Sunday Dim Sum in the City
I'm looking to have dim sum with my family on a Sunday, which I know to be an extremely crowded and busy time, but I suppose that's also part of the experience. We are staying in the Union Square area and will be walking to whichever restaurant we decide on, having turned in our rental car.
We've been to Hong Kong Flower Lounge on other visits and will be trying Koi Palace earlier in the week. So for Sunday I'm considering Gold Mountain, City View, Great Eastern and New Asia. Any thoughts on which of these choices would be the best for us? Thanks for your help and advice.
By curiousgeo
on Mar 8, 2010 04:38 PM
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Note that Great Eastern is menu-only - no carts. Don't know if that makes a difference to you, but FWIW...
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This is our latest in Chinatown, Happy Chinese:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/638916#4888480
If you're willing to take a bus to the Inner Richmond, this is our new favorite overall, House of Banquet:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/415024
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Thanks for both your replies, I appreciate it.
alan, we've had menu only dim sum in Vancouver and really enjoyed the experience. Fresh and piping hot from the kitchen was a dim sum revelation for us, so Great Eastern sounds like it might be good choice. We've eaten dinner at Great Eastern so are familiar with the regular menu, how is the dim sum there compared to some of the other places we're considering? Thanks.
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Great Eastern's menu isn't particularly extensive or creative, but they do the standards pretty well. The food is on par with Gold Mountain and better than what I've had a New Asia. (I haven't tried City View, but intend to remedy that soon.)
Menu dim sum is an absolute no-brainer if you're going at an off time. On a Sunday morning, though, the food on the carts at Gold Mountain or City View ought to be plenty fresh.
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If there are carts, we usually combine that with ordering also. The shrimp in rice flour rolls never seem to be on carts.
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If you go to Great Eastern, do be aware that even with pictures it is possible to order a dish thinking it is something else. Thinking we were getting something exotic, we ended up with shiu mai there that way :-).
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Not to discourage you if you want the Sunday morning dim sum experience in Chinatown, but if you're also going to Koi Palace, whichever Chinatown venue you choose will be a severe come down. That having been said, I'd vote for City View as the best of the bunch.
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I was impressed with City View the one time I ate there.
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Apples and oranges.
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Well, my point being like when I spent a week in Vancouver (Richmond), then I came back home and couldn't eat any of the local Chinese food for a month because it so paled by comparison. All my favorite restaurants were now bleh--certainly wasn't fun for that period.
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The great need not be the enemy of the good. And IMO "severe" is an overstatement.
Koi Palace is better than any of the dim sum restaurants I've been to in SF's Chinatown. For that matter, New Canton here in Sacramento is better than any of them. And I'm sure that there are places in Hong Kong that will blow all the rest of them away.
But the OP is on foot in Union Square. If David's Deli and Sears Fine Foods are the starting point, even mediocre dim sum is a viable option. And there are plenty of places in Chinatown that do far better than mediocre.
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From Union Square, it's so easy to take the bus out Geary and have something better than you'll find in Chinatown. LIke Hong Kong Lounge or Golden River, both much better than Gold Mountain and i've been to all three within the last 4 months.
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We "discovered" (through CH, of course) House of Banquet on Clement
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/415024
We were staying in the area and went back a second time, just as they opened at 9. Even better because obviously everything was fresh as could be.
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