Dim Sum

Dim Sum is a Chinese tea brunch, featuring many varieties of dumplings, buns, and other types of small dishes. Usually these dishes are wheeled around the restaurant on carts or carried on trays by the waitpersons. We have sampled Dim Sum at about 100 different restaurants, from Philadelphia to San Francisco, in Canada, in Europe, and even in China itself.

Our favorite Dim Sum restaurants (and a few not so favorite ones):

Philadelphia (we go in almost every weekend, all with cart service):

  • Ocean Harbor, Race Street between 10th and 11th. (probably the most popular in Philadelphia)
  • Ocean City, 9th Street between Race and Vine (improved after renovation and new chef, but has slipped back below Ocean Harbor and Lakeside in our estimation)
  • Lakeside Chinese Deli, 9th Street between Race and Vine (small, no carts, medium size selection, but perhaps the best food). Alas, the chef has retired and the restaurant has closed for good.
  • HK Golden Phoenix, Race Street between 9th and 10th (not in the same league as the ones above)
  • Saigon Maxim Restaurant (formerly Kim Long, and before that Sunrise), Washington Avenue near 6th (in a shopping center, with parking, Dim Sum everyday despite the Vietnamese name, quite good and with a few items not found elsewhere in Philadelphia)
  • New Golden Palace, 801-21 Washington Avenue (small parking lot, not quite as good as the above places, but still reasonable and has very good "salt-baked" squid not often available in the Philadelphia dim-sum places listed here)
  • Bao Bao Hao Chinese Seafood Restaurant, 1100 Washington Avenue (crowded parking lot, excellent steamers, but not as good on fried dim-sum and not much cart variety)
  • Joy Tsin Lao, Race Street between 10th and 11th. (second tier, but still pretty good; my late wife and I had our wedding reception here)
  • Imperial Inn, 10th Street between Cherry and Race (also second tier, but worth an occasional visit)

Boston (last visited several years ago):

  • Golden Palace Restaurant, 14 Tyler St, Boston, MA 0211

Phoenix (last visited in January 2004):

  • C-Fu Gourmet, 2051 Warner Road (at Dobson), Chandler (the best in the Phoenix area, in our estimation)
  • China Doll, 3336 N. 7th Avenue (not too far behind)
  • Great Wall, 5057 N. 35th Avenue (we were only there on a weekday, but we were not impressed enough to go back on a weekend)

Portland, OR (last visited several years ago):

  • Fong Chong, 301 NW 4th Avenue

Salt Lake City, UT (last visited July 2005):

  • Cafe Anh Hong, 1465 S State St Suite 12 (only were able to try it once on a weekday, but nothing to write home about. We wanted to try Hong Kong Tea House, but it was being renovated)

San Francisco (last visited August 2000):

  • Louie's Dynasty, Powell between Pacific and Broadway
  • Ton Kiang, 5821 Geary at 22nd Avenue
  • Dol Ho, Pacific between Stockton and Powell
  • Meriwa, Pacific between Grant and Stockton

San Diego (last visited January 2002):

  • Jasmine, 4609 Convoy Street, Kearney Mesa (best in SD)
  • Emerald, 3709 Convoy Street (a close second)

Seattle/Bellevue (last visited July 2001):

  • Four Seas, 714 S King St, Seattle, WA 9810422
  • Noble Court, 1644 140th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98005

Toronto (last visited July 2006):

  • Pearl Harbourfront, 207 Queens's Quay, Toronto (some carts, very expensive, but very good)
  • Ambassador, 280 West Beaver Creek Road Unit 38, Richmond Hill (also expensive, very good, but no carts)
  • Ding Tai Fung, 3235 Hwy 7, Markham (expensive, Shanghai style, very good, no carts, somewhat limited selection)
  • Bright Pearl, 346 - 348 Spadina, Toronto (has carts, cheaper, somewhat average dim-sum, bargain during "happy hours")

Tucson (last visited January 2004):

  • China Phoenix, Oracle at Ina (very good baked roast pork buns and fried shrimp balls)
  • Gee's Garden, 1145 N. Alvernon Way (on New Year's day, many servers did not show and some items were unavailable, so this was not a good test and we cannot recommend it)

Vancouver, BC (last visited July 2001):

  • Sun Sui Wah, 3888 Main St. (also in Richmond at 102-4940 No. 3 Rd., possibly the best in Vancouver)
  • Pink Pearl, 1132 East Hastings

Washington, DC area (last visited March 2006):

  • Good Fortune Restaurant, 2646 University Blvd. W., Wheaton, MD 20902
  • Oriental East Restaurant, 1290 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910 (pretty good, but a small step behind Good Fortune in our opinion)
  • Lucky Three, 5900 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA (on par with, and perhaps a bit better than, Good Fortune)
  • China Garden, 1100 Wilson Blvd., Rosslyn, VA (fairly good, but perhaps not as good as those above, and a bit more expensive)

Other Dim Sum sites

<http://chinesefood.about.com/cs/dimsum/>

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This page maintained by Steven Amgott.

Last updated March 10, 2008.