dim sum Archives - Pechluck's Food Adventures

Dim Sum in the SGV at King Hua Restaurant

April 28, 2015 by Pechluck 8 Comments

As I covered in my other post, since my youngest sister lives in Los Angeles California, I tend to get down there at least once or twice a year. Every visit, there is inevitably a visit to Thai Town and eating Thai food, which I covered a bit in my last post with a look at Isaan Station. The other certainty is that I will get to the San Gabriel Valley, also known as SGV.

Located to the east of the Los Angeles area, Asian immigrants have been settling into this area for more than 150 years. In fact, SGV has the highest concentration of Chinese Americans in the US, and in general SGV is one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the country. There are approximately 2 million people living in the 400 square miles that is the San area.

Besides the Chinese, other ethnic groups who call this area home include Vietnamese-, Korean-, Filipino-, Japanese- (notice all the hyphens) Americans. So yes, a super Asian-American area, but also the home to Armenian-Americans and Native-Americans and a large Latino-American contingent. Latino actually outnumber the Asians and together the Asian and Latino Americans outnumber all others in this area to be the non-white majority. There’s even a SGV For Life brand that celebrates this mix of the life here that is a mix of Latino and Asian American cultures.

The SGV boasts not only many minority ethnicities, but also multiple generations since the original immigration. After all, there are people descended from those have been settling here since the last 1800s and early 1900s, as well as newer settlers from a few decades to just arrived recently.

One of the side benefits of this area is the amazing food here. You can find food that is deep in its roots to its native heritage. Many times the dishes are almost exactly the same as if you have traveled to that country’s roadside restaurants, thanks to the ethnoburbs here that are built in demand and financial support for such food businesses (both in terms of groceries and prepared foods like bakeries and restaurants). People in the SGV are very proud of their strong cultural foundations that persevere outside their historical country.

Roast duck. Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles. BBQ Pork. Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles

At the same time, you can find new perspectives thanks to the large population of ethnic-Americans who take their history and culture along with their 1st and 2nd and 3rd generation American experience and update it to the 20th and now 21st century. Flavors and presentations and service evolve as they continue to pass it on to the next generations with better ingredients and bringing in new techniques and ideas from the culinary world.

An example of this is the intermingling of flavors such as the famous Kogi BBQ, which here in Portland is represented by KOi Fusion. The idea is mixing up burritos and tacos with marinated Korean grilled meats but without sacrificing the original strong and distinctive flavor profiles from which inspiration came from – no “Americanized” food here.

Another example is a newer updated dim sum experience that is emerging. The traditional dim sum has the iconic women and men, usually in little vests and bow ties (I don’t know why…) pushing carts through the dining room. As they arrive at each table, they pause to sell you their items from that cart, letting you peek at what mysteries they may have in their steamer containers and dishes. You get immediate satisfaction of taking that very container onto your lazy susan turntable on your dining table, and with a quick pick of your chopsticks, enjoying it mere minutes after seeing it.

There is no menu during traditional dim sum – just the adventure of ordering based on what you see and maybe a few ingredients that may be shared by the cart’s server. It may end up being described as simply as “shrimp” or “chicken”… But buyer beware because what is described as “fried taro” turns out to not be vegetarian because it also has the surprise ingredient of pork throughout. Yes, eating dim sum is pretty much a vegetarian nightmare. You wind up accidentally eating meat or one of the few vegetarian options pointed out to you is the dish to the right below- “gluten”.
Taro cake. Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles Taro filled sesame balls and Gluten dish (vegetarian). Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles

A few stamps or scratches of a pen onto your dim sum card to add those plates (which come in generally small, medium and large sizes and prices for S, M, L and SP -Special) and the carts move on. As you eat your eyes scan for the next cart. It means there may be no order to what you get to eat as it’s up to the whims of the pushcart timing and routes to where you are sitting. Some food may be fresher than others. It also pretty much means you have no idea what the final bill is until the head server comes does the math.
rice noodle rolls (cheong fan. Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles Shrimp and pork dumplings, shu mai. Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles

Newer generations don’t have this patience. I have seen some people get up and hunt down their desired dishes as they walk to carts they see, semi “cutting in” on the route – but also ensuring it doesn’t run out and is still hot and fresh by the time it arrives on our turntable.

Thankfully, some restaurants have updated the traditional dim sum process by offering menus when you are seated so you can also mark off everything and anything you want (taking a cue from filling out sushi and sashimi cards from the Japanese restaurants perhaps). Some of those menus even helpfully have photos to help you recognize items you want, just like when the cart lady lifts the top off a container.
Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles

Anything ordered from these menus is then made to order and delivered straight to your table, guaranteeing the desired dim sum dishes. You can imagine this is probably a great cost-savings to the kitchen as well in making things that they know people will definitely eat, rather than having some items get pushed around in carts, getting cold and tossed.

I certainly love the ability to see and get everything and anything among the offerings of they are all listed on a menu. But, I still like the adventure of cart service top, including not knowing what surprises lie under the lid, and I like the personal service of the carts rolling to the table and the cart lady pointing out items that you haven’t had that are new to her cart, or that she thinks you might like.
Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles

King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, one of the neighborhoods inside the SGV, was my stop with my family for Saturday lunch during my latest trip. King Hua bridges the divide between the traditional and modern dim sum by offering both of what I described above, so definitely the best of both worlds. Their dim sum menu is also massive, with more than 130 options. They even have six options for your tea to go along with your dim sum.
King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, dim sum menu.

With a mix of 5 of us ordering (my brother, who always over-orders, my new brother-in-law who at least had been to King Hua before, myself, and then 2 vegetarians peering a the menu on their own) and a total of 10 of us at the table, the photos you’ve seen throughout are some but not all the dishes that landed on our table. Several dishes as you can guess we had multiples of, and you can also be sure that there were times I had no idea what I was about to eat. There were familiar dishes that are staples of dim sum, and new dishes that I haven’t seen since being in Asia or just ever.
Roast duck. Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles

My own favorites in ordering dim sum always include shimp dumplings (har gow), shrimp and pork dumplings (shu mai), rice noodle rolls (cheong fan), steamed spare rib, Shanghai soup dumplings if available, taro or turnip cake if available, wrapped crab claws if available, roast duck, crispy pork, and garlicky stir fried greens like ong choy or bok choy or Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan) as usually the lone vegetable plate on the table.

As always, dim sum starts slow, usually with a few dishes picked off a cart, as the dishes ordered from the menu eventually begin to arrive. Then more and more of the ordered dishes come, and there are more carts visiting that you may pick some dishes here it there still. Now becomes a bit of a race and spatial puzzle in trying to fit dishes on the turntable and finish some dishes to stack or get the container off the table as you try to courteously spin the lazy Susan turntable to share dishes.

One thing I also really liked about King Hua is that several of the pastries they offered to cut into smaller portions for sharing. This is a great strategy as particularly the buns with that bread can be filling so you want to share so you can get more variety as part of your meal.
Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles. One thing I also really liked about King Hua is that several of the pastries they offered to cut into smaller portions for sharing Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles. One thing I also really liked about King Hua is that several of the pastries they offered to cut into smaller portions for sharing

I liked the touch of putting the soup dumplings in individual containers to make sure there is no sad loss when trying to roll these out of the steamer and accidentally breaking it, and watching that precious delicious soup filling bleed from the dumpling being lost instead of filling your mouth.
Shanghai Soup Dumplings. Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles

Another particular favorite was that there were 2 versions of Egg Custard Tarts – a more yellow another orangish one (#67 and 69). Both were great, though I lean towards the King Hua egg custard version.

King Hua egg custard tarts. Dim sum at King Hua Restaurant in Alhambra, a mixture of push carts and being able to order off the menu for the best of both worlds in dim sum eating adventures in Los Angeles

A newly discovered favorite is a dim sum item that I’m sure is a special edition to showcase bringing together the old and new: King Hua Baked Chicken Salad buns. Yum. That’s not something you see at a dim sum usually!

Overall, a successful dim sum adventure for my family and I at King Hua. If you are in the Los Angeles area, I highly recommend you do a search for some good eats in the San Gabriel Valley and give the area a try: there are so many possibilities, including listings from LA Eater’s guide to the SGV, a list by LA Weekly of restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, FoodRepublic’s 13 Best Dishes East San Gabriel Valley, Time Out Magazine did a listing based on whether you are looking for breakfast, lunch, or dinner among some of the many resources out there.

Have you been to dim sum? What would you prefer, push cart service or being able to order from a menu list? Are there any particular dim sum favorite dishes you have?

Did you know about the San Gabriel Valley, and have you been in that area of LA?

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Restaurant Review, Travel Tagged With: #dimsum, #ladimsum, #ladining, #laeats, #lafood, #traveltuesday, Asian American food, barbecue pork, bbq pork, cheong fan, Chinese bbq pork, dim sum, Egg Custard Tarts, King Hua Baked Chicken Salad buns, King Hua Egg Custard, King Hua Restaurant, LA Dim Sum, LA Eats, los angeles, Los Angeles Eats, Los Angeles food, rice noodle, rice noodle roll, Rice Noodles with Shrimp, roast duck, roasted duck, San Gabriel Valley, San Gabriel Valley dim sum, SGV, shanghai soup dumpling, Shanghai Soup Dumplings, shrimp and pork dumpling, shrimp dumpling, shu mai, soup dumplings, steamed dumpling, Taro cake, Travel Tuesday

Boke Bowl Dim Sum

January 12, 2015 by Pechluck 8 Comments

I only visited once so I don’t think I’m ready to really review the new Boke Bowl dim sum service, which is only a month or so old at this point. However, I thought I’d share a few photos of what some of the possible offerings you would see. Dim Sum is only available at the Boke Bowl West location, which is at 1200 NW 18th (cross street is Northrup, right along the trolley line), and is only served from 11 AM – 3 PM on Saturday and Sundays.

Although dim sum is available, you can also still choose to order from their regular ramen menu and such as well. For a winter special they are offering a duck ramen (which you see here with the add in of fried chicken and their orange dot sauce, a pickled mustard seed in aioli base) and they have a vegetarian ramen option with Caramelized fennel dashi and add in of brined smoked tofu).
Boke BowlDuck ramen which is a winter special ramen, seasonal veggies are the Brussels sprouts and butternut squash. I upgraded the ramen with the add in of fried chicken with their orange dot sauce, pickled mustard seeds in an aioli base sauce . Boke Bowl vegetarians ramen bowl with Caramelized fennel dashi and add in of brined and smoked tofu Boke Bowl Duck ramen which is a winter special ramen, seasonal veggies are the Brussels sprouts and butternut squash. I upgraded the ramen with the add in of fried chicken with their orange dot sauce, pickled mustard seeds in an aioli base sauce

If you haven’t experienced Boke ramen yet, I think it is very tasty especially if you want to take a vegetarian and if you are ok and even want to try a fusion style that is not traditional ramen in any way and set your expectations accordingly. For instance, I always always get the fried chicken add in, not just for the chicken protein but to add the ODS sauce flavor to the bowl.

Reservations and take out are not available for dim sum- and just like most dim sum service, there are carts (two that I saw) that are wheeled around the dining space and as you select from what they have, there may be more replenished into the cart at any time.
Boke Bowl dim sum at Boke Bowl West, only on Sat and Sun 11 - 2, this cart is being pushed and serviced by Boke man Brannon Riceci himself The steamed dim sum cart at Boke Bowl dim sum at Boke Bowl West

The food plates are simply priced by the size of Small, Medium, and Large, and so a stamp on a dim sum card is how they count and calculate the price of what you have eaten. There is a whole page of cocktails as well.
Menu at Boke Bowl dim sum at Boke Bowl West, only on Sat and Sun 11 - 2

And that cocktail list includes this amazing Boke Bloody Mary, which includes Baiju, fennel dashi, fish sauce, lime, tomato, and Boke fried chicken
Boke Bloody Mary with Baiju, fennel dashi, fish sauce, lime, tomato, fried chicken at Boke Bowl dim sum

For a simpler cocktail option, you might consider the refreshing Boke Buzz, house bottled and carbonated highballs. There are a few to choose from- this is the Whiskey Coco with bourbon, coconut, lime, and palm sugar
Boke Buzz, house bottled and carbonated highballs, this is the Whiskey Coco with bourbon, coconut, lime, and palm sugar from Boke Bowl

Unlike many dim sum restaurants though, I was really pleased to see there were several dim sum options that are marked as being vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free, which you will not always see! I can never get F to dim sum because there are literally only a handful of options for him usually at a traditional dim sum, but at Boke Bowl Dim Sum half the options are fair game for a vegetarian. Many popular dishes, such as hum bao, lotus wraps, sui mai etc. have both a meat version and a veggie version so your vegetarian can also have a full dim sum experience.

As they wheel the carts around and tell you their options, remember that not all the options may be at one of the carts at once so you probably want to check out the carts more than once to see what is new. You can also ask if there are certain dishes you are looking for and if they are not too in the weeds they may be able to bring it directly to you.

Their take on Chicken and Waffle (gluten free) with yeast rice cake and Boke fried chicken, these disappear quickly from the carts!
Their take on Chicken and Waffle (gluten free) with yeast rice cake and Boke fried chicken at the Boke Bowl dim sum at Boke Bowl West, only on Sat and Sun 11 - 2

Super chubby sui mai dumplings, these are with pork and shrimp, but there is also a vegan vegetable version
Super chubby sui mai Dumplings at Boke Bowl dim sum at Boke Bowl West, only on Sat and Sun 11 - 2

Turnip cakes can either be vegan and gluten free, or get it with ham like this version
Turnip cakes with ham at Boke Bowl dim sum at Boke Bowl West, only on Sat and Sun 11 - 2

Shrimp rice noodles, there are also options of pork or gluten free vegetarian for the filling. On my visit the rice noodles were thick and still tough like they hadn’t been fully cooked, but it was their first weekend of service so I would try it again. There is a tray of various sauces you can add to your food- make sure you are not shy about using it.
Shrimp Rice noodles at Boke Bowl dim sum at Boke Bowl West, only on Sat and Sun 11 - 2

Lotus Wraps that are streamed and inside have rice and spicy pork, there is also an option with squash that is vegan and gluten free, with mushroom and black bean sauce. They come in square bundles of leaf and string that you unwrap to see this rice and protein mixture inside. The version I had with spicy pork really had a nice kick of heat and I enjoyed it.
Lotus Wrap with spicy pork at Boke Bowl dim sum at Boke Bowl West, only on Sat and Sun 11 - 2

Fried potstickers of pork, cabbage, and ginger

What do you think of having a dim sum brunch instead of a western brunch – do you do it? What sort of dim sum items do you like to look for? And would you believe I was so into dim sum that I made a photo checklist once (including Cantonese syllables for saying them and a picture from Google images so I could ask for it in case the server didn’t know the English description of it?) here in this a google doc? Food dork alert…

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Restaurant Review Tagged With: American dim sum, asian brunch, Asian brunch PDX, Asian brunch Portland, Asian Chicken and Waffle, Baiju Bloody Mary, Boke Bloody Mary, Boke Bowl, Boke Bowl dim sum, Boke Bowl west dim sum, Boke Buzz, Boke fried chicken, boke sum, chicken and waffle, dim sum, dim sum brunch, duck ramen, dumplings, Fried potstickers, Lotus Wrap, Lotus Wrap with pork, Portland dim sum, Rice Noodles with Shrimp, Shrimp Rice Noodles, shu mai, steamed dim sum dumplings, steamed dumplings, sui mai, Turnip cake with ham, vegetarian dim sum, vegetarian Portland dim sum, Yeast Rice cake

Dim Sum in Toronto at Casa Imperial

December 11, 2010 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

I recently just returned from a whirlwind work trip that took me through Toronto, Philadelphia area PA, Austin TX, and Santa Clara and Sacramento in CA in one week. It was my first time in Toronto, but because the trip was occuring in December and my co-worker forgot to pack her coat, apparently one of the best things to do (walk around inside the city) wasn’t something that was going to be on the list this time. In fact, most of Toronto wasn’t going to be on the list. It turns out they have a similar experience with lake effect wind as Chicago does. It’s cold… and then the wind blows… and you realize how cold it *really* can be.

However, we did get in a few Toronto experiences. It started with a visit to Real Sports Bar and Grill right before a Maple Leaf Game (they play in the stadium across the street). This particular misadventure was unplanned since we were going for the Ducks vs Beavers game, and this was one place my sister, who had been to Toronto just a month before, had recommended and we were able to call to confirm we could watch the game here on a big TV. It meant driving around in circles trying to find non-price gouging parking, and entering a super packed place where it was a 2 hour wait for tables, but we were rewarded by watching the Ducks victory on a 2 story HD screen- definitely a big TV, and we were lucky to snag bar stools at least. We also got to admire, though not visit (… exactly like my sister’s visit) the CN Tower doing its light show thing at night.

Toronto, Canada

And, the next day, we returned to the downtownish area to visit the Christmas Market in the Distillery Historic District based on nothing but a concept drawing advertisement in a hotel magazine. It looked like a mix of old world with the outdoor wooden stalls for the various vendors, and pedestrian-only traffic only as we navigated the cobblestone paths within the complex, but mixed in with new world since it was in a district that really reminded me of the Pearl in Portland with its various art galleries and rehab of a factory space. This meant when it got cold for us, we could quickly pop into a gallery or browse a retail boutique to try to warm up.

We had a few beers at the Mill St Brewery– which made us appreciate how great the beer available in Portland is. Despite the enticing list of beer so we tried a lemon tea ale, a raspberry beer, their cobblestone porter, a coffee porter, and a vanilla porter, the flavor profiles just were not as strong as we have become accustomed to in our microbrew capital city hometown. We didn’t eat during our Christmas Market visit though because we had earlier enjoyed dim sum at Casa Imperial, and that kept us quite full despite the many offerings that tempted us at the market.

Christmas Market, Toronto, Canada

Mill St Brewery, Toronto, Canada Christmas Market, Toronto, Canada

Casa Imperial is in the northern suburb like area of Toronto, where it seems a large population of Asian immigrants ended up settling. We passed strip mall after strip mall in the Markham area (where our hotel was and we executed multiple U-turns trying to find it and dinner the night before) with all the various signage in a mix of languages. Casa Imperial is different from the many dim sum choices in this area in that it is actually inside a historic estate. The atmosphere of British opulence (including waitresses deliveirng dim sum in polytester black and white maidlike outfits) in a Victorian setting but with rich high endish Chinese food that included a pretty teapot instead of the generic white kind from the restaurant supply depot gave it a bit of high end, Hong Kong feel.

Dim Sum in Toronto at Casa Imperial, Canada

The dim sum was rich tasting and nothing was greasy, and the service pretty friendly and efficient. Even at 11am, it was only a 30 minute wait for a table for 2 (there were about 20 other people in their foyer also waiting with us- though it seemed a lot were waiting for larger tables to seat their entire family from grandparents to grandkids), and the fact we were totally surrounded by people who none were speaking English made s feel like this was an authentic choice. They don’t push dim sum carts here- instead there is a regular menu to order from, and also a dim sum list that you select what you want almost like a sushi/sashimi list, and it is delivered from the kitchen to your table as they are ready. Given the tight space of this restaurant and how fresh everything was so it seemed like it was made to order rather than just sitting waiting to be picked up from a lot, I didn’t mind this.

I ordered the staples of course. You can’t have dim sum without shrimp and crab shu mai- here they were quite chubby, as were the shrimp har gow (though the skin was a bit too thick for the har gow). The steamed pork ribs here come with pumpkin, which was a nice added touch of sweetness- I ate the whole thing by myself. The pan fried turnip cake was not too dry or oily (but could have had more umami flavor). The rice rolls (I got one stuffed with egg tofu and snowpea leaf- I would recommend getting one of the other 6 rice rolls choices they offer which all have meat or seafood) was ok but I wish I had gotten the one with scallop XO instead. BBQ pork with honey sauce, a sweet though slightly sticky contrast to the rest of the richness, also was a great choice and is one of their specials on their dim sum checklist. We also got baby bok choy after we saw it arriving at a nearby table which was a bit of a clean palate break from the other savory dim sum dishes. The bok choy came from the regular menu, and took up 1/3 of our table, but was worth it, especially when you bit into one that had a garlic clove nestled inside!

Dim Sum in Toronto at Casa Imperial, Canada

My favorite dim sum dish were these abalone and chicken puff pastries I remembered reading raves about on chowhound- look and think of the rich savory flavor in there with chunks of chicken and abalone in a thick stewlike broth while the puff pastry outside was light and flaky without being oily at all

Dim Sum in Toronto at Casa Imperial, Canada

I would definitely recommend this. I know there are a lot of dim sum places to select from in this area, perhaps some that boast better food (particularly soup dumplings at Ding Tai Fung, and Lai Wah Heen downtown doing contemporary as well as traditional interpretations of dim sum were others I considered) . But the beautiful atmosphere is something which is unique here, and worth a visit. Does it compare to actual Hong Kong dim sum? Well no, though the food overall is pretty good there was a miss (the rice noodle, the thickness of the dough in the har gow) and average (turnip cake). But, I appreciate saving the long flight overseas, and not having to aggressively fight for my little plates as is typical style during 11am primetime dim sum. I didn’t find anything here pretentious unlike the Yelp reviews (which ironically is what brought this to the top of my dim sum list after building the initial candidate list from Chowhound) but it is a departure from the regular experience. Because of its location in a house, it also doesn’t have the loud, hurried feel most dim sum meals have, and we were able to enjoy our food on tablecloths with chandeliers at a normal speaking volume and while the staff hurried to get our food or check, they never hurried us, attentively refilling our teapot without us ever asking. And I value that, even though it definitely gives a different energy to the dining experience, just as long as I won’t be completely sacrificing food quality or taste for it.

My last meal in Toronto was at the airport- drinking more Canadian beer, while having a lot of mustard (as I learned from the menu, Canada is one of the worlds largest producers of mustard) while having a “grilled cheese” that had Canadian Cheddar and Canadian bacon. Topped with a Canadian flag. And gravy with the fries. And… that’s my extent of knowledge of Canadian cuisine.

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Travel Tagged With: Casa Imperial, chinese, dim sum, Toronto

A Chinese Experience in Vancouver B.C.

May 26, 2009 by Pechluck Leave a Comment

I flew from Portland on a quick little hour flight to Vancouver B.C. to join 4/5 of my family for a Memorial Day weekend in Vancouver B.C. We had a day that were Chinese themed: Saturday all day. Here are the highlights from my Adventures of Pech 2009 Picasa album.

First stop at the Dr Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden:

A Dim Sum lunch afterwards at Kirin Downtown location:

Dinner at Sun Sui Wah in Richmond, BC before going to Night Market (the first not worth the wait, but the second surprise- which involved a waiter running over in excitement to draw us a map when the cashier didn’t know what we were asking about- well worth it):