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Fresh off our unfortunate dining experience at Chinoise in food-bland Queen Anne, Seattlest is lamenting the lack of good dim sum in our Chinatown-ed town. Why are all of our dumplings and buns and rolls and cakes so soggy and stale and limp and lame?
Go to any of the local food boards and the dim sum debates rage on: "Who's got the best dim sum in Seattle?" In the near corner, the Seattle/Chinatown contenders include China Garden, Honey Court, Jade Garden, and Sun Ya. In the far corner, the non-Seattle competitors include Noble Court, Jeem, Top Gun, and Imperial Garden. Interestingly, the Eastside and Kent places might have an edge. As in New York, San Francisco and Vancouver, the best Chinese food usually is found outside of Chinatown.
Which leads us to Richmond. Not Virginia. Not California. And, heavens, not Utah. We're talking Richmond, Canada—most of which is on a dyked island equidistant from downtown Vancouver and the U.S. border. Aka Chinese foodie heaven. Along No. 3 Road and adjoining streets, Chinese restaurants sprout faster than Starbucks shops surface in Seattle.
To find the best dim sum place, we order har gow (shrimp dumplings) as the test of quality. (Chicken feet offer another benchmark, and if you give them a try, you just might discover you have a chicken foot fetish.) The rice flour wrapper should be thin and tender, nicely crimped, soft and cooked to a perfect translucence—just teasing the pink within.
And inside? Not the chopped up clump of matter that we find in Seattle restaurants, making us wonder what percentage, if any, is shrimp. No...we're talking whole shrimp, plump and juicy, sweet and briny, smooth and yet slippery, and far from oily. Taken as a whole, the shrimp dumpling should offer a crisp bite, a snap of freshness that tastes, well, almost alive.
After sampling dim sum at five of the best restaurants in Richmond recently, there's no doubt our favorite place for har gow is Shiang Garden. No dim sum carts here (a topic we'll perhaps discuss another time); just order your dumplings and await the taste explosion. It's worth the drive.
But we wonder: Why is it we have to drive 136 miles (or 219 kilometers in "Canadian"), to find the freshness and quality we desire and deserve?
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I miss King Cafe.
Finding great Dim Sum in Seattle is impossible. I've had better in Portland, OR. Can't remember what it was called.
Anyway, Top Gun owners opened a new place called O'Asian. Not great, but good. Search the Times and PI for reviews. I've been a few times. It's exactly the same quality as Top Gun (the closed Intl Dist one) in my opinion but about twice the price. Expensive, but worth a try.
I don't eat chicken feet so I can't say, but I like the soup in the little ceramic pumpkin bowls.
And yes, when I really want good dim sum I go to Vancouver, B.C.
Yeah, was reading the reviews of O'Asian in today's newspapers just as I finished writing this har gow piece. The Seattle Top Gun was okay, but still not Richmond/Vancouver quality - though they did have a unique, tricolored dessert I liked (part was mango pudding). Will have to give O'Asian a try, but expectations are low...
The best Dim Sum in Seattle is - believe it or not - vegetarian. The Vegetarian Bistro serves absolute works of art. It's definately worth a visit.
Well... vegetarian dim sum would certainly challenge my carnivorous cravings. Maybe I need to bring a bottle of pork fat? Alright, for the sake of culinary research, I'll give it a try... and try to keep an open mind! Thanks for the recommendation.
OMG! Put me on the next Amtrak to Vancouver!
Even though I generally only eat meat tartare--raw--your descriptions and flavorful writing style made me salivate and dream of the Pacific Northwest (or the Canadian Southwest).--Wah Lee