2.36 Sea Harbor Dim Sum
Posted on October 16, 2008
Filed Under Best of the Best, Breakfast, Cantonese |
Sea Harbor sits a block south of Valley Blvd on Rosemead and is one of the highest rated Dim Sum places in Los Angeles. I’ve long heard of this place but have always been turned away by the crowd waiting outside, certainly a good indicator of the general consensus. Finally, this weekend I managed to drag the girlfriend out of her apartment by 10am, and we arrived at 10:50, plenty early to avoid a wait, or so I thought.
Our wait time was a good 30 min. Just FYI, parties of 4 get seated faster than 2. So bring friends. The interior is quite nice for a Cantonese place.
Chicken feet(#36): One thing I’ve noticed is that the better Dim Sum places tend to serve larger chicken feet. These were huge. These were so soft and flavorful, definitely recommended.
Tofu Skin Roll(#34): Totally solid, this dish has always been about textures and it delivers. Soft and smooth outside, a little crunchy inside. Very pleasing.
Durian pastry. (#6) When compared to the fantastic Durian pastries at Elite, these were a notch below, still excellent and definitely recommended if you never had durian before.
Shrimp rice noodles: These were probably the best I’ve ever had, a little extra sweet, very flavorful, loaded with large shrimp. It goes out of its way to please you, excellent.
Beef tripe (#40): This is the best tripe I’ve had at a Dim Sum place, cooked to perfection, soft and not overly chewy, with excellent meaty flavor.
Shu Mai (#1): These reminded me of the king shumai at Koi palace in NorCal, it’s huge, chunky and had great flavor. Oh, and unlike Koi palace, they’re not $5 a pop, can’t say no to that.
Har gow / Shrimp dumplings (#2): I was blown away by how much shrimp they managed to stuff into these dumplings. Another well executed classic.
Soup dumplings / Xiao Long Bao (#47): Good flavor, but not very juicy. If you wanted XLB, go to Din Tai Fung.
One of my new favorites: Fried chicken knees! (#11) I’m a sucker for fried stuff and these were perfect. Crispy fried cartilage, crunchy and chewy, with such a pleasing flavor.
Steamed turnip (#38): This replaces the turnip cake that’s generally fried — don’t get me wrong, I love those — but this steamed version gives you virtually twice the turnip flavor, it is magnificent, definitely give it a try.
We finish it off with egg custards, the girlfriend’s favorite. (#9) It might not look as good as ones at some other places, but the crust is flaky and the filling creamy.
Service is prompt and efficient, seating may take a while, but the food’s definitely worth it. Parking might be hard to find in the area so go early to beat the crowds. As for prices, it’s approximately 20% more than what I usually pay, but then this place raised the bar on Turnip cake, beef tripe, and shrimp rice noodles, so I’d say it’s definitely worth it. Bring as many of your early-rising friends as you can and go nuts.
Sea Harbor
3939 Rosemead Blvd
Rosemead, CA, 91770
(626) 288-3939
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