Dim Sum review
Dec. 29th, 2003 12:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
whispercricketI've been meaning to post a review of dim sum at China Pearl (Woburn, not Chinatown) for a couple of weeks now. I was lucky enough to get to go again this weekend before seeing Return of the King.
Food: An important note - dim sum is not for people who are vegetarians or kosher. It's possible to get a few dishes (custard pies, yellow or red bean buns) that are safe, but most have either pork or shrimp, or both. Luckily, it's fine to order off the menu (and supplement with safe dim sum dishes if desired).
Otherwise, if you don't like shrimp or pork but will eat one of them, you'll be fine. I don't like shrimp, and I found plenty of good things to eat. I really like the three types of pork buns (one with taro, one in pastry, and one that was football shaped) and the little custard pies. I also tasted some odd tapioca-like soup with mango that was excellent. However, my overall favorite is the yellow bean bun, or Bau, as I named the little orphan one I carried away from the restaurant because I was too full to eat it (an offer was made to shellac my little pet Bau, but alas, it was not to be :) ).
Other people were very happy with the beef noodle, and the beef shortribs, and...pretty much everything we got was appreciated by someone.
All of the more authentic dishes are on what I called the "scary" cart - chicken feet, tripe, some sort of tentacles, etc. However,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jpicon was looking for jellyfish, which they did not have.
There are many fried items, so I'm not sure how healthy dim sum food is. However, I think it would be possible to make healthier choices if desired, especially if you are a shrimp eater. My personal choice would be to go to dim sum less often and eat the fried options (mm, pork and taro dumpling), rather than go more often and not be able to have them.
Atmosphere: China Pearl has a beautiful circular dining room, with different levels of seating and lots of (seemingly authentic) carvings.lpaladin was impressed. :)
Service: One worry with dim sum is figuring out exactly what you're eating. :) Luckily, most of the servers speak enough English to explain the contents of the items (and they're happy to do so). The server with the soups tended to be the hardest to communicate with - this happened both trips, so I don't know if they do that on purpose (or the same person handles that cart all the time, perhaps). They even let me call and pick up a dim sum item once (yellow bean buns, of course), which I thought was really nice of them.
We went to dim sum on a Sunday around 1pm and on a Saturday around 11am. The first time, we had to wait about 15 minutes (not too bad), and the second we didn't have to wait at all. I like this much better than having to get to dim sum around 9 am in order to get seated and not miss the best dishes. The servers also were very conscientious about keeping water glasses full and making sure that we had enough tea (green or black).
Parking is free, and the restaurant even is near the commuter rail line (across the street), although I think it'd be easier to drive there.
Price: Dim sum is not the cheapest sort of meal, but I figure that the entertainment and fun has to be figured in there somehow (it's a great group activity - lots of sharing and discussion). Most items come in threes (the servers cut them in half for larger groups, so 6 half-pieces) and I believe cost about $2.50-$3 each. It ended up being about $15 / person (including tax and tip) for the larger group, and we were trying a lot of random things and very full by the end - we easily could have gotten less and been satisfied (but it wouldn't have been quite as fun! :) ). This also counted as breakfast and lunch (so, two meals at once).
Obviously, I'm very happy with China Pearl's dim sum. :)
Food: An important note - dim sum is not for people who are vegetarians or kosher. It's possible to get a few dishes (custard pies, yellow or red bean buns) that are safe, but most have either pork or shrimp, or both. Luckily, it's fine to order off the menu (and supplement with safe dim sum dishes if desired).
Otherwise, if you don't like shrimp or pork but will eat one of them, you'll be fine. I don't like shrimp, and I found plenty of good things to eat. I really like the three types of pork buns (one with taro, one in pastry, and one that was football shaped) and the little custard pies. I also tasted some odd tapioca-like soup with mango that was excellent. However, my overall favorite is the yellow bean bun, or Bau, as I named the little orphan one I carried away from the restaurant because I was too full to eat it (an offer was made to shellac my little pet Bau, but alas, it was not to be :) ).
Other people were very happy with the beef noodle, and the beef shortribs, and...pretty much everything we got was appreciated by someone.
All of the more authentic dishes are on what I called the "scary" cart - chicken feet, tripe, some sort of tentacles, etc. However,
jpicon was looking for jellyfish, which they did not have.There are many fried items, so I'm not sure how healthy dim sum food is. However, I think it would be possible to make healthier choices if desired, especially if you are a shrimp eater. My personal choice would be to go to dim sum less often and eat the fried options (mm, pork and taro dumpling), rather than go more often and not be able to have them.
Atmosphere: China Pearl has a beautiful circular dining room, with different levels of seating and lots of (seemingly authentic) carvings.
lpaladin was impressed. :)Service: One worry with dim sum is figuring out exactly what you're eating. :) Luckily, most of the servers speak enough English to explain the contents of the items (and they're happy to do so). The server with the soups tended to be the hardest to communicate with - this happened both trips, so I don't know if they do that on purpose (or the same person handles that cart all the time, perhaps). They even let me call and pick up a dim sum item once (yellow bean buns, of course), which I thought was really nice of them.
We went to dim sum on a Sunday around 1pm and on a Saturday around 11am. The first time, we had to wait about 15 minutes (not too bad), and the second we didn't have to wait at all. I like this much better than having to get to dim sum around 9 am in order to get seated and not miss the best dishes. The servers also were very conscientious about keeping water glasses full and making sure that we had enough tea (green or black).
Parking is free, and the restaurant even is near the commuter rail line (across the street), although I think it'd be easier to drive there.
Price: Dim sum is not the cheapest sort of meal, but I figure that the entertainment and fun has to be figured in there somehow (it's a great group activity - lots of sharing and discussion). Most items come in threes (the servers cut them in half for larger groups, so 6 half-pieces) and I believe cost about $2.50-$3 each. It ended up being about $15 / person (including tax and tip) for the larger group, and we were trying a lot of random things and very full by the end - we easily could have gotten less and been satisfied (but it wouldn't have been quite as fun! :) ). This also counted as breakfast and lunch (so, two meals at once).
Obviously, I'm very happy with China Pearl's dim sum. :)
Re: On that note
Date: 2003-12-30 05:37 am (UTC)This is probably overkill, but I keep meaning to do more restaurant reviews and haven't had a chance, so please bear with me... :)
For standard Chinese, I've tried the following places in / near Woburn since moving:
Oriental - Delivery, open until 11pm, fairly inexpensive and decent but nothing special. Nice spiced dipping sauce for dumplings.
Fen Yang House - Decent but nothing special. Better if I ask them to make dishes spicy, especially for takeout, or they can be somewhat bland.
Wisteria House (Stoneham) - Delivery, has Taiwanese offerings so more interesting (if desired) than Oriental. I love the salted crispy chicken, but I was not impressed by their dumplings. Have not tried Chinese items off menu yet. Probably my default delivery Chinese for now.