dim sum

[lambchopas]

where's the spot to go? i frequent china pearl and chow chow, but there must be something better. any idea for a boston proper dim sum destination?

thanks!

[dpnpt]

I do love dim sum and perhaps will try Hei Lo Moon again (just not that soon), taking gini's rec to arrive by 11am. Thanks for the heads up on Taiwan Cafe.
Esmom - we wanted to order from the menu after looking around and seeing others enjoying platters of seemingly yummy other stuff. But we left after I came back from the ladies.

[esmom]

I had the same experience recently as dpnpt. We arrived at 1 and had very few carts. A lot of what we got was covered with various versions of brown sauce. The mussels covered with a mayonnaise sauce were stomach turning. We were so unfulfilled that we ordered from the menu and even that wasn't great (undercooked spicy salted squid - geesh). I saw the piles of plates on the way to a ladies room that clearly hadn't been attended to. All of it combined just made for a bad experience. (Especially since I brought the group based upon the recs on this board!)

[skess]

it seemed like the issue was less with the plates existence and more with their placement. Not that I blame them personally, seems like dim sum is a hectic, frustrating time for waitstaff/restaurants, but I also see where dpnpt is coming from.

[dpnpt]

Went to Hei Lo Moon on Sunday (March 11, 2007) on everyone's recommendation. My disclaimer is that it was 1:45pm when we arrived, toward the end of lunch/brunch so maybe I need to give them the benefit of the doubt? We waited for 10 minutes after being seated for a cart to stop at our table. A few carts were circling (3?) in the distance and we, regretably, had to flag down a staffperson to assist. After an hour we went through all of the offerings -- 10 in total. About half were hot and close to being fresh.

While we were there they seated 5 or so additional tables and had a very large birthday party come in, so they weren't closed for lunch.

Here's the kicker:
Before leaving I went to the ladies room, passing through a hallway lined with stacked and full buspans. There must have been 5-6 pans per stack and probably 10-12 stacks along the hallway. Yes, all dirty dishes. YUCK. Needless to say, I probably won't go there again.

[gini]

Was also at Hei La Moon on Sunday and had a completely different experience. You really need to arrive by 12pm at the latest to ensure a quality experience not only in terms of service, but also in quantity of offerings. Everything we ate was fresh and flavorful (except for the har gua which were really msg-y this time). What we had:
The chicken/rice in banana leaf and the siu mai were particularly tasty, great shrimp and mushroom meatballs, the aforementioned har gau(MSG-y), some sort of reconstructed chicken in tofu, pork and cabbage buns, rice-stuffed sweet dough, and red bean paste sesame pockets. Also saw some cheesed scallops and a fried dough wrapped in those long white noodles that looked interesting, but alas, we were too full. The optimal time to arrive for selection and service is 11:30am. 1:45pm is just too late to expect anything good. You would have been better off at Taiwan Cafe - their brunch runs till 3.

What exactly is the issue with the dirty dishes? They do a huge volume of dim sum business every weekend and I would hardly expect the dishwasher to be able to keep up.

[halaluia13]

Chau Chau City is always good and you do not have to wait long at all. Service always good and food yummy

[Jen19]

Bad service is part of dimsum. If you expect your food to come in two seconds and for the place to be silent don't bother with Dim sum.

[Seconds Please]

Bad Service is defined differently with Dim Sum

- does the cart come to you
- do they show you all the options
- do one of three servers smile
- do they bring out various options

Went to China Pearl on Saturday. It was fab!

[yumyum]

I agree -- for whatever reason I expect less 'service' at Dim Sum than at any other brunch. That said, I find most of the places in Chinatown are similar. You can get a friendly server or a grumpy one, cart women who will show you everything or women you have to prod... 'what's in that? what's that?' I'm pushy -- so if i don't get particularly 'warm' service, I go over to the carts, flag down the waiter for more tea (in a nice way, of course), and remember I'm getting a casual and interesting brunch/lunch for really short money.

[Seconds Please]

If we show up at 9:30am we will miss the crowds but will the selection be poor?

Is this a good sum up of Hei La Moon?

- freshest, best quality
- low grease
- great range of options
- terrible service

CCC

- best service
- average food

China Pearl

- Hit or miss on food
- Hit or miss on service

Imperial

- great service
- if you sit in the wrong place you'll never get a cart

[hargau]

I have actually found the service at hei la moon to be better then CCC and china pearl. Only service really being clearing of plates and bringing of water. HLM usually leaves us a pitcher of water or 2 which the others dont seem to want to do.

You are correct that if you go at 9:30 some items will not be ready. We usually go at 11 and wait aprox 30-45minutes. Also we sometimes like to order panfried noodles or chaufoon from the kitchen and the kitchen doesnt open till 11 for menu items.

[GeoffD]

I have a stupid question:
Do all these Dim Sum places have the same selection midweek? I've only been to them on weekends when it's mobbed.

The China Pearl in Worburn only has the Dim Sum carts on weekends. Midweek is an uninspired buffet. I presume this isn't the case in Chinatown?

[Alcachofa]

Chau Chow, China Pearl, and Hei La Moon downtown all have carts rolling around mid-week, same as they do on weekends.

[gourmaniac]

In general I agree with the meat/seafood thing between Emperor garden and CCC but was at CCC last week and had terrifically plump siu mai that were better than Hei La Moon or Emperor Garden. Very pleasantly surprised.

[Dr.Jimbob]

When I was at Hei La Moon on a summer Sunday morning, I was mightily impressed that the lines were very long and service problematic because of a packed house. I am fully aware that a restaurant that people blabbering away in Cantonese and Toisanese will stand in line 45 minutes to get into is probably the place to get into, but I frankly didn't see what was so great about the stuff that we had.

My default choice remains Imperial/Emperor's Garden on Washington Street. Was the hot place before Hei La Moon came along, but I still think they're pretty damn good, dim sum is still pretty fresh, and lines are now much much shorter than at HLM.

My 2 New Taiwan dollars / 1/2 renminbi, anyway.

/J

[hargau]

There are two place imperial and emperors. Imperial is right by the gate on beach, emperors is in the old theatre on washington. I have been to emperors just twice, my dining partners refuse to go back but im always up to giving it another shot. 1st time we were put on a strange mid level by the wall and could hardly get any food since the carts never came near. Second time we were put on the main bottom floor and service was ok. Both times we found the food to be rather soggy, everything was mushy. Also we found several items to have a soapy sort of taste.

I have been to Imperial aprox 75 times. Used to be rather good, last 5-6 times was just ok and since hei la moon opened we have only been back once i think.

When going to boston we tend to rotate between chau chau city, china pearl and hei la moon. Other weeks when we are feeling lazy we go to places in the suburbs.

Hei La moon is the newer place on the block so we have probally only been there aprox 20 times, however every time we have found everything to be very fresh and the carts to be plentiful. Dishes that stand out better then chau chau and china pearl are 1) the fried calamari, really nicely seasoned, huge plate, all tentacles which we prefer. 2) The fried chive/shrimp green dumplings, much larger and fresher. 3) The har gau are also much larger and fresher.

[9lives]

I think he meant Emperor/Empire on washington..old theater..oddly, 1 name is on the awning, the other is on a sign.

I go there occassionally. I find them to be better at meat and CCC to be stronger at seafood.

HLM is still #1 for me.

[Bob Dobalina]

Third Hei La Moon - it has the freshest ingredients. It rocks.

[hargau]

I agree if your going to dimsum in the china town area, hei la moon is your best bet. Check my dimsum blog with photos from there as well as other places.

http://dimsumtimes.blogspot.com

[9lives]

My current favorite is Hei La Moon on Beach St.

It is across the stree from the main part of Chinatown and is closer to South Station.