I was lucky enough to get invited to the grand opening of the seventh location of the renowned Dim Sum Palace and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon. There was plenty of fanfare including fabulous lion dancing that started in front of this cozy but large eastern Chinatown location and moving through the crowd of 200 plus guests. There were many flower arrangements from friends and family wishing this new location a lot of luck, and of course, for additional luck there were prefilled red money envelopes that guests handed in to a hostess.
But it was the giant platters of food served family style at each table that blew everyone away. You can go to Yelp and see the great reviews of previous Dim Sum Palace locations to know that the quality of their authentic Cantonese fare is of the highest level, prices are ultra reasonable and that the portion sizes are enough for several people to share. I also recommend going to their official website dimsumpalace.com to check out the latest menus and learn about the back story of this family friendly establishment. You can order their food online of course, but I suggest going in person for the full experience. Every second spent at a Dim Sum Palace is fun and service is both fast as friendly. Here is a sampling of my favorites from the dozen or so dishes that I tried at the Division Street location opening and a little about why I enjoyed these dishes so much!
As part of the Handmade Dim Sum Platter which includes all types of dumplings, I fell in love with the vegetarian ones that included a delicious hot filling that included scallions and carrots. These came with a delicious soy based brown sauce with cooked onions. This was so delicious and I loved the sticky texture of the dumplings. You cannot go to Dim Sum Palace without starting your meal with the Handmade Dim Sum Platter!
This is the House Special Fried Rice and what makes it special is that it is full of peas, corn and cooked pieces of egg—but wild rice and roe are added to the mix. This is truly the most unique fried rice recipe that I have ever encountered as a food influenced.
This stunning plate is simply called Asparagus With Steak Cubes. This dish features super tender chunks of sirloin with wok cooked asparagus, garlic, red peppers and onions. The meat is done medium and is super juicy and the brown sauce has a little bit of a peppery kick. This one’s a crowd pleaser and so beautifully served.
The Prawns With Honey Walnut features a sweet brown sauce, huge honey coated walnuts and a large quantity of steamed broccoli. This dish is amazing because it smells so heavenly. People at the grand opening event were actually closing their eyes while eating this so you know they were really savoring it, LOL!
The fish lovers also went crazy for the Hometown Style Crispy Fish Filet which featured flounder filet that was super tender and very lightly breaded. The dried, sautéed string beans in the dish were slightly garlicky and simply delicious. I put some fresh lemon on this for an added flavor burst that brought out the flavors of both the fish and string beans.
The “rock star” item of the grand opening lunch was the Twin Lobster With Ginger & Scallion. Since there were no knives it was a little bit of a challenge to eat but my table of four food journalists and two 13-year-old girls managed to finish this plate. It is stunning to look at but even more stunning to eat! This is the type of dish that makes any Sunday super special.
As a lover of Chinatown’s roast chickens that you see hanging in the windows of the old-time establishments, my mouth dropped when this platter of Crispy Garlic Chicken was placed on my table. Each piece had a perfectly dark golden skin that crunched when you bit into it and the light garlic infusion made the chicken taste even better. Each price oozed juice. I think that I would be happy eating this every day of my life!
Our dessert was the incredible authentic Sesame Ball With Lotus Seed. These were fresh and warm and the lotus seed gave a subtle, nutty taste. The insides were hot and sticky and it tasted like some honey was in the batter and glaze. I will be ordering these when I head back to Dim Sum Palace. You will probably want to take any of the leftovers home including these delicious puffs of sweet flavor!
