The Missus believed it was just average. That kind of summed up our experience, a real "mixed bag".

But best of all, I thought the service was good. The Gals pushing the carts were very friendly and helpful, and they even smiled! So did the Gal who served us the tea, and made sure that our water was always filled. The Guys are a bit Stoic, though very professional. Oh, and we finished everything, except the god awful duck. Yes, the two of us polished off almost everything with ease. The total bill came out to $43.91, if I remember, small plates are prices at $2.20, Medium – $3.20, Large – $3.60, X-Large $4.20, and of course specials are priced at 6 bucks and up.

Oh, by the way, the Missus wasn’t done. She needed "something sweet to finish up the meal." So while I waited for the bill she exited Jasmine and walked next door to the take-out Jasmine Express, and she bought a good variety of goodies:

Don’t ask me how these tasted. They made my teeth hurt just looking at them. But she seemed to enjoy them.

Jasmine Seafood Restaurant
4609 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Emerald – Part 1, The Dim Sum of Everlasting Regret?

October 13, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Dim Sum

*** An updated post on Emerald can be found here.

Have you ever gone to one of your dependable, favorite restaurants, and have a very mediocre, maybe even lousy meal? There are few feelings of regret and disappointment that match the trauma of finding that "your" restaurant is possibly going downhill.

About a month ago I posted on a Dim Sum meal at China Max. In that post I mentioned a lousy meal at our favorite San Diego Dim Sum restaurant; Emerald. Emerald had just been re-opened for about a month, since being closed for several weeks following a vent fire. We figured a month would be enough time to straighten out any service and food issues, and made our way to Emerald on a Friday. We knew something was a bit "strange" when we entered at 1130 and found the place empty except for two tables!

After seated, we had to ask for tea! Talk about a bad start; things looked so very disorganized, I really couldn’t understand. Finally after about 10 minutes a cart was finally pushed in our direction from where they were parked by the kitchen.

BTW, our tea still hadn’t arrived…… But how was the Dim Sum? Well the Shrimp Ball stuffed Bean Curd was pretty lame, bland, and the frozen peas and carrots really didn’t do much for the dish. The Curry Chicken Siu Mai was well, too salty and dry. And the Shrimp Dumplings were bland, and the shrimp tough. Not a good start, but luckily the Pei-Dan Jook (Congee) cart made it’s way to our table:

Ok, but obviously over-thickened with corn starch. Only 2 pieces of preserved egg as well.

Next up, one of my personal favorites, tripe:

This was an average, mediocre, dish. The tripe had a nice crunchy texture, but the dish was lacking the former rich "brothy" taste, and if I remember, each little dish had a chili pepper in it that added a nice bit of "zingy" heat to the dish. At this point, I started doubting my own taste memory. Had it been so long since I’ve eaten here that my tastes had changed?

At that point we got finally got our Deep Fried Taro Ball:

We actually had to ask and wait for these. They came out piping hot, but were terrible! There was so much taro, that was slightly undercooked, and so very "gummy" and bitter! There was also very little pork in this.

We also got some Shrimp Cheong Fun, and favorite of mine:

I enjoyed the sauce, but the noodle was not cooked well and there was a slightly powdery texture to the noodle. Yuck…..

We also got the Sticky Rice in Lotus leaf:

Unfortunately, by this time we were both pretty disappointed and asked for a take-out container, and took this home. Ironically, this was probably the best dish of the day!

What a terrible visit to our favorite Dim Sum Restaurant in San Diego. At the time we called it quits, the tab came out to $29. I was so disgusted that I forgot to take a picture of the storefront; so this past weekend I drove by for my photo:

During this time I gave this meal some thought, and rationalized; perhaps Emerald had lost some of it’s Chef’s during this period? But the front of house staff were recognizable. The best "excuse" I got, was the "well you need to go on the weekend…", which I answered with, so if I did a lousy job for two-thirds of the time I work, and a good job for one-third, I should be considered a success? That’s weak and a load of you-know-what. I’m paying the same price as someone who eats on Saturday or Sunday.

In the end it came to this; we’re not every week type of customers, I don’t want to eat Dim Sum that often. It’s about 6-7 times a year. We’ve had many excellent meals at Emerald, and have been coming here since ’99, when I was doing consulting work in San Diego, and before we moved here. I don’t think we’ll give up on Emerald just yet, thus the Part 1, we’ll give it another shot in a few weeks and see what happens. Stay tuned………

Emerald Seafood Restaurant
3709 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

China Max – This Time it’s Dim sum

September 19, 2005 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, 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