Most people suggest that what is sold at Joe’s Shanghai in NYC is some other kind of dumpling, like a New York Style soup dumpling, not a shanghai XLB. It has to be considered on its own, I think, because its tasty when you want something that big and soupy.
Yes! Sorry we don’t overlap much - I don’t go south of rte 237 into sunnyvale too much. I’m sure if you ask here about the XLB shops in the city, you’ll get an earful.
Hey, nothing to be guilty of. Plenty people like Koi Palace soup dumplings still. Yeah, a lot of people love Joe’s Shanghai soup dumplings. I like them too. I agree with you that Joe’s Shanghai ones are more greasy/gelatin like. The taste is more intense. I find Shanghai Cafe (喬家柵) ones to be lighter and not as intense. However, I find Shanghai Cafe crab roe soup dumplings to be more flavorful, the warping/skin to be more intact. Joe’s Shanghai soup dumpling skin is often broken.
[quote]I actually really like Koi’s version of their Abalone and Smoked Ham dumpling soup [/quote] I actually don’t love it. 
I think I like the similar versions from Tai Wu and from The Kitchen, but maybe my memory is not that good.
Not really. You probably have been to more. Actually of the few I have tried, I liked Crown Princess the best because I thought it has the right balance of price and for quality. I thought Lai Wah Heen was expensive, but not better. Then, I was also told Lai Wah Heen is the best, so…
By the way, in disclosure: Although I enjoy Shanghai soup dumplings, I am not the expert here. They are not my most favor Chinese dim sum. I know people will wait for 1-2 hours for a good soup dumplings like Din Tai Fung and others. I don’t like soup dumplings enough to do that.
My wife has a story from a coworker from Hong Kong who had a work group lunch at Koi Palace years ago. He did the ordering for the group and inquired about live seafood. The server suggested ‘East Star’ grouper/ Australian coral grouper. He asked about the price, and the server said something like $100/lb. He looked at his boss, and the boss just shaked his head. So, no fish.
I’ve yet to splurge on one of these $100/lb deep sea varieties. I hope your dad at least enjoyed the grouper before seeing the bill.
A very long time ago, I took Mom and Dad to Lai Ching Heen for lunch well before it was renamed Yan Toh Heen. Of course a steamed fish would be lunch’s highlight. We were offered the kitchen’s choice of pink garoupa as the day’s best of various weights; no question – bring her the largest. She heard the variables and constant and didn’t do the arithmetic among the choices, because at that point it was a rounding error.
I suppose I am one of the CH people who has raved about their XLB in the past. I will say that I have had very satisfying XLB at Koi Palace and I have also been to Shanghai and had lots of good XLB there too so I have a basis for comparison. That being said my observations have been that: 1) Like many restaurants QC can be an issue at Koi Palace. You can sometimes order the same thing as last time and it ends up being not as good as the last visit and vice versa. 2) In general it’s my observation that there has been a decline in the quality of the XLB and other items since the association with Martin Yan. Dragon Beaux -their joint restaurant in the city is kind of meh when i’ve been there-been there twice and not in a while.
We haven’t been to KP since the spring when we ordered Crab roe XLB and I thought they were decent enough but seemed indistinguishable to me from normal XLB-no satisfying crab taste like in the past. Similar to what the OP described.
Regarding the Pomelo skin dish, we had it at a restaurant in Hong Kong (Fu xing?) and it was jaw-droppingly delicious. Completeness blew us away. I can attest that when done right it’s out of this world. The texture of the pomelo skin was sublime. It absorbs the flavors of the stock its cooked it in so the quality is very dependent on how good the broth is.
Greetings from Asbury Park.
Don’t know about palaces, but here is a sick Jersey koi recently found in the back bays of the Shrewsbury river for you:
Phto credt @corvette_johnny 's uncle.
@NotJrvedivici will need to plan a visit to Bagdahd btb, since it’s rumored his spirit animal is wayward koi (I think he has this tattooed on his ankle). I understand he may have a few Koi palaces to visit.
As a former defensive lineman that ankle tat should help him with introductions.
Don’t be coy Viking, you know it’s a tramp stamp.
Yeah that’s true. Do you recall them ever at Harbor Village? I can only recall them back to the early Yank Sing days for SF.
[quote=“Souperman, post:19, topic:10621”]
It’s worth noting that San Francisco’s Cantonese population (unlike Vancouver’s or Toronto’s) historically came directly from Guangdong without a sojourn in Hong Kong, which might reflect of tastes as well as acquired skills.[/quote]
True it has historically (if we’re talking about the 1800s) come from the Guangdong province but if we’re looking around the late 1950s a majority of them did come from Hong Kong. There were some big Cantonese seafood restaurants that developed in the suburbs later on (I’m thinking HK Flower Lounge) and I don’t recall when about May Flower and Harbor Village. Though I think Vancouver and Toronto received the bulk of HK immigrants right before the handover.
Yikes! I don’t recall them being that bad, but I rarely get them during dinner time (and probably prior to what hyperbowler noted about the non-hand made skins). They seemed consistent.
Probably opening up a can of worms, but what would @Souperman and @bbulkow say is the epitome of XLB? I tend to think DTF would be the gold standard in CA. Relatively small with a thin wrapper that does not break. With a good savory and juicy filling. I’m trying to recall the one I had in Arcadia, and thought maybe there was a touch of sweetness to it (I think I just prefer it straight savory haha).
Wow, I didn’t think that they had such machinery. Wonder if there’s a small home version haha.
The weird thing is, I’ve seen these giant soup dumplings where you can drink from it with a straw. And the one from Joe’s Shanghai didn’t exactly fit that mold. Not sure where to place that category. I recall seeing a picture of a giant soup dumpling at The Bamboo Garden in Milbrae, but I haven’t tried that nor their version of XLB. I’l
Ah makes sense. Yeah pretty much, anything north of San Mateo to SF and a bit of Oakland is where I would predominantly eat. Most far out might be Fremont for Yum’s. Have you ever tried Shanghai Bistro in Newark though? I enjoyed their pan fried dumpling and thought they did a good job on the XLB.
Ha fair enough, though I think Tai Yuan (old Tai Wu in Daly City) does a good job on their dried scallop soup dumpling. I recall getting it a few times in Toronto (Shark fin soup dumpling that is) and wanted a stronger umami taste from their superior stock.
Ah gotcha, I was just going through some of Charles’ list when I went to Toronto. Thought Skyview was very good, give that a try when you’re more towards Richmond Hill.
Oof wow. Yeah I recall seeing it for 100 a pound at Sea Harbour just earlier this year for that Australian coral/East Star (haha whoops not north) grouper.
We enjoyed the fish at that time though I really don’t think it was worth that additional price. Though I think its more of an amusing family story now with my dad being a little speechless.
Oof x_x;
Oh that’s very true, though I think Koi’s held up pretty well in terms of consistency. There wasn’t a big drop in quality that made me go I’ll never come back here (mostly the price keeps me away haha).
I felt Dragon Beaux was a little more of a modern take versus the more classical dim sum found at KP. I thought they did an okay job but still prefer KP more.
Wow I definitely want to order a version in HK when I have the chance!
_> I wonder how they taste…
I think you’d enjoy this:
Oh dear… lol. Thanks for the link. This’ll take a while to read through.
I’m pretty sure they had them at Harbor Village, but not positive. As for “early Yank Sing days” do you mean 1958 (Broadway & Powell), 1962 (Broadway and Stockton), 1974 (Stevenson St.), 1980 (Battery St.) or 2001 (Rincon Center)?
Really interesting. Do you know the name of dish? I’m interested in trying it!
Great review! Thanks for posting!
Well carp/koi really pick up the flavors of the water they live in so around here that would be a combination of brackish salt marsh combined with lawn run off, agricultural waste, benzenes, dioxins and other assorted chemicals that are leaching from the shallow water table.
Think Sacramento Delta run off right before it hits the bay and you will be close.
Uh… … I only recall the days with a clear teapot haha. I’m guessing battery st. at that point.
They were fried maitake mushrooms with garlic chip as per that flyer. Not sure if you can order it on the side as this was part of the set though.
Mmm…
It’s possible Battery St. had XLB in the latter days; it existed up until Rincon Annex opened in 2001. I only ever got takeout from there. Yank Sing (Rincon) used (uses?) a cheap knockoff of the Jenaer Glass “Museum” teapot; It’s likely the same one was used at the Battery/Clay location.
I guess there’s only one way for me to find out! haha 
That looks like what I recall from memory, I just don’t recall if I ever got XLB at that point in time.
Ha yep! Good luck
I sort of forgot about this KP discussion until I was wondering why there wasn’t more chatter about their dinner items (the same thing that @Night07 wondered about) and searched to see if there was any discussions for it.
House soup in a winter melon. $15. Not huge, but perfect size for two adults. Got some mushroom, shrimp, duck skin?, ham, etc. and winter melon to be scooped into the soup. Great flavor. Great deal. The other soup of the evening, goji berry squab soup seemed a little too ‘warm’ given a couple of us had a sore throat. So the winter melon soup was perfect.
Lamb stew in pot with lettuce on the side. $32. Good flavor. The thin pieces were fairly tender. The thick pieces was tough and could use a lot more cooking. We ordered on the spot so I wonder if its possible to preorder.
Herbal steamed free range chicken with Chinese yam. $22. Not bad though Bosum Yum’s version with fish maw is better. Chunk of range chicken with goji berry, red ‘berry’?, big chunks of nagaimo/ yam. The yam had a pretty raw texture. Some may like it, but I prefer them well cooked.
Foie gras, truffle, sakura shrimp fried rice. I think it was $28. The star were the sakura shrimps, who added a briny saltiness and savoriness to the fried rice. Couldn’t detect the truffle taste. Didn’t care or the foie, which I supposed were the fried big chunks which didn’t taste very attractive. Overall, a bit greasy. But more elevated than many fried rice out there.
Complementary sweet dessert buns. I don’t know how anyone can possible make room for these after a full meal.
Overall, a good meal.
