Anyone been to the "new" Emperor's Garden? hargau?
hargau said that there might be a review of the supposedly new, ex-HLM kitchen staff today. Anybody, anything?
Luther
Dec 23, 2007 12:55PM
14 Replies so Far
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Hi, Yes 7 of us went today and spent about $100 on dim sum.
At first we were worried as they didnt seat us in the main dining area but in a lounge off to the side. When we arrived we were the 1st in this large room and obviously there were no carts/peopls. However as they promised, within about 10 minutes it was hoppin in there as well.
We got most of the normal standards hargau, shumai, mushroom cap meatball, baked pork pastry, egg custards, chicken feet, shrimp chow fun, ribs in black bean sauce, taro dumplings, fried shrimp/chive dumpling, fried calamari, s&p shrimp, congee, tofu skin roll, spring roll, shrimp roll, sticky rice, roast duck.....
Out of that list the only thing i actually had to spit out was the calamari, not much seasoning and very fishy. Didnt have the soapy/soggy experience i had there 2 years prior so that was a plus!
The rest was on par with the other big places in chinatown.
The turnip cake cart didnt come around till we were done eating and leaving, which was sad as i love them. Also never saw any of the fried shrimp patties with the shredded taro on the outside. One of my favorites which they didnt seem to offer at all. We also wanted snails but they dont do those there, they did have clams but we didnt get them
We asked both the host and the waitress if they knew anything about the HLM staff working the kitchen and both seemed to have no clue what we were talking about. Didnt know anything about it. We asked in Mandarin so it wasnt a language barrier thing.
20 photos posted on dimsumtimes
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I must have crossed signals...or misread..thought the HLM team went to China Pearl..:)
4 of us went yesterday to CP..good quality but variety was limited..usual offerings; but not much more.
We'll try Emperors/Empire next time.
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In my experience the Empire Garden staff speak fluent Cantonese, and not much of anything else. Half the time I'm better off asking in English rather than in Mandarin.
I'm not 100% certain what the fried shrimp patties with shredded taro on the outside are, but there is a sort of flat, slightly flatter than hockey puck-shaped disc with strips of deep fried taro on the outside that they do make at this place. I've also seen snails there but not necessarily consistently. Glad to hear the other stuff was on a par with the other big places. To my mind, the fact that the place is so darned big, and therefore has a lot more room to accommodate people, and therefore much shorter lines as a rule, gives the place an edge to me (though I've never eaten the calamari there).
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She may have asked in Cantonese, i believe she speaks both fluently. I dont, but i know the 2 of them were blabbing back in forth for quite some time!
Yea thats the shrimp/taro thing im talking about. We call them "porcupines" for lack of a better name. None to be had yesterday.
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So with the whole weirdness surrounding HLM, an apparent upturn of EG, etc - if you had to choose one of the big Chinatown places for dim sum, which would be your choice? We've been pretty unhappy w/ HLM lately and trying to figure out where we want to try as a replacement.
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Well i didnt have anything at EG that was better then anywhere else, i had one thing that was worse and they didnt have a few things i wanted. I go to dimsum enough that i just rotate the places, i would add EG into my rotation just for variety. Still generally like HLM the best, China Pearl is right up there, Chau Chau City is good as well but i dont like sitting on the lower 2 levels.
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Could any of you tell me, is there dim sum to be had in Chinatown on Christmas day? Or is it just a weekend scene?
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All of the big Dim Sum restaurants (China Pearl, Hei La Moon, Emporer's Garden, etc), serve dim sum 7 days a week.
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Yes Xmas day is VERY popular for dimsum, perhaps more so then Sundays. I went last year to HLM on xmas day. Worst experience i have had there, line/wait was very long, carts were very scarce. Place was mobbed and incredibly loud, couldnt even talk at the table.
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I went there for lunch by myself last week. Just had a few items which did not seem much improved from my last visit for at least two years ago.
The baked Cha Sui Bao is the worst I ever had. Outside looks good but inside is totally red coloring.
I asked the cart-pushing lady had the HLM chef come work there. She said "how do you know?" Then she did not say much and walked away.
The available items are very similarly to HLM but they do not taste as good.
It is still a mystery to me.
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You will notice out of all the items we ordered, no Bao of any sort. I find that the Bao at a number of the bakeries in chinatown are far far superior, larger, hotter, cheaper then ANY of the restaurants. So typically we dont bother with them in the restaurants.
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It may be the case in Boston, the only exception is the baked cha siu bao freshly sent out from the kitchen in HLM.
IMO, restaurants usually make bao better than the bakeries.
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At HLM we like to get the ones we call "yellow tops" the baked ones with the yellow custard inside and the flaky yellow topping on the outside. If you can catch a fresh batch of them, they are tasty
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I went on Sunday and I was pleasantly surprised. All the dim sum was fresh and pretty tasty. I had the beef meatballs, chicken feet, har gau, fried dumplings with chives, fried taro, and the stuffed shrimp and beef noodles.
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