heading out for dim sum in sgv for the first time, these seem to be 2 names that keep coming up. i am aware that neither one has carts...
ronsilverado
Jul 16, 2008 10:15PM
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Sea Harbour easily...
Unless you arrive in the SGV past 10:00 a.m. and don't want to wait. :P Then go to Triumphal (much less wait than Sea Harbour or other big names).
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Agree. I like Sea Harbour better, but Triumphal is really good too, and without the crazy wait in the morning. Plus Triumphal has more variety.
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Triumphal Palace's siu mai are the best I've had in recent memory. Sea Harbour is pretty good too though. Honestly I thought King Hua was quite good too, but that place got bashed here. Overall, I think I enjoy going to Elite the most but I haven't had a chance to get back there since late last year. Hope things haven't changed.
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Sea Harbour
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If it is your first time for dim sum, Sea Harbour has an edge in having pictures of the items on the menu, while Triumphal Palace just has the names of the dishes on their menu. For newbies to dim sum, seeing a picture can be helpful to determine what to order.
Agree with the others about Sea Harbour being better, but Triumphal Palace does have shorter wait times, as it isn't as crowded.
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If it were me, I'd ditch the menus and go to 888 - what's dim sum without carts?
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I really liked 888, but then I haven't' tried a cartless place yet, so I guess my opinion is somewhat pointless. but I liked 888
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If you want to try more obscure and eclectic items like foie gras won ton or shark fin dumpling, you're more likely to find it at Sea Harbour or Happy Harbor than at 888 or Ocean Star.
I like both types of dim sum places, with or without carts. It all depends on whether I'm in the mood for standard dim sum fare and want it quickly as soon as I sit down, which is more suited for carts. If I'm willing to wait 10-15 minutes to choose standard and/or eclectic dishes, then the order-from-the-menu places are the way to go. There was one item at Elite, some bun item filled with some sweet almond filling, that was one of the best new dishes I tried in a long time. I haven't seen it anywhere else, especially at any of the cart dim sum places.
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It's been a awhile since I went to Triumphal, but I believe both of them are cartless.
Of the two, I like Sea Harbour. But lately I've been going to Elite more. I think they have better variety, but then the line is longer - show up by 9:30AM (the bbq/kitchen stuff isn't available until 10AM though) or just have to contend with a long wait.
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I went to Elite today (Sat) for the first time. I haven't been to Triumphal palace. There were no real pushcarts at Elite on Sat (not sure about Sun) - I ordered off a tick-box menu which had pretty much everything on it.
A bit pricier than I'd expected (I'm cheap), though. I managed to put down $25 of food as a single person without gorging.
I definitely prefer Ocean Star to Elite. Elite definitely puts a bit more "stuff" into their dim sum (the congee has a lot more veggies than I'd expected, and some of the dumplings had some different textures than what I was used to), but I think I prefer the simpler standards after eating them for so long.
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Yes, they seem to want to put a little twist to very traditional dim sum. Purist may not like that. I find the same old/same old rather boring so I like their twists.
For instance, the very run of the mill street food dim sum of rice flour crepe wrapped around the fried dough is re-interpreted to have stuffed fish in the middle of the fried dough, then wrapped in the normal rice flour crepe. They don't really mess with the standard har gow, chicken feet, egg tarts, and pork ribs though.
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