I think dim sum in SF and the Bay Area peaked in the 1990s when we had Harbor Village at the high end and popular-priced dim sum palaces in Chinatown like Gold Mountain, Meriwa, Canton Tea House and Y. Ben House. There was even good dim sum in Sausalito, at North Sea Village.
We miss Harbour Village. We also have a vague memory that Harbour Village Hong Kong was housed in Tsim sha tsui hotel?
I like Lai Wah Heen and a lot of other high end Dim Sum places in Canada. However, in my humble opinion, Koi isnât really worse. It does not use any fancy ingredients like fish roe or goose liver (foie gras) but the basic/core skill of Koi is just as good as any high end dim sum restaurant.
Koi is more basic, and like you said, more traditional in a way.
although have you been recently? While i feel the prepped dishes are still as good as ever (never had better roast suckling pig), the dimsum feels a lot less well constructed than before⌠the wrappers are slightly stickier / thicker, the fillings feel heavier with msg. i dunno, i got the whole lobster dumplings last time and was pretty disappointed and i usually devour them.
I was there about 5 months ago. I really enjoyed their dim sum. I like the standard pork dumplings (siu mai) and shrimp dumplings (har gow), and I feel that they are up to standard. Strangely, I never got to the suckling pig. I have tried goose intestine and other stuffs. 
I do think their special higher end dim sum actually are not as good as their standard ones. I mean. They are unique and all, but they are not as well made actually.
I wish I could believe that tech money is going to lead to more interesting food choices, but: Soylent.
1 Like
I just got back from SF. I went to Koi probably 6 times (4 times during dim sum). I missed the roasted suckling pig the first 3 days. They ran out the pig the first two days, and the wait time was too long on the third day. Finally, I got it on the fourth day. Yes, it was very well made.
1 Like
Whatâs the take on the Koi Palace location in Dublin? My daughter has a business there and lives in Hayward. We visit a couple of times a year.
Opps. So busy this trip that I didnât get to go to the Dublin one. So many things to try. 
What else do you like at dimsum, and dinner as well?
The baby pig i had at koi palace Dublin was very good. The lobster dumplings had thick gummy wrappers and rubbery lobster.
I love many of its basic dim sum dishes For example, I really like the Steamed BBQ Pork Buns (item 233), the Steamed Rice Roll (items 302, 304 - 306, 308), Shrimp Pork Mushroom Dumplings - Shui Mai (item 226), Sugar Egg Puff (item 502), Durian Puff (item 267)âŚ
In general, I find their more expensive / innovative dim sum to be âhit or missâ. For example, the crab roe sea bass dumpling (item 239) was kind of a miss for me. I wasnât in love with the abalone and smoked ham dumpling soup (item 207), Mongolian beef rice roll was ok (item 303), but not impressive⌠Again, they are not bad. They are just not as executed as well as the more basic items.
For dinner, I absolutely like the steamed grouper. 
went to yank sing for lunch yesterday⌠variety nowhere near as diverse as KP, but man, the execution on their dumplings is so much better. The hargau are excellent.
i would agree (at least on the xlb and the pea shoots dumplings, i normally donât order many steamed items). I usually also get their salt & pepper sea bass (not the broiled sea bass) and sometimes a piece or two of peking duck or a half order of potstickers.
xlb are excellent, which is shocking because most dim sum place have totally crappy xlb. these are fragrant, juicy with a near perfect wrapper. and are more DTF size as opposed to the bigger size you get in most shanghai places around here.
funny that you should mention the potstickers. i never order them unless i am with a non-asian, as they will typically get them. and everytime they do, i end up eating half of them because they are so well executed. i was going to mention them in my prior post but didnt because i was embarassed to admit i was a fan of potstickers 
haha, yes, potstickers can be very bad at some places but at Yank Sing they are usually pretty decent.
In that case, I will definitely stop by Yank Sing in the future.
Fwiw yank sing on spear st now serves bbq pork on weekdays (have not seen this at the Stevenson st location ) 
other weekend dishes include preserved duck egg porridge and tofu custard , supposedly
Just curious why you would be embarrassed to get potstickers. Are they one of those Americanized inventions like General Tsoâs chicken?
Well, if they are, Andrea Nguyen still taught us to make them in her Asian dumpling class.
