Cat X.
Yelp
Coming from the bay area and Sacramento in California, I was impressed with the dim sum here! Solid quality, consistent, and appropriately priced. The owner and staff are very nice. Paul is a jack of all trades, master of dim sum :) The interior is very classy.
Note for those unfamiliar with Chinese food: if you cannot eat pork, Chinese food is not super safe for you. Many chicken dishes will have pork, even taro dishes will surprise you with pork. The same is true for shellfish allergies - you will often be surprised with shrimp.
Snow custard bao: Excellent topping to bread to filling ratio. Sweeter but still not too sweet :) sugary crunchy top (somewhat like Mexican conchas), soft white bread baked to perfection, smooth and sweet eggy custardy inside.
Baked pork bao: Excellent bread to filling ratio - love it when there is not toooo much bread. The pork filling was succulent, sweet, savory, tender. Love a filling that is not overcooked or stale or burnt! Chinese BBQ pork is not like western BBQ pork, it's sweeter and not tangy. The bread has a light sweet glaze on it, and the bread will likely stick to your teeth ^_^
Szechuan green beans: Damn these are TIGHT. I could just eat this whole plate on its own like a snack. Properly cooked green beans, salty enough, not spicy but has nice chile flavor. A delicious and fibrous savory treat.
Siu mai: If you've never had this before, it's basically a succulent pork and shrimp meatball wrapped with fried tofu skin (it's not crunchy but soft, you may not even notice it). It is savory, slightly sweet because of the shrimp, and overall a nice juicy fatty bite.
Chestnut cake: I've never actually had this before! Very different from taro cake but still very good. It has small pieces of water chestnuts in it, so it feels like biting into ginger or cucumber, has a very neutral flavor like cucumber (but nutty), and the gelatin is sweet but not too sweet and perfectly lightly crisped/caramelized on the outside. Similar to a new year cake but not so decadent or sweet or sticky.
Chicken feet: Don't order the wrong one! One is white and cold, one is red and hot. I only eat the latter. If you like chicken feet, you'll like these. They are exactly what you (the experts, not the novices) would expect. Can suck the meat off the bones, no need to use hands, just chopsticks. Just enough heat. Not rubbery.
Sticky rice with chicken: These always come with a little piece of Chinese sausage and egg yolk. This was the first one I've had that was so fresh. The yolk was tender and not super weird and dry and hard! Very nice. Otherwise, exactly what you would expect.
Meatballs: Meat flavored with I think white pepper, salt, and I'm not sure if anything else. Has fried tofu skin (soft, like around the siu main) at the bottom. Not bad! Very tender and juicy. Just okay to me.
When I'm back in town, I will look forward to coming here! Hope by then I will see a more flourishing area, a lot of potential for art and great Asian food.