A dim sum joint on Castro, hurrah!
Steve Fenwick
is serving pushcart dim sum on Sundays (presumably on Saturdays, too.)
Crowded with lots of Asians, even at 2PM (close at 3PM on Sundays for
dim sum).
The new room has two tall stories inside, a large main floor and a
smaller glass-walled balcony. There is a huge set of fish tanks under
the balcony, between what seems to be the kitchen and the main room.
It's a very bright and light room; noise level was moderate (no
screaming kids, lots of big tables).
Food is good, but no challenge to the former Hong Kong Flower Lounge in
Palo Alto. Not as formal as Ming's or Yank Sing. Service was good,
although we ordered sesame balls (not on a cart) that never showed up.
Har gao and shu mai were good, although the har gao had clearly circled
the room a few times. Shrimp in rice wrappers were okay; never my
favorite, and herself said they had some flavor that put her off. An odd
chilled dish of mushroom caps filled with diced shrimp was interesting,
but I probably wouldn't choose it again. Pork buns good, fluffy and
meaty. Sticky rice good.
Printed receipt details the per item costs. Small plates are $2.50,
medium are $3, large are $4, special are $5, and "Chef" was $6 (the
shrimp/mushroom things, I think). Tea was $2 for two "servings" (one
pot, lots of small cups). Total for two was $26 before tax and tip.
Is it good enough to keep locals out of the city, or driving to HKFL or
elsewhere for top-notch dim sum? No. Is it good enough to get locals to
eat dim sum more often as another choice of what's on Castro? Yes.
Also seen on Castro: former Domino's (down by Cafe Lupe) is being
replaced by Ginseng, a Korean BBQ place. Looks like they are still a few
weeks away from opening.
Steve
--
steve <at> w0x0f <dot> com
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to
skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, chip shot in the other, body thoroughly
used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **
axlq
Steve Fenwick <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote:
>Fu Lam Mum (153 Castro Street, Mountain View) is open for business and
>is serving pushcart dim sum on Sundays (presumably on Saturdays, too.)
>Crowded with lots of Asians, even at 2PM (close at 3PM on Sundays for
>dim sum).
We ate there on their second day of opening.
They were still, er, getting their act together. When we paid at
the end, I think the manager recognized they were having problems,
explained that everyone was up until 4 am the night before, and
asked us to give them another chance.
>Food is good, but no challenge to the former Hong Kong Flower Lounge in
>Palo Alto. Not as formal as Ming's or Yank Sing.
The Golden Wok on Villa (1 block over from Castro) also had good dim
sum, but they are currently closed for remodeling. Not the quality
you could get at Dynasty or that wonderful place in Millbrae, but
good - and, I might say, maybe a cut above Fu Lam Mam. But Fu Lam
Mam is still learning - I intend to give them another chance.
>Service was good,
>although we ordered sesame balls (not on a cart) that never showed up.
That's good service?
This was our experience with service problems:
1. The menu listed different varieties of tea, but we were never
given a choice. The tea we got seemed to be a mixture of different
ones. Maybe the choices are only for the non-dim-sum dinner menu.
2. We ordered water that never showed up. We asked a couple times.
Finally I had to go to the counter (where several glasses were
waiting) and fetch the water myself. A server looked suitably
embarrassed when he saw me doing that.
3. In a dim sum restaurant, it is important to establish a route for
the pushcarts. That hadn't been done. The carts went every which
way and often headed into each other, causing traffic congestion
while they backed up and sorted tings out. A lot of time was spent
maneuvering and not serving patrons.
4. And then, two steaming plates of beef strips arrived that we
never ordered. The server and a supervisor started arguing in
Chinese. My wife (who understood them) explained that those two
dishes were for the *previous* tenants of our table! And we were
almost done with our meal.
>Har gao and shu mai were good, although the har gao had clearly
>circled the room a few times. Shrimp in rice wrappers were okay;
>never my favorite, and herself said they had some flavor that put
>her off.
I thought the food was good overall, but like your partner, we
thought it tasted "off" in some way we couldn't figure out. There
were some flavor(s) in there that aren't normal for dim sum.
-A
Steve Fenwick
wrote:
> In article <nospam-2C93A7....@free.teranews.com>,
> Steve Fenwick <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> >Fu Lam Mum (153 Castro Street, Mountain View) is open for business and
> >is serving pushcart dim sum on Sundays (presumably on Saturdays, too.)
> >Crowded with lots of Asians, even at 2PM (close at 3PM on Sundays for
> >dim sum).
> >Food is good, but no challenge to the former Hong Kong Flower Lounge in
> >Palo Alto. Not as formal as Ming's or Yank Sing.
>
> The Golden Wok on Villa (1 block over from Castro) also had good dim
> sum, but they are currently closed for remodeling. Not the quality
> you could get at Dynasty or that wonderful place in Millbrae, but
> good - and, I might say, maybe a cut above Fu Lam Mam. But Fu Lam
> Mam is still learning - I intend to give them another chance.
I ate once at Golden Wok for lunch--incredibly bland, no flavor, just
nothing to send me back again for another try. I noticed that their
outlet on California Avenue (Palo Alto) closed sometime recently.
> >Service was good,
> >although we ordered sesame balls (not on a cart) that never showed up.
>
> That's good service?
Except for that, it was good. The waitresses spoke reasonably good
English. The cart-pushers did not, but we were able to get by.
I expect it will all get better over time.
Al Eisner
[re. Fu Lam Mum]
> I expect it will all get better over time.
Please do keep us informed about that. (I've not been to any current dim
sim place between San Mateo/Foster City and Milpitas which I would willingly
patronize. Palo Alto's Tai-pan may have dim sum on weekends, but this
is a pretty expensive place, and if there is a dim sum aspect they don't
push it.)
--
Al Eisner
San Mateo Co., CA
Aahz Maruch
Al Eisner <eis...@slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
>
>Please do keep us informed about that. (I've not been to any current dim
>sim place between San Mateo/Foster City and Milpitas which I would willingly
>patronize. Palo Alto's Tai-pan may have dim sum on weekends, but this
>is a pretty expensive place, and if there is a dim sum aspect they don't
>push it.)
You don't like ABC in Foster City?
--
Hugs and backrubs -- I break Rule 6 http://rule6.info/
<*> <*> <*>
Androgynous poly kinky vanilla queer het Pythonista
Ciccio
> You don't like ABC in Foster City?
American Born Chinese?
Ciccio
Al Eisner
> In article <Pine.SOC.4.64.08...@flora04.slac.stanford.edu>,
> Al Eisner <eis...@slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Please do keep us informed about that. (I've not been to any current dim
>> sim place between San Mateo/Foster City and Milpitas which I would willingly
>> patronize. Palo Alto's Tai-pan may have dim sum on weekends, but this
>> is a pretty expensive place, and if there is a dim sum aspect they don't
>> push it.)
>
> You don't like ABC in Foster City?
"between San Mateo/Foster City and Milpitas" is meant to exclude the
endpoints. (Is this what is termed an "open interval"? I've forgotten.)
Sorry about the ambiguity. At the north end, I go to both ABC and
Joy Luck.
Steve Fenwick
<Pine.SOC.4.64.08...@flora04.slac.stanford.edu>,
Al Eisner <eis...@slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
There's that place on Lawrence, next to Giovanni's. Name escapes me now.
Dark inside, but dim sum was okay last time I was there, many bizbees
ago.
Ming's is okay, and Fu Lam Mum was at about the same level, so if you
don't like Ming's, you probably won't like Fu Lam Mum.
Ian MacLure
[snip]
> The Golden Wok on Villa (1 block over from Castro) also had good dim
> sum, but they are currently closed for remodeling. Not the quality
And you are expecting them to re-open?
IBM
Ian MacLure
news:nospam-97F7E4....@free.teranews.com:
[snip]
> There's that place on Lawrence, next to Giovanni's. Name escapes me now.
> Dark inside, but dim sum was okay last time I was there, many bizbees
> ago.
Used to be the Hong Sing Tea House. Forget what its called now.
First place I ever had dim sum in Silicon valley.
Got off the airplane in SJ. Got my rental, headed north, took the
right at Lawrence and there it was. I was just looking for
something to eat and that did very nicely.
IBM
Geoff Miller
Steve Fenwick <nos...@nospam.invalid> wroites:
> I ate once at Golden Wok for lunch--incredibly bland,
> no flavor, just nothing to send me back again for
> another try.
Back in the '90s they had a fleet of delivery vans with big,
yellow-plastic telephone handsets on the top. They could be
seen everywhere.
When the Golden Wok was shut down by the Health Department
for some rather serious violations (details forgotten),
a coworker of mine began referring to the place as The
Floating Phone Of Death."
Geoff
--
"He is YOUR god, they are YOUR rules, YOU burn in hell."
-- Uncle Brian
Spam Gourmet
> There's that place on Lawrence, next to Giovanni's. Name escapes me now.
> Dark inside, but dim sum was okay last time I was there, many bizbees
> ago.
Was Hong Sing last decade, now Hong Kong Saigon Seafood Harbor:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/hong-kong-saigon-seafood-harbor-restaurant-sunnyvale
A couple of my coworkers really like it there. I have had a chance to try
it yet. In the South Bay, I usually go to Joy Luck Place and Dynasty.
Hong Sing was dreadfull, but was the only dims um in the South Bay for many
years...
--A
Al Eisner
> In article
> <Pine.SOC.4.64.08...@flora04.slac.stanford.edu>,
> Al Eisner <eis...@slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 5 May 2008, Steve Fenwick wrote:
>>
>> [re. Fu Lam Mum]
>>
>>> I expect it will all get better over time.
>>
>> Please do keep us informed about that. (I've not been to any current dim
>> sim place between San Mateo/Foster City and Milpitas which I would willingly
>> patronize. Palo Alto's Tai-pan may have dim sum on weekends, but this
>> is a pretty expensive place, and if there is a dim sum aspect they don't
>> push it.)
>
> There's that place on Lawrence, next to Giovanni's. Name escapes me now.
> Dark inside, but dim sum was okay last time I was there, many bizbees
> ago.
I vaguely recall that being discussed here a few years back, and I even
more vaguely recall that the consensus wasn't such as to encourage me to
try it. I figure that if I'm going that far my home territory I might
as well go to Mayflower in Milpitas, which is very good. But if there's
a decent place on Castro in Mt. View, that's of more interest to me.
> Ming's is okay, and Fu Lam Mum was at about the same level, so if you
> don't like Ming's, you probably won't like Fu Lam Mum.
I decided years ago that I didn't like Ming's, after several visits.
So, unless it has changed since....
sally
news:Pine.SOC.4.64.08...@flora04.slac.stanford.edu:
> So, unless it has changed since....
Anyone notice that Mings dim sum is much better on weekends than on weekdays.
The weekend crowd is mostly Chinese families who expect better quality and
wider selection. The weekday crowd is mostly high tech workers who stick to
the blandest stuff. Same goes for the dim sum places in Cupertino. If you
must have dim sum on weekdays, I think the Burlingame places are the best.
Al Eisner
An interesting point about Ming's. As I recall, my visits there were on
weekends, however.
What Burlingame places do you have in mind? I don't know of any.
Tim May
> On Tue, 6 May 2008, Steve Fenwick wrote:
> >
> > There's that place on Lawrence, next to Giovanni's. Name escapes me now.
> > Dark inside, but dim sum was okay last time I was there, many bizbees
> > ago.
Dark inside? What else would you expect from some dim dim sum joint?
--Tim May
Steve Fenwick
Tim May <tim...@removethis.got.net> wrote:
Well, Fu Lam Mum and Yank Sing are both rather bright. Ming's is also
rather bright.
Todd Michel McComb
ground floor was doing dim sum on carts. The upstairs was ordering
off a lunch menu. We opted for downstairs. The selection was not
real big, and generally I've had better, although I liked their siu
mai.
The place does have potential, though. The two-story dining space
is quite nice. And getting there for a 1pm lunch, there was a
pretty long wait. The place was full until well past 2. Apparently
serving dim sum on Castro is a good business move (upstairs was
also mostly full). The question now is will they feel satisfied,
or will they try to improve?
Ian MacLure
news:fvtbhs$1rvi$1...@agricola.medieval.org:
You don't make money off dim sum or that what I'm given to
undertsand anyhoo.
IBM
Al Eisner
> You don't make money off dim sum or that what I'm given to
> undertsand anyhoo.
That doesn't sound like a very good business model. (Although a dim sum
operation does seem to involve a very large numbers of employees.)
Todd Michel McComb
Ian MacLure <i...@svpal.org> wrote:
>You don't make money off dim sum or that what I'm given to
>undertsand anyhoo.
Well, I don't know the underlying economic realities, but it seems
to me that having a rather large dining space packed with people
is going to be good for the bottom line, some way somehow.
Veronique
> In article <Xns9A97D5E9196E8ibmsvpal...@216.196.97.131>,
Probably in t-shirt sales.
V.
--
Veronique Chez Sheep
SMS
Someone told me that Hong Kong Saigon Seafood Harbor is good. I remember
how horrible Hong Sing was, and that kept me from ever going back to
that physical location, but maybe it's worth a try.
David Arnstein
SMS <scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:
>Someone told me that Hong Kong Saigon Seafood Harbor is good. I remember
>how horrible Hong Sing was, and that kept me from ever going back to
>that physical location, but maybe it's worth a try.
I find it to be "not bad." I am not a dim sum expert though.
I assumed that the name of this place derived from the nationality of
the owner, but I was told that this is not correct. I was told that
there is a neighborhood in Hong Kong that is home to many fishermen.
The informal name of this neighborhood is "Saigon." I looked for
references to this on Google, but my search results were flooded with
reviews of the Sunnyvale restaurant.
--
David Arnstein (00)
arnstei...@pobox.com {{ }}
^^
Ian MacLure
news:g02lnr$ci8$1...@reader2.panix.com:
Hmmm.
I thought for a second or two and then unleashed a query on
hong kong district saigon.
Third item that came up was:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sai_Kung_District
Might it be germane do you suppose....
IBM