Chinese lunch in Arcadia??

[ThatPat]

I have an appointment with a Chinese doctor Wed. morning whose office is 411 E. Huntington Drive (near 5th St. or is it East 5th St?). I think this may be my first time ever in Arcadia (I live in Santa Monica and almost never get east--you know the type). Din Tai Fung is nearby according to my search. Is that a place I could go to by myself and still eat well -- am I confined only to eating soup dumplings there (and will it be too crowded on a weekday?). Any other suggestions welcome. Should say that I prefer not to eat fried food (actually of course I love fried food but my cholesterol level doesn't need any help these days). Thanks folks!

[crystaw]

I would highly recommend Simbala too, accept w/ their shaved ice for dessert. May Mei and Chang's Garden in the same plaza are good too. Nice Time Deli is also really close by (on Baldwin across from the bowling alley) and they have some tasty things as well.

[ipsedixit]

I would suggest SinBaLa for sausage and rice plate, with a side of scallion pancakes. Then head over to JJ Bakery (in the adjacent strip mall) for dessert - if you like taro (and how can you not??), then you have to try their taro root steamed buns.

[WHills]

Din Tai Fung for xiao long bao (soup dumplings)
Tasty Garden on Baldwin has good Chinese casserole with rice/HK style cafe food
Garden Cafe is also on Baldwin for HK style cafe food
Mei Mei in the Arcadia Supermarket plaza also has good rice casserole

If you haven't been to Din Tai Fung, you should definitely go try.

[raytamsgv]

IMHO, Tasty Garden would be a better choice than Garden Cafe. The food is much better.

[kiwonyoon]

Taiwanese joint Sin Ba La is mere seconds from Din Tai Fung. Sausages, vermicelli noodle soup, shaved ice, etc. Very good.

[RoachCoach]

Should be a perfect opportunity to try DTF-weekends are the hassle of course. Just order one steamer of dumplings: they're worth it. They have one appetizer called "appetizer": a small vegetable, tofu, root? salad. Anyway it's very good and not fried. These 2 items and a pot of hot tea should make a nice lunch.