And Dim Sum

A couple weekends ago, I joined two of my friends on a Saturday restaurant adventure.  One of the friends, Mia, had been there before, and thank god she had.  In a part of LA that had more Chinese written on the sign than English, she helped us navigate a shopping plaza to the top of the floor.  There weren't other stores at the top - the top was the restaurant.

The seafood restaurant flowed in a typical Hong Kong style Dim Sum.  We were seated at a table, brought tea, and then waiters with carts of a variety of foods would pass by and offer us whatever we would like.  The food comes in individual and sometimes bite-size portions served in steamers or plates, about 3-4 people servings.

Some of our dishes!

There were so many foods to choose from!  Any meat you could think of: pork, chicken, beef, fish, shrimp, squid, and lobster.  And they came in so many forms: fried, cooked as is (spare ribs), on sticks, Gao (rice-wheat dumplings), Bau (fluffy wheat buns with various fillings), soups, and even Phoenix Claws (fried chicken feet...we passed on this one).  So many vegetables were included in these dishes and a nice almond paste and taro to some dishes.  For dessert we chose and almond one, sesame rolls, and the more american pigs in blankets (they were just too cute!).

As we ordered our food, the cart waiters would stamp a sheet on our table with different numbers or shapes (see below).  We tried to decipher the system, but with no luck.

"If we get BINGO, do we get a discount?"

After a very filling meal and waving bye to the soon-to-be-dinner sea animals in tanks along a wall, we stopped by to get Boba tea on the way home.