40553 Tue Oct 18 15:37:53 -0700 2005 2 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 194206 I had dim sum this past Sunday at Joy Luck in San Mateo, and I thought it was excellent. It has been recommended recently by a number of chowhounds, and I found that it rivaled the best dim sum places I've been to in this area, like Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Millbrae and Koi Palace in Daly City (and without the wait!). We tried only 7 dishes, but they were all very good. The XLB, as I pointed out in my previous XLB review, weren't bad, but were not perfect. The har gow, however, were heavenly. Fresh, hot, flavorful shrimp, a nice bite from the ginger, tender wrappers...just delightful. We got two rice noodle rolls/wrappers/crepes (they seem to be called something different everywhere I go). This is a simple dish which is hard to ruin -- even lousy dim sum places seem to have decent rice noodle rolls -- but these were very nice. (I always get them because they are one of my favorite things to eat. My favorite breakfast consists of fresh rice noodles, steamed, with a little soy sauce. In fact, if anyone has a source for fresh rice noodles near San Mateo I'd love to know about it.) We had shrimp, which were tasty, and I kind I've never had before -- a vegetarian version with enoki mushrooms. It was good for something with just vegetables in it, although a little bland. The shrimp-stuffed mushrooms were pretty good, and the chive and shrimp dumplings were excellent -- tasty little bundles of chopped chives with a whole shrimp in the middle. And yes, there was a serious excess of shrimp at this meal, but my partner doesn't eat red meat or chicken. I would have liked to try more of a variety. The fried chicken wings and the shui mai looked great, for example. I did get the roast duck, and it was great. Incredibly moist without being overly greasy. Some of the best roast duck I've ever had, in fact. Tue Oct 18 15:37:53 -0700 2005 0 Joy 1 194254 I've been to Joy Luck for dinner, but never for dim sum. What time did you go on Sunday? Was it crowded and a long wait? Tue Oct 18 20:34:27 -0700 2005 194206 0 Wendy-san 2 194372 We got there right around noon on Sunday and waited about 10 minutes. It got a lot crowded while we were there, though, and the larger parties seemed to be waiting maybe 20-30 minutes. Not bad compared to Koi Palace. Wed Oct 19 15:20:50 -0700 2005 194254 0 Joy