Last year, an article came out that I immediately bookmarked. It was on AsiaSociety.com and it was written by a man named David Chan who ate at over 6,000 Chinese restaurants in America to determine the best. His list of the 10 Best was notable because all of the restaurants were in California, mostly Los Angeles. As he explained, “More wealthy/professional Chinese settle in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, and they demand, and can afford, a higher quality of Chinese food.” #2 on his list was a place called Sea Harbour Seafood Restaurant and last week, I made plans to lunch there with my fellow food bloggers (and former Clean Plate Club guests) Ganda Suthivarakom and Zach Brooks.
What a privilege it is to live so close to such superior Chinese food. In New York, we were die-hard fans of Grand Sichuan, but never really ventured out for dim sum. Well, I did once and went on a Friday night, which was weird. Then we went back on a Sunday which was not weird at all. I think my resistance to dim sum in general had to do with those two experiences because I much prefer eating Chinese food at night or, if not at night, for lunch. I’m not so into eating it at breakfast, for whatever weird psychological reason. So dim sum was never really my thing.
But here in California, you can go to dim sum at lunch on a weekday and have an experience much closer to a Sunday morning experience in the sense that there will be crowds. Here’s the scene inside Sea Harbour last Tuesday:
Immediately, Zach and Ganda got busy studying the menu. I let them lead the charge though I offered suggestions like “DUMPLINGS” and “MORE DUMPLINGS.”
Oh, I should say this place has a menu because it’s not the kind of dim sum where they push carts around. The menu has lots of pictures, though, with corresponding numbers and you can circle those numbers on a piece of paper.
As we were studying and circling, a women did come around with a plate of dumplings and asked if were interested. “DUMPLINGS!” I said and nodded my head. Here they are.
These were super good; not notably different from your standard, everyday fried pork dumpling, but also that’s hard to screw up or improve upon. It’s just a great thing that you can eat and here we ate it first.
Then more interesting stuff arrived. Ganda put a bid in for braised lettuce (Zach held his tongue) and here it is with a dipping sauce:
I liked this for its clean, pure flavor–a refreshing foil for all the heavy food that was to come. Like these PORK BUNS:
Whoever thought of these deserves a medal. It’s like eating a doughnut except inside there’s sweetened pork, so it’s like dessert and dinner all at the same time. I could’ve eaten a whole plate of them. As it was, I ate just one and had to share the others.
Here’s something I didn’t like: chicken knees.
You heard that right–knees. I’ve had chicken knees once before, when I had yakitori in New York, and both then and here, I disliked the texture. You really crunch through that cartilage and you feel like a dinosaur or maybe a cannibal Tonya Harding? Also, I found the flavor to be weirdly gamey. I was not a fan.
But I was a HUGE fan of these next two plates:
On the left, beautifully made shrimp dumplings. On the right, more dumplings with shrimp but also fresh corn that really tasted of summer. These two bites alone were worth the long drive to Rosemead. Some of the best dumplings I’ve ever had.
These rice noodle cakes were delicious, gut-filling carb-bombs:
And Zach was like a little boy at a toy store when he saw another table eating turnip cakes from an edible bowl; he had to get one for us.
I actually found this a bit greasy and no one actually ate the edible bowl. But I’m still glad we got it.
Here’s another rice cake dish, this one with braised meat:
But the best moment by far came with the arrival of these:
They’re advertised as Steamed Buns with Preserved Salty Egg. I was dubious, at first, but then I took a bite.
Oh lordy. How to describe this? Imagine a rich dough–like brioche–that’s steamed and then filled with a yolky egg custard that’s salty AND sweet. So, basically, the world’s best doughnut that’s not a doughnut? I wanted to cry, this was so good.
And these were filled with condensed milk, so also desserty in a way:
But the final dessert was the one that caused some hysteria at the table. Hysteria because Zach cursed himself for not taking a video of me trying my first durian pastry:
I know durian has a reputation for having a terrible smell, but I didn’t know it’s in the taste too. I took one bite and almost lost all of that delicious lunch I’d just consumed. UGH!! Imagine something sweet that also tastes like cooked garlic and onions with a hint of raw sewage, and you get the idea. Ganda and Zach were highly amused but I was nothing but grossed out.
Still, one more bite of a salty egg bun and all my gladness was restored. This place really lives up to its reputation as one of the best Chinese restaurants in the country. I’ll definitely be back, but there won’t be any knees or durian pastries on my table. To quote a great poet, I “don’t want none unless you got buns, hun.”
I am Chinese and grew up in LA and this is my parents’ favorite restaurant. I now live in the midwest (try to find good Chinese food here…) and this post made me cry a little bit on the inside. San Gabriel Valley has the best Chinese food in the US, hands down. I’ve lived in San Francisco and New York before, too, and they have NOTHING on southern California. I think it’s because there’s just a much greater variety of Chinese cuisines in LA – NY and SF, because their Chinese communities are so much older, tend to be mostly Shanghai or Cantonese immigrants, while more recent immigrants from Taiwan and the mainland have formed large communities in SGV, which can in turn support more restaurants.
Fortunately, I’m going home in 2 months for a visit. Now I know where I’m making my parents take me.
Taro, red bean paste, and lotus seed paste desserts are my favorite Asian desserts–I can’t remember if you’ve tried any of those before? There’s also a singularly delicious taro and braised pork dish–can’t quite remember if I had it at Sea Harbour or another place, but if you ever see it, highly highly recommend.
On the list you linked to, I’ve been to most of them but mostly LOVE Elite, Seafood Village, and Din Tai Fung (I also can’t remember if you’ve been to DTF, but if you haven’t, go to the ‘secret’ one that’s like a block away from the main one–shorter lines.) I highly recommend those. That is where many Chinese immigrants (my Chinese parents came from Taiwan in ’82) go to get their fix when they’re jonesing for a taste of home.
Happy eating and lucky you!
Thanks, Victoria. This was a great comment!
Hey, thanks! This may be tl;dr, but your blog is such a lifesaver for me. Growing up with a Chinese mother, I struggled with American cooking when I first got married so your recipes and posts were a huge help, so my poor (Minnesotan) husband didn’t have to eat pig stomach (learned that one at Grandma’s knee–I do not recommend, it is disgusting even to me). The first meal I ever cooked for my mother-in-law and picky Midwestern meat and taters eating father-in-law was your roast chicken with the potatoes, which was both easy and a whopping success, which is good when cooking for one’s in-laws for the first time. So thanks! I commented today because it’s kind of unreal to see the places that were like my McDonald’s growing up (mom too tired to cook? Pile in the car and go to San Gabriel!) featured on one of my top foodblog reads.
Oh yeah, and when I lived in New York I lived off of your recommendations, including weekly treks to Levain. :) So thank you thank you!
I hope we can chat
Victoria,
As it turns out, Adam will only be blocks from the new Din Tai Fung at the Americana at Brand.
I know cuz I am a neighbor of Adam’s in Atwater Village.
Teri
I am also a Chinese.But I am growing up in mainland.Nice to talk to you !And you said that your mother is a Chinese,may I know which province she is from?
Sea Harbour was once the favorite dim sum restaurant for my wife and me, but after the chef left for the Las Vegas restaurant, we’ve felt there’s been a decline in quality. We’ll still make the 40 minute drive from Orange County a few times out of the year for Sea Harbour, but it’s not quite the same.
I love San Gabriel Valley for the food. My grandparents live there. But I also have to give a shout out for Chinese food in Houston, which is where I first had the steamed bun with salted egg. I’ve never heard that English translation; in Chinese it’s something more like “running sand bun”, b/c the texture of the granulated sugar and egg yolk is like running sand. Not all dim sum places have it- I never had it growing up as a kid in MD. Glad you were able to try it!
Curious to know if you as a group decide the amount you want to spend and then split 3 ways or….?
Hey, Adam — Don’t diss the durian! It’s an acquired taste… let yourself get acclimated to the pungent aroma and then try it again. In Singapore, they have “no durian” signs posted throughout the public areas.
I love Chinese food! I was recently in Hong Kong and I love all the seemingly exotic dimsum. Here in AU, there’s a great restaurant that I frequent: http://goldensunrestaurant.com.au/, the food is awesome :)
The Rosemead location is a branch of Sea Harbour here in Vancouver ( actually Richmond) BC. Here, they are better known for their seafood rather than their dim sum ( which, while good, I find often encroaches into the fusiony small-plates territory). They are also famous for their salty egg yolk bun which you obviously loved.
If you ever make it up here to Vancouver, check out the mothership location for comparison. (I’ve been to the LA branch – but it was 3-4 years ago now). @wisemonkeysblog
I don’t know how to follow a guy.Who can help me?Thanks a lot.
You might enjoy these two guides to dim sum, here: http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/08/video-dim-sum-guide-from-off-the-great-wall.html. Pretty funny, but helpful too!
The salty egg bun? Was that a nin wong bao? I love those!
The picture of the pork bun made me so hungry because it is my favorite thing from a wonderful dim sum place in Hong Kong called Tim Ho Won.
Also Din Tai Fung is excellent. My parents loved it when they came to visit us in Shanghai (they live in Colorado, almost impossible to find good Chinese food there!)
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