Here are a few take-out dim sum experiences over the past year or so. I know we have a thread specifically on dim sum takeout but I thought I’d park this here and link from there to this post.
- We’ve done takeout from China Pearl in Boston several times. Our fondness for China Pearl is largely for its festive atmosphere. We’ve done the Lunar New Year there every year for over twenty years (except occasionally when we’ve been in NYC, whereupon we’ve done Jing Fong), usually with a large group. As for the dim sum itself, there was usually better to be had at Winsor, Great Taste, etc. Over the pandemic, though, they were cooking in small quantities and making a lot of things to order – and the quality shot up. Their dumplings were all very fresh and bursting with flavor. We loved their sticky rice in lotus leaf, their steamed and their fried shrimp dumplings with chives, and their pan fried pork buns. Unfortunately they’ve cut back even further in their Chinatown operations and are now only open weekends.
Eta: China Pearl Dim Sum menus (both locations).
- Two days ago we did takeout from Winsor for the first time. (We’d chosen China Pearl over them because CP offers curbside pickup and W requires you to come in.) It was spectacular. Their fried shrimp and chive dumplings were bursting with tender shrimp, the Szechuan tripe was very tender and nicely tingly, and the panfried turnip cakes with xo sauce was, as @sunnyday observed above, much superior to the straight pan fried versions usually available elsewhere. There were three diners in the restaurant when I picked up around 3 p.m. Friday.
Eta: Winsor menu on Chow Bus.
- For the sake of old times, we did pickup from Shangri La the weekend before they closed. This was more a nostalgia trip than a great dim sum experience. It was sad to see all the steamer baskets, etc., all piled up, also ostensibly for sale.
