Yum cha in Boston

[Scharn]

Over the last days I tried several of the Yum cha (dim sum) places in Boston, and I was most impressed with Hei La Moon. Specifically, I found it to be a whole magnitude better than Winsor.

To give you some perspective I like yum cha a lot, and make an effort to try out places every time I am in Hong Kong, so I think I am quite qualified to evaluate that type of food.

Of course Hei La Moon is not as good as the better places in Hong Kong, and was Hei La Moon in Hong Kong I would probably rate it as slightly below 3 stars. But this is not Hong Kong and way too often Yum cha is made terribly wrong in the west. Fortunately, these guys do a pretty good job with all the basics such as har gow, siumai, foong jow which is also indicated by the very large number of Chinese guests.

As a side note, I was sitting at their upper floor which seemed more busy and nice. Next time I'm in Boston and in need of a good Yum Cha fix I will definitely go.

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Hei La Moon
88 Beach St, Boston, MA 02111

[lipoff]

I like Hei La Moon okay, and of the four major "Dim Sum Palaces" in Chinatown (the others being China Pearl, Chau Chow City and Empire Garden) I would say Hei La Moon is on average the best, although China Pearl and Chau Chow City can also be just as good on a good day. While Winsor can also have an off day, I much prefer going to Winsor, or Great Taste Bakery, over the "Dim Sum Palaces" unless I'm going with a large party or with someone who insists on "cart-style" dim sum. I find the variety at Winsor to be larger, the quality fresher, and the flavors more distinct. I'm surprised to hear the opposite, but perhaps we just like different items and each dim sum restaurant has its own strengths and weaknesses. If you've only been to Winsor once though, I would encourage you to give it another shot --- it gets a lot of love on this board, and for good reason! Great Taste Bakery has some other items, many Macau style, that are much less commonly found.

If you like Cantonese Dim Sum, you might also want to try Green Tea 2 in Newton, Sun Kong in Malden and some of the places down in Quincy.

For a time Boston had a world-class Dim Sum restaurant in Gitlo's in Allston, but alas, that time is no longer.

Boston's real strength in Chinese brunch, IMHO, is in Taiwanese brunch, where Jo Jo Taipei, Chung Shin Yuan and Shangri-la each offer really authentic Taiwanese brunches that stand up well to any international version. =)

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Hei La Moon
88 Beach St, Boston, MA 02111

Chung Shin Yuan
183 California St, Newtonville, MA 02458

China Pearl Restaurant
9 Tyler St, Boston, MA 02111

Empire Garden Restaurant
690 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111

Chau Chow City
81 Essex St, Boston, MA 02111

Green Tea Restaurant
24 Elliot St, Newton Highlands, MA 02461

JoJo Tai Pei Restaurant
103 Brighton Ave, Boston, MA 02134

Great Taste Bakery & Restaurant
63 Beach St, Boston, MA

Sun Kong Restaurant
275 Eastern Ave, Malden, MA 02148

[Scharn]

thanks for the suggestions!

yes, i have only been once to both places, and I have to admit I might be biased towards carts style or tray style dim sum, maybe because that's how they do it in hong kong at the places i like most.

that being said on the one occasion I was at winsor I ordered some random items (note: you *never* ask for recommendations in a chinese restaurant) and found them simply unimpressive and really not as good as everybody keeps repeating here.

but everyone can have a bad day, so next time I'm in Boston I might check them out again.

[cambridgedoctpr]

while boston is no HK; i think that our chinese food is some of the best outside of the West Coast. It is really a treat.

[lipoff]

100% agree.

[opinionatedchef]

sam, would like to go to jojo for dimsum; plse tell me your favs. thnx much.

[opinionatedchef]

what day of the week and time were you there?wkends only for largest variety?