dear friend,
I consider myself quite the dim sum connoisseur, having enjoyed it for decades across both coasts of North America—from NYC and Toronto to Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver, BC, and in Hong Kong, home of dim sum.
And I must say, ever since moving from Brooklyn to Seattle (well, Renton, really), the West Coast dim sum scene has left a remarkably strong impression on me. First, around 2016, we tried Jade Garden’s dim sum, back when, I believe, the food was still coming out in the dim sum carts. The shrimp in both the siu mai and har gao were crispy, fresh, and juicy, and the dumplings were all mouthwatering and big. To this day, Jade Garden does not disappoint, so be sure to stop by whenever you’re visiting Seattle’s International District. If you can’t find parking, park in Uwajimaya’s lot. Buy groceries worth $10-$20 to get free parking.
Then, we discovered Triumph Valley in Renton and Mr. Dim Sum in Tukwila. Both are my go-to spots these days. For those of you on the Eastside, you can’t go wrong with Top Gun Seafood in Bellevue. The name is hilarious, I know.
For spring break, my family and I drove north to Vancouver, BC, and finally made it to Yue Restaurant in Richmond. There’s a reason why the lines and waits are long on the weekends. I mean, don’t even try. We were there Monday morning, the day after Easter Sunday, and the lines were long. Luckily, we got a table quickly, and soon we were in dim sum heaven.
When I was a child, I ate a soup dumpling that was unforgettable in a dim sum restaurant in Montreal. Since then, I’ve always thought about that dish. It’s not a soup dumpling like xiaolongbao, but a large dumpling with a thin yellow wrapper swimming in broth. Back then, the filling was shark fin, which is no longer legal, of course, and a mix of seafood, like dried scallops (or conpoy), shrimp, and ground pork. It reminds me of that viral dumpling lasagna making rounds on social media, but it’s so much more than that food hack. It’s a 灌湯餃 (gun-tong-gaau in Cantonese), a jumbo soup dumpling that I often dream of. To my lovely surprise, Yue had 灌湯餃 on the menu, one for around $17 CAD, and it was the first thing I ordered.
It was paradise exploding in my mouth, exactly as I remember, sans shark fin. The broth was rich, and bits of conpoy swam out of the dumpling. The wrapper was thin, soft, and a little chewy, and as big as the dumpling was, it simply disappeared too quickly. My husband and I shared it, and I wish we had ordered two servings.
See, this was a Vancouver foodie trip for my family, and while we had wanted to order every dish at Yue, we settled for our favorites: siu mai, a speciality dumpling made with asparagus wrapper, taro balls, and the salty-egg yolk lava-filled bao.
The siu mai was good but not a standout. As long as the siu mai is decent at a dim sum restaurant, you can rest assured that the rest of its selections will be good.
The taro puff with scallop and a curry pork filling was OK. I do prefer a regular taro puff with the standard pork filling. It was oily, per my son, but went down just fine thanks to the chrysanthemum tea we paired with our meal. You can order from quite a selection of teas, such as oolong and jasmine, and this is a standard at traditional dim sum restaurants.
My family and I agreed that we will have to make the trip back to Yue again, and try other dim sum restaurants in Richmond.
Back at home, I often make my own siu mai and dumplings. I will say that my recipe will be the best one you try this year. It comes from my second cookbook, Modern Asian Kitchen, an unloved middle child of a book. Here is the recipe!
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