Actually, I take it back. I guess it really depends on the ingredients and the quality…etc. $50 is ok. What I really want to say isn’t so much $50 is too much, but rather it isn’t something to be particular proud of. That is like saying we now have many more $6-8 bubble tea shops. Of course, $6-8 bubble tea exist and there is a market for it…and people have free choice…etc, I am just saying in my humble opinion, this isn’t something I would be proud of, and if having less $6-8 bubble tea means US is “trailing” or “behind”, then I will gladly celebrate this backwardness 
I like hotpot just fine. I actually enjoy it, but the vast amount of hot pot places we have here near LA and worse the huge amount of “hot pot ready meals” from supermarkets like Great Wall Supermarkets or Ranch 99 or…
Well, you know what I am going to say.
Ha! 24 bucks!
And if anyone’s truly curious how it was made:
Kinda interesting actually, though not the largest fan of boba tea I’d be willing to sample it… maybe more towards 15g…
I respectfully disagree. Although I find SF and LA dim sum generally competent (and I definitely do enjoy it), the skill and quality is much better in Vancouver. I usually judge that based on the texture and thickness of the noodles in the rice noodle rolls, snap and flavor of the shrimp in the shrimp dumplings, and texture of the meat in the shui mai.
DB and KP can compete but not most others in the Bay Area aren’t that close. Most may have one or two dishes they do well but do not have the same level of quality across the entire dim sum menu, let alone the inventiveness.
I can’t comment on Toronto because I don’t go often enough.
Thanks for your post. $24 is indeed very steep. However, there are always a place for something like this. I assume they use real fruits and high quality ingredients. Still…anything more than $10 seems a little high for fruits, tapioca balls and tea. In all honesty, I guess if they use very high quality tea. Very high quality tea can cost a lot, but very high quality tea should be enjoyed as it is.
Nevertheless, you totally got my point. Just because US now has the most expensive high end Bubble tea, I am not a bit more excited about it. Same thing for some of the high end food. Some are well deserved. Some are just unnecessary in my opinion.
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I agree that Vancouver dim sum is clearly better than SF or LA. I think that a pretty decent place in YVR (say, Sun Sui Wah) is equal to the best of what we have. But they have a handful (at least) that are a tier above. Given the strength of the HK - YVR connection (with the 1997 handover playing a significant role), it’s not exactly a surprise.
David Chang agrees with you, in his dumpling episode of Ugly Delicious.
Strangely, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post just came up with an article to the contrary. However the article just focuses on a couple of new restaurants which might be a beginning but certainly does not support the supposed overarching thesis of the article. The SF Chronicle Chinese special supplement gives a much more accurate picture of Chinese fine dining over here.
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Very true. There are a few Chinese places in the US that charges like high end places, but without the food to match. I think its because the expense account crowd in China eats, conducts business and socializes at high end Chinese, whereas here in the US, the expense account crowd have other choices.
I am not a big fan of dish doctored up with expensive ingredients- caviar, etc. just for the sake of it. If the ingredients add a lot to the dish, sure. Otherwise its just a trick to get the diners to pay more.
I don’t know if I would call them tricks, but defining a different level of expectations
By the way, I just realized that I did not write caviar in my previous post, but you knew exactly what I was talking about. Yes, foie gras shumai (鵝肝燒賣), caviar shrimp dumplings (黑魚子醬蝦餃)… By the way, I like them just fine, and enjoyed them. Yet, based on the places I have been to, the fundamental dim sum skill levels are the same with or without the caviar.
Now, of course, if a person is custom to have caviar on shrimp dumplings, then of course, any shrimp dumpling does not have caviar is not as good. I get it, but for me, that is not where the line is drawn. On the other hand, I do prefer my Cantonese wonton soup with yellow chive. 
I certain give an extra point to any wonton place with a little yellow chive and buddha fruit (韭黃 and 羅漢果).
Actually, let me rephrase a little differently, I can certainly appreciate if expensive ingredients are used to great effects on top of excellent quality dimsum, but if expensive ingredients are used on top of somewhat average dim sum, that’s just lipstick on a pig.
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There’s an interesting flip side to that. A place called Longo Seafood opened up in Rosemead and may be in the class of the top SF dimsum places. They offer truffle siu mai and foie gras ha gow at a good premium to the plain siu mai and ha gow. Trouble is the plain versions are so good that the fancy ones are only incrementally better and not worth the premium.
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Gents, I’ve posted here plenty and everyone is entitled to their opinions of course as that’s what makes it fun. The subject of the SMCP article was primarily about Eight Tables and me. Yes I put some luxury ingredients like caviar on a dumpling but did you know China is the largest producer of high quality caviar (Kaluga) in the world now? And their Foie Gras farms are not far behind either HV or Rougie? They used to have great Yunnan truffles too! In the US or west, folks have a hard time with luxury Chinese ingredients like Fish Maw, Sea Cucumber, Bird’s Nest etc so we have to start here with more typical western luxury ingredients…see next post photo of new dish I launched yesterday. As to dim sum, there’s no comparison to China or HK as for instance their Har Gaw is made with live shrimp and costs $12 for 4 at places like Fook Lam Moon. We simply can’t do that here or we need to charge $30 for 4 to make a 50% cost. The problem with dim sum here (DB included), Vancouver, LA, wherever is that they are made en mass and frozen! Now some can freeze well but not delicate soup XLB’s or pan-fried SJB’s for example. At China Live we hired Koi Palace Head dim Sum chef Lin as he was tired of factory commissary work where everything is delivered to their various stores because labor for dim sum is so high it’s not sustainable at single unit restaurants. I don’t allow our dim sum products to be frozen (only if leftover from slower day becomes family meal) at China Live and I don’t even have a feeezer at Eight Tables. So we may all eat and ponder but you can’t be all things to all people unless you have great fresh ingredients, lots of fair costed skilled labor and a commitment to do the best possible. Quality costs money!
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Supreme SEA Cucumber
5 posts were merged into an existing topic: 8 Tables and Mr. Jiu’s [SF]: The View From Hong Kong
Note: the moved posts were not specific to dim sum. Hence they were moved to the SCMP discussion.
Bird’s nest soup? We get ours at Costco. 
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