Just a slight update on dim sum. I tend to go there early morning (right when it opens) so I actually don’t wait and this tactic still works! Even on weekends! Well… at least for small tables…
At any rate… I’ve noticed that Koi Palace is now displaying their specials now on the little receipt forms. That’s a nice update, though there’s really no great layout to indicate what you want (Put the number next to the item was what I did).
Decided to try an old throw back item and a newer rice noodle roll.
In any case, started off our meal with classic beef balls with a bit of yuba steamed on the bottom and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. As one of the “small” classifications for KP’s dim sum menu, I guess that’s a victory… In any case, I enjoyed them, still has a good texture to the bite.
We got the steamed daikon cake with dried shrimp and meat. I was pleasantly surprised to see it topped with XO sauce (no mention of that on either the Chinese or English portion of the menu). A nice little spicy kick that goes well with the daikon’s sweetness. Good strips of daikon were in the dish, so it wasn’t just steamed dough.
Next up was one of their special of the day. The wild yam fish maw with duck feet. If you can’t tell, all the aforementioned ingredients were wrapped in yuba skin and had a good braised sauce accompanying the dish. However, the yuba skin seems to have been steamed a little too long. I’m not a huge fan of duck feet either. I also have little idea how people ate this dish, I just unwrapped it and ate each item separately. The duck bones prevented eating it together. I believe this item is considered a more traditional/old-style dim sum. In any case, I wasn’t too interested in trying this dish in the future at KP.
Next up were the crab roe sea bass dumplings. Even though they had an open top, the dumpling was still quite juicy. The asparagus could’ve looked a little brighter, but the fish wasn’t overcooked so still quite enjoyable.
We got the siu mai next and mmm… look wise it could’ve been better. But eating the dumpling was still quite good. The meat still had a nice textured bounce that is chewable and not a solid puck of protein.
Next up were the XO har gow. I’ve always enjoyed them, and I still find them quite good. Wasn’t too pleased with the placement of the dumplings though, the wrapper were a little close to each other and they seemed to like sticking to each other.
I know… I know… not quite the same as the XLBs you’d find in Shanghai etc. etc. … but I still quite like them. I find them to have a good amount of soup and I find the soup more savory than sweet (I prefer savory over sweetness). The meat is a little more compact than I desire, as I recall hyperbowler linking it to the use of machinery.
Ah… the pumpkin rice roll with sea cucumber and seafood (and by seafood, mixture of scallops and shrimp couldn’t seem to find other items). Honestly, if you don’t add the soy sauce, it looks terrible…
There we go! In any case, couldn’t quite tell the sea cucumber apart as I tasted mostly the shrimp/scallop mixture. I still found it quite tasty. The pumpkin pretty much just made the rice noodles yellowy-orange and seemed to cause the noodles to lessen the stretchy/chewiness of the noodles. I think I prefer the regular variation more.
This item, the abalone and smoked ham dumpling soup) is still one my favorite items to order at dim sum restaurants (though usually its dried scallops and shitake mushrooms). Add a dash of the red vinegar to the soup, and it brightens the taste just a bit. Pretty much a buddha jumps over the wall variation, I think KP does a great job on this dish.
As one of the few deep fried things my family likes to order… we got the glutinous dumpling with diced pork. A nice crunch on the outside with a relatively thin chewy later in the middle, combined with the mushroom and diced pork filling in the middle makes this a delight.
Lastly to end our meal, we got the herbal turtle essence. Nothing too fancy about this, but the bits of syrup over the herbal jello has a nice cooling feeling-- a palate cleansing effect for me.
Overall, I still think Koi Palace does a great job for dim sum and I’m always happy to see variations in dim sum (feels like they’re trying to stay relevant and not rest on their laurels). Could things be better… well… yes, what can’t? But I don’t think Koi Palace is falling from the bay area’s dim sum ranking (I also have no idea how the Daly City version compares to the Milpitas or Dublin versions but I would like to think they’re very comparable).
